In North Carolina, seven activists were sentenced to jail on Wednesday for protesting outside the headquarters of the private military company Blackwater. The Virginian Pilot reported six of the protesters were tried, convicted and sentenced behind close doors after the judge took the rare step of clearing the courtroom. The protesters said they will appeal the verdicts, partly on the grounds that they were denied their constitutional right to a public trial. The seven received jail terms ranging from ten to forty-five days and were fined $100 each. The seven were arrested in October when they reenacted what happened in Baghdad on September 16, when Blackwater forces opened fire and shot dead seventeen Iraqi civilians. As part of the demonstration, protesters drove a small station wagon, covered with simulated bullet holes and smeared with red paint, onto Blackwater’s property.