Once again, the Washington Post demonstrates that left-wing protesters don’t have to draw a crowd to get supportive press attention. Amnesty International mounted its replica of a 6-by-10 Guantanamo cell on the Mall yesterday (“metal toilet included”), and the Post offered a story with two color pictures. In the tenth paragraph, reporter Paul Schwartzman elaborated on the questionable newsworthiness of the stunt:

The Mall might not be the ideal place for the cell, which will be on display through Sunday. When Cox convened a noontime rally, the number of Amnesty volunteers, reporters and photographers far outnumbered members of the public. Not even the bright orange sign — “Welcome to Guantanamo, your cell is waiting” — created a buzz.

Earlier, Schwartzman reported that the Amnesty folks have has taken the cell on the road to Miami, Philadelphia, and Portland, Maine, “to educate Americans about what it contends are human rights violations that the United States is committing at Guantanamo.”

But the oddball morality of this “human rights group” was on display elsewhere in the B section of the Post, as the state of Virginia executed murderer Robert Stacy Yarbrough, who (get your handkerchiefs ready) was apparently the victim of a flawed justice system:

Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, director of Amnesty International’s campaign to abolish the death penalty, said Yarbrough’s execution “marks a grim milestone for the state of Virginia. As evidence mounts that this country’s death penalty system is flawed beyond repair, Virginia has become a virtual racetrack for capital punishment.”

But what about the human rights of the man who Yarbrough killed? How does this crime compare with sitting in a Gitmo cell?

Yarbrough was convicted in the 1997 slaying of Cyril Hugh Hamby, 77, in Mecklenburg County. Yarbrough and a former high school classmate tied Hamby’s hands behind his back with an extension cord, and Yarbrough cut Hamby’s neck in a sawing motion at least 10 times as Hamby pleaded for him to stop.
Hamby bled to death, and the state medical examiner said his wounds were consistent with an attempted beheading.