Chicago-area PEACE & JUSTICE ADVOCATE INDICTED The below-signed organizations are deeply disturbed by and stand opposed to the indictment yesterday of Rasmea Yousef Odeh, a Palestinian-American community activist who has dedicated 10 years to the Chicago Arab-American community, working with women on issues ranging from promoting literacy and political education to addressing domestic violence and anti-Arab and Muslim sentiment. Rasmea’s indictment for alleged immigration fraud comes at a time when advocates for Palestinian rights and immigration rights activists have been facing increasing pressure all over the country. Exactly three years ago, 23 anti-war and Palestinian rights activists were subpoenaed to testify before a Grand Jury, and several of their homes were raided by the FBI. There have been no indictments against the 23 activists subpoenaed in 2010, presumably because of a lack of evidence. It is no coincidence that federal prosecutors are now targeting Rasmea, who is a pillar in the same community. The 2010 raids, the Grand Jury subpoenas that accompanied them, and this indictment against a 65 year old woman who suffered for a decade in Israeli prisons before coming to the U.S. in 1995, are a clear signal that federal authorities, along with Israel and its supporters in the U.S., are continuing to search for ways to intimidate and silence those who are effective advocates for Arab American communities, and who speak out for Palestinian rights. In the last year alone, Palestine Solidarity Legal Support, in partnership with the Center for Constitutional Rights, and in collaboration with the National Lawyers Guild and other organizations, has documented over 75 cases of intimidation and legal bullying. These include perceived surveillance, FBI contacts, and discriminatory enforcement of laws against advocates for Palestinian rights. Rasmea’s arrest and indictment must be viewed within this wider context of widespread attempts to intimidate people into silence on one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time. Rasmea’s indictment is also an illustration of increasingly draconian enforcement of immigration laws, which have left immigrant communities devastated at the hands of Obama’s Department of Homeland Security. Rasmea is an exemplary citizen who recently finished a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice, and has a law degree from Jordan. She has overcome amazing odds after being convicted by the Israeli military court system in 1969 for her alleged association with a leftist Palestinian nationalist group that the U.S. designated a terrorist organization. The military courts operate exclusively to subjugate occupied Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. They routinely bypass all but a modicum of due process, and justify holding individuals without charge or trial for months and years, often in abusive conditions and subject to torture. Rasmea’s activism against the Israeli occupation in the 1960s resulted in her imprisonment in Israeli prisons for 10 years, and it is surely her community activism in the U.S. that has made her, and by extension, the community that relies on her, the target of this indictment. We call for solidarity with Rasmea as she undergoes a difficult legal battle. Please support Rasmea at her November 1 appearance in federal court in Detroit, Michigan. SIGNED: Al-Awda New York, Palestine right to Return Coalition American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee American Muslims for Palestine AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign – Vancouver Canada Palestine Association Center for Constitutional Rights Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine Council on American-Islamic Relations – Chicago Grassroots Global Justice Alliance Independent Jewish Voices-Vancouver Jewish Voice for Peace — Philadelphia Jews for Palestinian Right of Return Labor for Palestine Legalease Collective, CKUT, Montreal Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign Muslim Defense Project of the National Lawyers Guild – New York Chapter National Lawyers Guild Free Palestine Subcommittee National Students for Justice in Palestine New York City Labor Against the War NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid PAWA: Palestinian American Women’s Association Palestine Solidarity Group – Chicago Palestine Solidarity Legal Support Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Socialist Action Solidarity: a socialist, feminist, anti-racist organization Sunbula: Arab Feminists for Change The Dream Defenders US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel US Palestinian Community Network Women of Colour Collective at the McGill Faculty of Law Voice of Palestine Permalink Posted: Oct 23 2013 Center for Constitutional Rights palestinelegalsupport.org/2013/10/23/psls-ccr-and-33-other-rights-groups-sign-statement-opposing-indictment-of-palestinian-american-activist-rasmea-odeh/
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 21:57:01 +0000
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