Blogs

On Tuesday, June 15th -- a day after the acquittal of Witness Against Torture members in DC Superior Court of charges stemming from a January protest -- a coalition of groups and individuals met with Portia Roberson, the head of the Office of Public Liaison at the Department of Justice. more...

Saying that "In my opinion, the defendants were not properly charged in this case," D.C. Superior Court Judge Russell Canan today acquitted 24 activists of unlawful assembly in connection with civil disobedience this past January 21 at the U.S. Capitol. more...

In the absence of an intact corpse, families often gather for memorial services rather than funerals. The families of Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani – three Guantánamo prisoners whose earlier purported suicides were declared “asymmetrical warfare” by the military officials at Guantanamo – received Salah’s, Mani’s and Yasser’s broken and lifeless bodies. more...

From January 11 - January 22, over one hundred and fifty people spent the last 12 days fasting, vigiling, lobbying and then, finally, engaging in civil disobedience to call for a closure of Guantanamo and an end to all torture. Below is a short summary of our daily activities and links to some reflections. Be sure to poke around witnesstorture.org for a bounty of videos, photos, press clippings and more. more...

All of our friends who spent last night and the better part of today in jail, have now been released. After 30 hours locked up, the system slowly grinded on, and people have a first court date of March 18. We'll keep you in the loop as details around a possible trial come together. From those who were arrested, there were stories of joy as well as frustration… more...

Fourteen Witness Against Torture activists entered the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol while dozens more were gathered outside. The Rotunda is site where U.S. presidents are waked, before burial. The U.S. government calls it the "Temple of Liberty" and the "Stage of the Nation." The activists formed a semicircle around the white circle in the Rotunda which designates the spot from which a new president departs for his inauguration and to which a president's body is returned after he dies. more...

Today was a busy one. As I sit to write this brief update, forty-two friends are in DC jail after simultaneous actions inside and outside the US Capitol. Rather than re-count the actions here, we encourage you too look through our site for photos, videos and other reports. Please forward links around, post them on facebook, e-mail them to friends and family, not to highlight what we have done, but to draw attention to the continuing crime of Guantanamo. more...

We started off Day 10 of the fast with a procession to the White House for a press conference with CodePINK. Next, we made our way to the Senate Hart building, where, after lots of meetings and planning, we had the opportunity to put our ideas into action. All of those meetings paid off - the action came together beautifully! more...

Witness Against Torture activists entered the Hart Senate office building in Washington, DC at 1pm today, January 20, 2010, to lobby Congress in a new way. We were dressed in orange jumpsuits with the names of Guantanamo prisoners that have been cleared for release pinned to our backs. Four activists went to each of the seven floors to walk through the corridors in silence. more...

We began Day 9 before the sun came up, getting everyone together, into orange jumpsuits, and out the door of St. Stephen's by 6:20am. Off we went to the Pentagon, to participate in a weekly vigil that the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker has been holding consistently for over 25 years. more...