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<font size=3><br><br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.soaw.org/new/pressrelease.php?id=109" eudora="autourl">
http://www.soaw.org/new/pressrelease.php?id=109<br><br>
</a>for immediate release<br>
May 4, 2006<br><br>
School of the Americas Watch,
<a href="http://www.soaw.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.soaw.org<br>
</a>Contact: Christy Pardew, Eric LeCompte<br>
202.234.3440 or 202.903.7257, media@soaw.org<br><br>
<br>
DECLASSIFIED FBI FILES REVEAL YEARS OF SURVEILLANCE OF PEACEFUL<br>
DEMONSTRATIONS BY FBI'S COUNTER-TERRORISM DIVISION<br><br>
ACLU and School of the Americas Watch filed for documents; much<br>
information blacked out, some pages not released<br><br>
WASHINGTON, DC The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of<br>
Georgia today released new evidence that the Federal Bureau of<br>
Investigation is conducting counterterrorism investigations into School
of<br>
the Americas Watch (SOA Watch), a faith- and conscience-based human
rights<br>
group. SOA Watch, which organizes yearly nonviolent demonstrations
calling<br>
for the closure of the School of the Americas, a controversial
training<br>
school for Latin American soldiers located at Fort Benning, charges
that<br>
the files demonstrate a clear attempt to stifle political
opposition.<br><br>
“We gather yearly to remember those killed by graduates of this
school,<br>
and to nonviolently call for a change in U.S. policy towards Latin<br>
America,” said Reverend Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest and founder
of<br>
SOA Watch. “It’s clear that this surveillance is politically
motivated,<br>
and it’s a disgrace that Instead of investigating any of the heinous<br>
crimes of graduates of the School of the Americas, our government is
using<br>
its resources and time to monitor peaceful demonstrators, people who
are<br>
working for true democracy in this country.”<br><br>
In the released documents, the FBI noted that "The event has
grown<br>
dramatically over the past several years." The Bureau monitored the
media<br>
attention that the annual November vigil and the trials of people
arrested<br>
for nonviolent civil disobedience received, and agents noted which
court<br>
tactics had chilling effects on people’s decisions to participate in
civil<br>
disobedience.<br><br>
The documents released today show that after 2001, FBI surveillance of
the<br>
demonstrations became “priority” and subject to “counterterrorism”<br>
monitoring while repeatedly emphasizing that the protests were
peaceful.<br>
An October 2003 memo even states that “[t]he leaders of the SOA Watch
have<br>
taken strides to impart upon the protest participants that the
protest<br>
should be a peaceful event.”<br><br>
“Clearly the FBI knew it was spying on a peaceful demonstration,
activity<br>
protected by the First Amendment,” said Gerry Weber, a staff attorney
with<br>
the ACLU of Georgia. “That vital protection includes those who
express<br>
controversial beliefs.”<br><br>
The documents come to the ACLU as a result of a national campaign to<br>
expose domestic spying by the FBI and other government agencies.
The ACLU<br>
has filed Freedom of Information Act requests in 20 states on behalf
of<br>
more than 150 organizations and individuals. In response to
these<br>
requests, the government has released documents that reveal monitoring
and<br>
infiltration by the FBI and local law enforcement, targeting
political,<br>
environmental and anti-war groups.<br><br>
The documents released today are available on the SOA Watch website
at<br>
<a href="http://www.soaw.org/new/docs/SOAWFBIFiles.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.soaw.org/new/docs/SOAWFBIFiles.pdf</a> and more
information,<br>
including a profile of Father Roy Bourgeois, is available online at<br>
<a href="http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles" eudora="autourl">
http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles</a>.<br><br>
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