Grandmothers for Peace Get Federal Prison Instead

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http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0201-21.htm


Grandmothers for Peace Get Federal Prison Instead
by Bill Quigley

Cathy Webster, a grandmother living in Chico California, organized "A Thousand Grandmothers for Peace" to protest in November 2006 against the torture-training School of the Americas (SOA) (now called the Western Institute of Security Cooperation or WHINSEC) located at Ft. Benning Georgia.

SOA-WHINSEC has been the subject of international criticism since it was disclosed that torture manuals were used in the training of Latin American military personnel. Amnesty International USA called for the closing of the school, an investigation into the human rights atrocities committed by its graduates, an apology to its victims and reparations.

This week a federal judge in Columbus Georgia sentenced Ms. Webster to 2 months in federal prison for stepping through a hole in the fence onto the grounds of Ft. Benning to carry her protest to the doors of the SOA-WHINSEC.

Two other Grandmothers for Peace were also sentenced to federal prison for the nonviolent protest - Julienne Oldfield of Syracuse NY and Val Fillenwarth of Indianapolis IN.

The three grandmothers were part of a group of 16 human rights activists, ages 17 to 71, who were on trial in federal court in Georgia this week. Fifteen of the activists were given federal prison sentences of one to six months.

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