[Pnews] Demands Grow for US to Drop Case Against Palestinian Activist

[Prisoner News]

*http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Supporters-Campaign-to-Free-US-Palestinian-Activist-Rasmea-Odeh-20160128-0005.html* 



  Demands Grow for US to Drop Case Against Palestinian Activist

Published 28 January 2016

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
  "http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Supporters-Campaign-to-Free-US-Palestinian-Activist-Rasmea-Odeh-20160128-0005.html" 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Supporters-Campaign-to-Free-US-Palestinian-Activist-Rasmea-Odeh-20160128-0005.html>. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english



Published 28 January 2016

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
  "http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Supporters-Campaign-to-Free-US-Palestinian-Activist-Rasmea-Odeh-20160128-0005.html" 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Supporters-Campaign-to-Free-US-Palestinian-Activist-Rasmea-Odeh-20160128-0005.html>. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

january 28, 2016

Rasmea Odeh, a prominent antiwar campaigner, was arrested in 2013 for 
allegedly lying on U.S. immigration papers 20 years earlier.

Supporters of Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh launched a social media 
campaign on Wednesday ahead of decision expected this week on her appeal 
of an 18-month prison sentence.

Odeh, 67, was put on trial in November 2014 for allegedly falsifying 
immigration documents 20 years ago. She had said that she had never been 
“charged, convicted or imprisoned for a crime,” but the prosecutor 
maintains that she lied as she was convicted in an Israeli military 
court for allegedly bombing a supermarket.

Odeh maintains her innocence, saying she confessed to the bombing under 
torture from Israeli soldiers – and to end the torture of her father at 
their hands.

    Free #RasmeaOdeh <https://twitter.com/hashtag/RasmeaOdeh?src=hash> &
    all political prisoners! #Justice4Rasmea
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Justice4Rasmea?src=hash> today!
    pic.twitter.com/9bMkD2TJK5 <https://t.co/9bMkD2TJK5> — War Resisters
    League (@resistwar) January 27, 2016
    <https://twitter.com/resistwar/status/692438812862078980>

The appeal 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Palestinian-Justice-Activist-Rasmea-Odeh-to-Challenge-US-Court-20151013-0036.html> 
to the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati claims that Odeh’s response was 
related to her Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which came from her rape 
and torture while in custody.

That she had been detained by the Israeli Defense Forces was common 
knowledge at the time she immigrated; she has been part of a 
high-profile prisoner exchange and testified at the United Nations 
regarding her detention.

Odeh’s lead attorney, Michael Deutsch, claims her trial was unfair. The 
original judge assigned to the case was recused after he was found to 
have connections to an Israeli supermarket, while the new judge accepted 
evidence from the Israeli military court and barred testimony concerning 
her PTSD and alleged torture.

    #RasmeaOdeh <https://twitter.com/hashtag/RasmeaOdeh?src=hash>
    attorney Michael Deutsch calls the govt case against her the
    “selective use of criminal law to target protected political work.”
    — The Chicago Alliance (@NAARPR) January 28, 2016
    <https://twitter.com/NAARPR/status/692549396685266949>

After her 2014 arrest activists and friends from Chicago, where she 
worked for years as an attorney for immigrant women and organizer with 
the Arab American Action Network, quickly rallied international support.

Angela Davis, a renowned radical black activist, wrote in Detroit News, 
“As a person with first-hand knowledge of the devastation wrought by 
politically motivated prosecutions — during the era of COINTELPRO, I was 
falsely charged with three capital offenses — I see Rasmea Odeh's case 
as a continuation of the embarrassing history of decades of suppression 
of social justice activists in the U.S.”

Four years before Odeh’s trial, 23 anti-war activists were forced to 
testify before a grand jury for allegedly providing “material support” 
for designated terrorist groups in Palestine and Colombia. The same 
prosecutor consulted with the attorney assigned to Odeh’s case the day 
she was arrested.

Besides spreading word about Odeh’s case on social media, supporters 
have held rallies in various U.S. cities and attended hearings on her 
appeal in Cincinnati, where the case is now being considered.

Should her appeal be denied, Odeh’s legal team says it will consider 
requesting a hearing before the Supreme Court.

Odeh was originally facing five to seven years in prison. She is 
currently out on bail.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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