Condemn government threats against supporters of Rasmea Odeh

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression is urging all progressive organizations to sign the following statement. To add your organization to the statement, please email [email protected].

The statement reads:

“The undersigned organizations support the democratic rights of the Rasmea Defense Committee, the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, and other organizations to organize broad, public support to drop the charges against Rasmea Odeh.”

To add your organization to the statement, please email [email protected].

In a chilling attack on civil liberties, prosecutors in the case of Palestinian American leader Rasmea Odeh filed a motion in Federal Court Oct. 3, which characterized the efforts of the Rasmea Odeh defense campaign, as “jury tampering” and “almost certainly criminal.” The prosecution asked Judge Gershwin Drain for an “Anonymous Jury,” which means that the names of the jurors are kept secret from the defense attorneys, and that an array of security measures are put it place during the trial that make it seem like 67-year-old Rasmea Odeh is a very dangerous person.

Everyone who has ever participated in protest at a courthouse against an unjust legal proceeding or raised their voice in defense of a political prisoner should be alarmed at this turn of events.

There is no evidence at all for the baseless accusations against the movement in support of Rasmea. The prosecutor’s motion is a clumsy attempt at intimidation and it is an attack on all of our civil liberties.

The prosecutor’s talk about jury “tampering” is bizarre and dangerous. Until there is a trial, there is no jury, so how could a jury possibly be tampered with? What the prosecutor is angry about is protected first amendment activity, such as holding rallies at Detroit’s Federal Court Building and organizing call in days to the Department of Justice.

The prosecutor’s motion states that Hatem Abudayyeh, a leader of the effort to drop the charges against Rasmea Odeh, “has orchestrated a concerted effort to influence the criminal proceedings against defendant, which has resulted, at each proceeding, in a large group outside the Courthouse protesting and parading, carrying signs demanding dismissal of charges and ‘Justice for Rasmea’ and displaying the Palestinian flag.” Palestinians, Arabs and progressive people are responding to an injustice by holding protests and engaging in activity that is protected by the First Amendment. In the world that the Detroit U.S. Attorney wants, speaking out is “almost certainly criminal.” On the contrary – it is criminal for the prosecutors to attempt to restrict our constitutional rights.

It is worth noting that there is a distinctly racist, anti-Arab undertone to the prosecutor’s motion, where spirited and dignified protests, with a majority of Palestinian American participants, are described as “hordes” and “mobs.” Again, the federal government is trying to sow fear among people in the U.S. by criminalizing and stereotyping Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.

The undersigned organizations support the democratic rights of the Rasmea Defense Committee, the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, and other organizations to organize broad, public support to drop the charges against Rasmea Odeh.

 

• Al-Awda New York, Palestine Right to Return Coalition
• Al-Awda, The Palestine Right To Return Coalition-USA
• All Power To The Positive
• American Muslims for Palestine
• Americans for a Just Peace in the Middle East
• Anti-Racist Action – Los Angeles
• Anti-War Committee – Chicago
• Association of Filipinas and Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-feudalization, and Marginalization (AF3IRM)
• Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee
• Bay Area Committee to Resist Political Repression
• Bay Area Freedom Socialist Party
• Bay Area Radical Women
• BAYAN USA
• BDS-LA
• Bridge of Life (BOL) 
• Canada Palestine Association
• Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
• Chicago Area CodePINK
• Chicago Area Peace Action
• Chicago Committee Against Political Repression
• Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle East Policy
• Christians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CPJME), Indianapolis IN
• City College of New York Students for Justice in Palestine
• Cleveland Peace Now
• Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel
• CodePINK
• Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine
• Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine 
• Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine
• Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition
• Free Palestine Movement
• Freedom Archives
• Freedom Road Socialist Organization
• Freedom Socialist Party
• Friends of Human Rights
• Global March to Jerusalem – North America
• International Action Center
• International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
• International League of People’s Struggle-US Country Chapter
• International Solidarity Movement – Northern California
• International-Lawyers.Org
• Jewish Voice for Peace, Chicago
• Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles
• Jewish Voice for Peace, Santa Cruz, CA
• Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
• Justice First Foundation, Inc.
• Justice for Palestinians
• Kickapoo Peace Circle, Viroqua, Wisconsin
• Labor for Palestine
• Lucha Unida de Padres y Estudiantes (L.U.P.E.) Tucson
• Malcolm X Center for Self Determination
• March 19th Anti-War Coalition (Chicago) 
• MidEast:JustPeace
• Middle East Crisis Committee (CT)
• Milwaukee Antiwar Committee
• Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition
• Minnesota Anti-War Committee
• Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC)
• Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC)
• Minnesota Peace Action Coalition
• Muslim American Society Immigrant Justice Center
• National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms
• National Lawyers Guild
• Neighbors For Peace
• Neighbors for Peace, Evanston, IL
• New York City Labor Against the War
• Nicaragua Center for Community Action
• Nicaragua Solidarity Committee Chicago
• Norwich Palestine Solidarity Campaign
• NYU Law Students for Justice in Palestine
• NYU Students for Justice in Palestine
• Pakistan Labour Federation
• Palestine Israel Action Committee of Santa Cruz
• Palestine Solidarity Group – Chicago
• Palestinian Youth Movement
• Peace and Justice Committee Diocese of Chicago
• Peoples Video Network
• Radical Women
• Radius of Arab American Writers
• Revolutionary Students Union, Utah
• Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
• San Fernando Valley Green Party
• San Francisco Women in Black
• Seriously Free Speech Committee-Vancouver
• SOUL School of Unity & Liberation
• South Bay Committee Against Political Repression
• St. Lawrence Holy Land Committee
• Students for a Democratic Society
• Students for Justice in Palestine – Pittsburgh
• Students for Justice in Palestine at University of South Florida
• US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
• USACBI – U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel
• Veterans For Peace Chapter 27
• Voice of Palestine
• Welfare Rights Committee, MN
• Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement
• Women Against Military Madness
• 8th Day Center for Justice
• 99 Rise – Sacramento Chapter

 

To add your organization as a signer, please email [email protected].