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</font><h1><font size=4><b>For now, antiwar activists will not be forced
to testify</b></font></h1><font size=3><b>By JAMES WALSH,</b> Star
Tribune <br><br>
October 12, 2010<br><br>
Thistle Parker-Hartog originally was supposed to testify before a grand
jury in Chicago Tuesday. She didn't go. Mick Kelly was scheduled to make
the same trip next week. Don't bet on it.<br><br>
In all, 14 antiwar activists and several organizations from the Twin
Cities and Chicago who are being investigated for alleged support of
terror groups received subpoenas to appear before the grand jury this
month. All -- including five who were to appear last week -- have told
the U.S. Department of Justice that they are not going. Instead, several
were among about 60 people gathered in front of the U.S. Courthouse in
downtown Minneapolis Tuesday to protest what they consider harassment and
intimidation because they oppose U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East
and elsewhere.<br><br>
So far, it seems, the Justice Department has acquiesced. All the
subpoenas have been canceled, according to a Chicago attorney working on
the case. Instead of being encouraged by the inaction, they are left
wondering when the other shoe is going to fall for a growing number of
people under investigation.<br><br>
"No one knows what will happen. That's sort of the problem with all
this," Parker-Hartog said. "The net is definitely getting
wider. We are hearing from more of our brothers and sisters around the
country that they, too, are being looked at."<br><br>
On Sept. 24, the FBI raided the Minneapolis homes of five antiwar
activists, including three leaders of the Twin Cities peace movement, as
part of what it called a probe of "activities concerning the
material support of terrorism." The Minneapolis office of an antiwar
organization was also raided, protest leaders said. Raids were also
conducted on two homes in Chicago.<br><br>
No one was arrested in any of the raids.<br><br>
Computers, cell phones and documents were seized. FBI officials said the
federal search warrants in Minneapolis were related to an ongoing Joint
Terrorism Task Force.<br><br>
The people whose homes and offices were searched have denied being
involved in any illegal activities. Meredith Aby of the Anti-War
Committee, whose home and offices were raided, said Tuesday that the
federal government has "given itself more power since 9/11. The
federal government is doing this, I think, because they can do
this."<br><br>
According to the warrants, the FBI is seeking travel and financial
information regarding the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and
Colombia.<br><br>
It is against federal law to provide "material support" to
organizations that have been defined by the U.S. government as terrorist.
But attorneys argue that the law's interpretation can be dangerously
broad. Activists are asking: Who defines a terror group? What constitutes
material support?<br><br>
Over the past two years, several local men of Somali descent have been
indicted, and some convicted, for providing material support for
Al-Shabab, an Islamist group fighting for control of Somalia. Some
traveled to Somalia to fight, some recruited fighters, some allegedly
provided money.<br><br>
Those being investigated in Minneapolis and Chicago deny doing anything
like that in this case. What happens next is uncertain. The U.S. attorney
in Chicago could reissue subpoenas. Prosecutors could even grant some of
the people being investigated immunity to prod them to testify.
Everything could be dropped.<br><br>
All that is known for now, said attorney Jim Fennerty, is "that
nobody is going to appear before the grand jury."<br><br>
James Walsh • 612-673-7428
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