Priests protesting US torture jailed for justice

Two priests who prayed outside Fort Huachuca in opposition to U.S. torture, were each sentenced to five months in federal prison
(Fr. Steve Kelly/photo Brenda Norrell)

Priests Protesting Torture at Fort Huachuca Jailed for Justice
by Bill Quigley

TUCSON, Arizona — October 17 — Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were each sentenced today to five months in federal prison for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Both priests were taken directly into jail from the courtroom after sentencing.
Fort Huachuca is the headquarters of military intelligence in the U.S. and the place where military and civilian interrogators are taught how to extract information from prisoners. The priests attempted to deliver their letter to Major General Barbara Fast, commander of Fort Huachuca. Fast was previously the head of all military intelligence in Iraq during the atrocities of Abu Ghraib.
The priests were arrested while kneeling in prayer halfway up the driveway to Fort Huachuca in November 2006. Both priests were charged with trespass on a military base and resisting orders of an officer to stop.
In a pre-trial heating, the priests attempted to introduce evidence of torture, murder, and gross violations of human rights in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and at Guantanamo. The priests offered investigative reports from the FBI, the US Army, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Social Responsibility documenting hundreds of incidents of human rights violations. Despite increasing evidence of the use of torture by U.S. forces sanctioned by President Bush and others, the federal court in Tucson refused to allow any evidence of torture, the legality of the invasion of Iraq, or international law to be a part of the trial.
Outside the courthouse, before the judge ordered them to prison, the priests explained their actions: “The real crime here has always been the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca and the practice of torture around the world. We tried to deliver a letter asking that the teaching of torture be stopped and were arrested. We tried to put the evidence of torture on full and honest display in the courthouse and were denied. We were prepared to put on evidence about the widespread use of torture and human rights abuses committed during interrogations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo in Iraq and Afhganistan. This evidence was gathered by the military itself and by governmental and human rights investigations.”
Fr. Vitale, a longtime justice and peace activist in San Francisco and Nevada, said: “Because the court will not allow the truth of torture to be a part of our trial, we plead no contest. We are uninterested in a court hearing limited to who was walking where and how many steps it was to the gate. History will judge whether silencing the facts of torture is just or not. Far too many people have died because of our national silence about torture. Far too many of our young people in the military have been permanently damaged after following orders to torture and violate the human rights of other humans.”
Fr. Kelly, who walked to the gates of Guantanamo with the Catholic Worker group in December of 2005, concluded: “We will keep trying to stop the teaching and practice of torture whether we are sent to jail or out. We have done our part for now. Now it is up to every woman and man of conscience to do their part to stop the injustice of torture.”
The priests were prompted to protest by continuing revelations about the practice of torture by U.S. military and intelligence officers. The priests were also deeply concerned after learning of the suicide in Iraq of a young, devout female military interrogator in Iraq, Alyssa Peterson of Arizona, shortly after arriving in Iraq. Peterson was reported to be horrified by the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.
Investigation also revealed that Fort Huachuca was the source of infamous “torture manuals” distributed to hundreds of Latin American graduates of the U.S. Army School of Americas at Fort Benning, GA. Demonstrations against the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca have been occurring for the past several years each November and are scheduled again for November 16 and 17 this year.
Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He served as counsel for Frs. Vitale and Kelly. You can reach Bill at Quigley@loyno.edu For more about their trial, see http://tortureontrial.org/
Posted from Common Dreams:
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/17/4650/

Good night Fr. Steve and Fr. Louie
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/10/good-night-fr-steve-and-fr-louie.html

From the Nuclear Resister:

In a statement read to supporters who gathered outside the courthouse and then filled the courtroom of Magistrate Hector Estrada, Frs. Vitale & Kelly declared:

"The real crime here has always been the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca and the practice of torture around the world. We sought to deliver a letter asking that the teaching of torture be stopped and were arrested. We tried to put the evidence of torture on full and honest display in the courthouse and were denied. We were prepared to put on evidence about the widespread use of torture and human rights abuses committed during interrogations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo in Iraq and Afghanistan. This evidence was gathered by the military itself and by governmental and human rights investigations. Because the court will not allow the truth of torture to be a part of our trial, we plead no contest. We are uninterested in a court hearing limited to who was walking where and how many steps it was to the gate. History will judge whether silencing the facts of torture is just or not. Far too many people have died because of our national silence about torture. Far too many of our young people in the military have been permanently damaged after following orders to torture and violate the human rights of other humans. We will keep trying to stop the teaching and practice of torture whether we are sent to jailor out. We have done our part. Now it is up to every woman and man of conscience to do their part to stop the injustice of torture." Following their arrest in November, 2006, the men we recharged with one federal count of trespass (USC 18-1382), and later with an additional Arizona state count of "Failure to Comply with Police Officer" (ARS 28-622). Their sentence is three months in prison for the federal conviction, plus two months for the state conviction, to be served consecutively.

After court, a dozen supporters drove to Sierra Vista, Arizona, to hold signs and banners opposing torture outside the maingate of Ft. Huachuca.

On November 18, in solidarity with the School of the AmericasWatch vigil and protest at Ft. Benning Georgia, hundreds of people from around the country will gather at Fort Huachuca to continue the nonviolent witness against U.S. policy sanctioning torture.
General who served in Iraq declares that "History will honor" actions of the priests

Major General: History will honor your actions

October 17, 2007 -- Pace e Bene co-founder Fr. Louie Vitale, O.F.M. and Fr. Steve Kelly, S.J. were sentenced today by Magistrate Hector Estrada to five months in federal prison for nonviolent action they engaged in last year at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. Training in torture techniques have been documented at this US Army base.
They began their sentences immediately.
Major General Antonio M. Tacuba, who served in Iraq and wrote a report critical of torture carried out at Abu Ghraib prison, phoned the Franciscan and Jesuit priests the night before to convey his support and to express his belief that “history will honor your actions.” Their lawyer, Bill Quigley, shared General Tacuba’s words of support with the court.
The judge, who confessed that the case had put him in “an uncomfortable position,” meted out to both men three months in prison for trespass and two months for disobeying an officer. They will be incarcerated at a federal prison in Florence, Arizona.

For more information, visit http://tortureontrial.org/