Greetings to my peace friends in Fremont, Tiffin, and beyond--

I gave an interview yesterday to a reporter from my local paper concerning my trial to take place on Monday.  The article is below.  At the bottom I include a national press release from our organization, Witness Against Torture. There will be two trials this week; the second will include a message connecting state violence abroad and at home.  We will also be participating in Torture Awareness Week activities in DC this week with TASSC, Amnesty, and others.  I'm leaving for DC this morning.

Peace and all good,

Josie

 

http://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local/2015/06/19/fremont-woman-stand-trial-guantanamo-protest/29006897/

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Fremont woman to stand trial for Guantanamo protest

Craig Shoup, cshoup@PROTECTED 5:59 p.m. EDT June 19, 2015

FREMONT –  A Fremont woman is one of 11 activists set to stand trail Monday in a Washington, D.C., courtroom after being charged with disorderly conduct while protesting the government’s use of torture at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in Cuba.

Sitting in her Fremont home, 62-year-old Josie Setzler prepared a statement to be read Monday morning in front of Magistrate Karen Howze, of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

“We are representing ourselves to use our voices,” Setzler said.

Setzler, along with the 10 other defendants from the advocacy group Witness Against Torture, were arrested in the U.S. Capitol and charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly refusing to stop speaking when asked by U.S. Senate Gallery members.

“We protest the White House all the time. There are different rules. You can walk by the postcard area, but you can’t stop or stay there. You get three warnings and are arrested,” Setzler said.

The same can be said when addressing the Senate, Setzler said.

“They decide when they want to arrest you,” she said. “It is not clear if there are time restraints.”

Setzler said the advocacy group was founded in 2005 with the goal of closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, and each year, the group protests in Washington. Setzler has been demonstrating each year since 2008.

She said the protest and subsequent arrest occurred in January, which is the anniversary month of Guantanamo’s 2002 opening.

While it is not the first time Setzler has been on trial for her role in a protest, the local activist said her nerves are beginning to surface for Monday’s trial. But she said they subside because she feels the need to express her displeasure with the U.S. government.

“There are treaties (the U.S.) signed in the U.N. and the Geneva Convention that prosecutes any torture,” Setzler said.

At age 62 and retired, Setzler said the timing is right for her to stand up for future generations to ensure her grandchildren never live in a country that perpetrates torture.

“I am at the age when I can take the risk of speaking out on behalf of younger generations. The only real accountability for torture will be that (young people) grow up in a nation where torture is banished for good.”

Setzler said she and the other defendants are asking for accountability from the Senate gallery and for them to release the entire Senate Intelligence Committee torture report.

“They released the executive report (600 pages) and it is 6,000 pages total,” she said.

No matter Monday’s outcome, Setzler said she still plans to protest peacefully through Witness Against Torture and locally with People for Peace and Justice Sandusky County, an organization that states it was created to bring people together for peace, economic justice and environmental sanity.

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Press release from Witness Against Torture:

Anti-Torture Activists Stand Trial for Alleged Disruptions in US Capitol;

Condemn Lack of Accountability for Torture and Racist Police Violence

Media Contacts: Robert Cooke (Senate Gallery Group), cookerh1251@PROTECTED, 301-369-0449; Tom Casey (Visitor Center Group), caseytpc@PROTECTED, 716-491-9172; Matt Daloisio (Legal Team), daloisio@PROTECTED, 201-264-4424

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On June 22 and June 25, members of Witness Against Torture (WAT) will defend themselves in two separate trials in Washington, D.C. Superior Court against charges stemming from their demand of accountability for torture and domestic police violence.

On January 12, 2015, eleven people were arrested in the US Senate Gallery after insisting that the Senate launch criminal investigations of US torture, as detailed in the Senate’s own report.  That same day, ten people were arrested in the US Capitol Visitor Center after unfurling banners with such slogans as “We Demand Accountability for Torture and Police Murder!”

The trials will take place at DC Superior Court, 500 Indiana Avenue, Washington, D.C., NW.  The Senate Gallery trial will begin at 9:30 am on Monday, June 22.  The Capital Visitor Center trial will begin at 2:00 pm on Thursday, June 25. Each trial is expected to last one to two days.

The protests in the Capitol followed the release of the Senate’s report on the CIA’s use of torture, including waterboarding, prolonged stress positions, and “rectal feeding.”  They also took place against the backdrop of grand juries’ refusal to indict police officers who killed young black men, and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

The defendants will argue that the government itself is guilty of crimes and of failing to enforce its own laws.  They claim that they exercised their right of free speech in calling for justice.

The message of the gallery protest was “U.S. Torture: It’s official! Prosecute now!” “There has to be accountability for government misconduct,” contends Bob Cooke, a WAT member from Washington, D.C. arrested in the Gallery.  “It’s not enough for Congress to ban torture in the future.  Past crimes must be addressed as well.” “We are ordinary citizens who have for years pursued countless avenues in an attempt to get the proper authorities to prosecute those individuals who committed torture in our name,” says Ohio’s Josie Setzler, also arrested in the Gallery. “The Senate needed to hear from us.”

In the Capitol Visitor Center, the protestors drew parallels between the abuse of detainees overseas and state violence against people of color here at home.  “The CIA, US military, and political leaders get away with the torture of Muslim men, just like police get away with the killing of African American men,” says Beth Brockman, a WAT member from North Carolina arrested in the Visitor Center.  “Both reflect the racism of our system and must stop.” 

The protests came the day after activists from around the country marked the 13^th anniversary of the opening of the US detention facility at Guantánamo Bay with a demonstration in Washington.

Witness Against Torture was formed in 2005 with the goal of shutting down the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay and ending US torture.  It now addresses state violence more broadly, including the persecution of people of color by police and in US prisons and jails.

 

# # #

See www.witnesstorture.org for updates.

 

 

 

 

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