[Ppnews] Chicago Update on US Atty's investigation of activists

[Political Prisoner News]

Committee to Stop FBI Repression (stopfbi.net) 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=78536003a9&e=b7378561ef>


      /Important Update:/


    Barry Jonas, of Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office, refuses to return
    materials from FBI raid



    Cites ongoing investigation of anti-war and international solidarity
    activists

In late July 2012, Northern Illinois Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas 
refused to return much of the material seized in the FBI raid on the 
home of Hatem Abudayyeh 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=85a8c3f8e2&e=b7378561ef>, 
citing the ongoing “material support for terrorism” investigation that 
is underway against anti-war, Palestinian and international solidarity 
activists.

Barry Jonas is well known for participating in one of the worst 
violations of civil liberties in the past decade. He played a leading 
role in prosecuting the leaders of the United Holy Land Foundation while 
he was trial attorney for the Department of Justice Counter-terrorism 
Section.

Michael Deutsch, Abudayyeh's lawyer, who has a long history of fighting 
government repression, stated, "The continuing investigation after 
almost two years is grossly unjust and an effort by the Obama 
administration to silence those who speak and organize against U.S. 
policies at home and around the world."

The Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office has told lawyers representing the 
anti-war and international solidarity activists that they are preparing 
“multiple indictments of multiple people.” Barry Jonas’ refusal to 
return Abudayyeh’s papers is the latest confirmation that the 
investigation has not ended and that the Justice Department is 
continuing its vendetta against those who are working for peace with 
justice. This needs to be taken seriously. In a number of “material 
support of terrorism” cases, there has been a gap of one to three or 
more years between the FBI raids and indictments.

In September of 2010 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=0a6fb305cf&e=b7378561ef>, 
more than 70 FBI agents took part in a series of coordinated raids on 
the homes of well-known anti-war, labor and international solidarity 
activists, along with the office of the Twin Cities based Anti-War 
Committee. A total of 23 activists, including Abudayyeh, were subpoenaed 
to a Chicago grand jury. All of them refused to testify in the secret 
proceedings.

Most of the activists targeted in this case, including Abudayyeh, helped 
organize the massive protest at the 2008 Republican National Convention 
in Saint Paul, Minnesota. At that time, an undercover law enforcement 
officer, going by the name of “Karen Sullivan 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=d49162eee3&e=b7378561ef>,” 
infiltrated the protest efforts and stuck around to spy and lie about 
many of the 23 activists.

That Barry Jonas is now the lead prosecutor for the international 
solidarity activists is troubling. Jonas is a pro-Israel ideologue whose 
work in prosecuting the Holy Land case 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=741fc3cf9c&e=b7378561ef> 
exposed his politically motivated willingness to trample on the rights 
of accused Palestinians. As the lead prosecutor in the Holy Land case, 
Jonas used secret witnesses (the defense never got to find out who the 
witnesses were), hearsay evidence and the introduction of evidence that 
had nothing to do with the defendants in the case - such as showing a 
video from Palestine of protesters burning an American flag - as a means 
to prejudice the jury. The result was that five men, who did nothing 
wrong, are sitting in prison with sentences that range between 15 and 65 
years.

With each passing day, the U.S. is becoming a more repressive place. 
Hundreds of Arabs and Muslims have and are facing unjust prosecutions, 
or have already been put behind bars. Also, a grand jury is threatening 
political activists in the Northwest 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=a9b0c911c4&e=b7378561ef>; 
criminal proceedings are taking place against NATO protesters 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=5d4408829e&e=b7378561ef> 
in Chicago; and the Occupy movement has faced a wave of police violence.

*The Committee to Stop FBI Repression 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=e4a57e1448&e=b7378561ef> 
urges all our supporters to sign the pledge 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=370c1ce167&e=b7378561ef> 
to take action now, 
(http://www.stopfbi.net/get-involved/pledge-of-resistance 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=5f837d6a47&e=b7378561ef>) 
to be ready in the event that international solidarity activists are 
indicted. We recently won a victory when we defeated the frame-up 
against veteran Chicano leader Carlos Montes 
<http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=6b11ae7b1f&e=b7378561ef>. 
We need to do everything in our power to push back against these attacks 
on our right to protest, organize and speak out for justice. Together we 
will win!*

/Copyright © 2012 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights reserved./
Thanks for your ongoing interest in the fight against FBI repression of 
anti-war and international solidarity activists!
*Our mailing address is:*
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
	



-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863-9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20120807/5434a9c5/attachment.htm>