The Sixth Station(16)

“Why indeed would anyone call this monster a man of God?” He finished and held aloft a horrifying photo of a mother and dead child lying on the once-grand steps outside the Matriz Church in Manaus, Brazil, a city at the tip of the Amazon.

The photo showed the woman covered in the blood of her child, screaming while holding her dead five-year-old, whose legs had been blown off. They lay amid the rubble of the bombed-out steps, after an explosion that took the lives of 350 churchgoers that Sunday morning, including 120 Sunday-school kids.

He then turned to the judges and addressed them.

“Judge Bagayoko, assembled justices, if I may, I would like to bring in some of the children who will be called before this assembly.”

Since everyone in or near the courtroom had been cleared well ahead of time, the gesture was a mere courtesy. The dramatic move had most likely been approved beforehand by Bagayoko, who quickly consented and gestured for the chamber doors to open.

None of us, even the most hardened, was prepared for what came next. A line of ten parents entered, wheeling children with every manner of horrific injury. Some were burned, some scarred without mouths, some blind, some quadriplegic, some clearly horribly brain damaged. “These children, once whole, now destroyed, are the handiwork of one man, a monster who in a few short years callously killed, callously destroyed at his whim. Why? Only God knows, but clearly the so-called man of God,” he mocked, “knows no God.”

Leaving the packed room totally silent, save for the sobs that could be heard coming from dignitaries and press alike, Finegold rested.

Even Bagayoko was holding back tears. “Please, Mr. Finegold, take the children to the private dining room and make sure they have a good, hearty United Nations feast.” She then called for a one-hour lunch break.

As the crowd started to file out, I stayed seated, knowing that I’d be swarmed by media, but also feeling that I really needed some time to take in what had happened to me—and that it was all caused by the man who had committed the horrific acts against those children.

“Pee for me,” I said to Dona, trying to sound as tough as I like to think I am, when she got up and made her way out of the chamber. The second she opened the door, I saw the media rush her, yelling, “Dona! Over here! Did he say anything…?”

Grateful when the guards closed the doors and locked them, I found myself alone for the first time that day. I stood up and walked around the grand room. I was spent. I mean, sure, we’d all been prepared for the monstrous experience of seeing ben Yusef’s alleged crimes displayed in living color. But I personally somehow wasn’t prepared to see those children. The suffering of those little kids simply overwhelmed me, and I started to sob. I sat in that big room and tried to comprehend what I’d seen and what had happened that day.

In an hour the court doors opened again, but it took another two whole hours for press and spectators to get scanned and file back in.

When everyone was finally seated and the dignitaries had finished giving their boilerplate statements to the media, Bagayoko called for opening statements from the defense.

Edmonds got up and walked to the front of the chamber.

“If I may, Your Honors,” she began, “on behalf of our client, we state once more to the court that there is no authority in this tribunal to pass judgment on our client.”

“Noted,” said the chief justice and glared at her, expecting something further, which was not just forthcoming but about to rock the room.

Edmonds thanked the judge and then continued, saying, “That being said, I want to explain that we took on this case not because other attorneys would not represent this man who has been labeled ‘terrorist,’ ‘monster,’ and ‘mass murderer,’ but because Mr. Demiel ben Yusef is completely innocent of every heinous crime of which he has been unjustly accused.

“Demiel ben Yusef is an innocent man. He is a man of God—yes—but also a man who opposes what organized religion has done in the name of God. And because his writings, sermons, and philosophy have turned people away from the bonds of organized religions, he has amassed millions of followers. Not thousands, but millions worldwide. Is every one of these followers wrong to believe he is a man of peace who wants to set them free from the fear of God and replace that fear with the love of God?

“Mr. ben Yusef has never killed, maimed, nor committed acts of terrorism and violence in the name of God nor of any organization, for that matter.

“What he has done is heal hundreds of fatally ill people—and we will prove that. He has fed thousands of starving people, and we will prove that.