Constitutional Law

Guantanamo Prisoner Protestors On Trial Over High Court Demonstration

The trial of 35 protestors of Guantanamo Bay prison got underway with some flare at a District of Columbia Superior Court this week.

Many of the protestors, donning orange jumpsuits and taking the names of Guantanamo detainees, are representing themselves before the court against charges of violating a federal law that regulates protesting at the U.S. Supreme Court. The law makes it illegal to “parade, stand, or move in processions or assemblages” around the Court or to display a “flag, banner, or device designed to bring into public notice a party, organization, or movement.” The protestors are part of an organization called “Witness Against Torture,” described as a “campaign to shut down Guantanamo.” They were arrested in January at the Supreme Court during a demonstration to close the Guantanamo prison.

Some of the defendants told the D.C. Superior Court that they would not mount a defense until Guantanamo detainees are treated differently. “We will not exercise our rights when our own country continues to deny the rights of others,” one protestor said. Legal Times’ Tony Mauro reported that another protestor told the superior court that the “Guantanamo Concentration Camp” should be shuttered.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Magdalena Acevedo claimed in her opening statement that the case was not about free speech rights of the protestors or the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo. The case, she maintained, centers on the defendants’ alleged violation of a law that specifies the manner in which they could protest.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on May 28, 2008 (boomark / email).