[Ppnews] Chicago Grand Jury - The Feds expand their assault

[Political Prisoner News]

The Feds expand their assault

Nicole Colson looks at the latest developments in the government's 
attack on antiwar and socialist activists in the Twin Cities and the 
Chicago area.

December 14, 2010
http://socialistworker.org/2010/12/14/feds-expand-their-assault

National Lawyers Guild member James Fennerty speaks in defense
National Lawyers Guild member James Fennerty speaks in defense of 
subpoenaed activists at a December press conference

THE GOVERNMENT witch-hunt against antiwar, pro-Palestinian and 
socialist activists that began with FBI raids in late September 
appears to be ratcheting up again.

Recently, five more political activists in Chicago received subpoenas 
to testify about their association with groups or individuals that 
the government appears to suspect of providing "material support" to 
groups designated by the government as "terrorist" organizations. 
This brings the total number of those subpoenaed to 19--eight 
subpoenas are currently active.

In September, a group of activists in the Twin Cities and Chicago 
area had their homes and offices raided by the FBI, with broad search 
warrants entitling the government to seize any documentation relating 
to travel to Colombia, Palestine and Lebanon--as well as material 
related to finances and recruitment in the Freedom Road Socialist 
Organization (FRSO).

In a show of solidarity, the 14 activists who initially received 
subpoenas informed the government that they all would refuse to take 
the stand under the Fifth Amendment. The U.S. Attorney's office, in 
turn, allowed the term of the grand jury to quietly expire, voiding 
the subpoenas.

However, in late November, three of the original 14 
activists--Minneapolis residents Tracy Molm, Anh Pham and Sarah 
Martin--were re-subpoenaed under a new grand jury term. The three 
have been offered immunity from prosecution for their 
testimony--meaning that if they refuse to testify, they face a civil 
contempt charge and prison for the rest of the term of the grand 
jury, which is well over a year at this point.

Then, in early December, three more activists--this time, Chicago 
activists who had not been included in the initial round of 
subpoenas--were served. According to the 
<http://www.stopfbi.net/>Committee to Stop FBI Repression, a defense 
organization working around the case:

On Friday, December 3, 2010, the FBI targeted three young women who 
traveled together to Palestine last summer. After the FBI called to 
question a young Jewish-American woman, Sarah Smith, FBI agents 
knocked on the door of two young Palestinian-American sisters. One 
sister was already on the phone with lawyer Jim Fennerty and handed 
the phone to the FBI, causing the FBI to leave. The FBI agents soon 
returned with subpoenas to the grand jury targeting antiwar and 
solidarity activists, dated for January 25, 2011.

Two more Chicago activists were reportedly subpoenaed on December 8.

As National Lawyers Guild attorney Jim Fennerty explained to WBEZ, 
"They're widening the scope of this investigation," Fennerty said. 
"They're trying to squeeze anybody they can. This is an attack about 
people who do solidarity work around Palestine."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IN A 
<https://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/sarah-smith-i-am-being-subpoenaed-by-the-fbi/>statement 
read to dozens of supporters at a rally in Chicago on December 6, 
Sarah Smith--one of the Chicago activists who received a 
subpoena--described having received a call from an FBI agent, who 
requested a meeting with her so he could "ask her some questions":

I felt something suspicious about him telling me he wanted to ask me 
some questions, but he would not tell me what these questions were. 
So I said that I had to consult a lawyer and check my schedule, and 
that I would get back to him. I reiterated that it would be easier 
for me to meet him if I knew why an FBI agent wanted to sit down with 
me. He then said that it had to do with the trip I took this summer. 
He then emphasized, "I think you know which one I'm talking about."

The trip I took last summer was to Israel and Palestine. I am Jewish 
and wanted to see firsthand what life is like for Israelis and 
Palestinians. If I went on the standard tour to Israel, I would not 
be shown how Palestinians live. So I went on a tour that showed me 
both worlds--Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank. I 
went with two Palestinian-American friends. You would think Jews and 
Palestinians going together to visit Israel and Palestine is 
something the U.S. government would encourage. Instead, we are now 
being ordered by the FBI to go before a grand jury for going on that trip.

The U.S. government says it supports peace between Israel and 
Palestine. It says it supports separate Israeli and Palestinian 
states. So why does the FBI investigate us because we went to see the 
Palestinian land? Top U.S. government leaders meet with Palestinian 
leaders, so why does the FBI investigate us because we talked to 
average Palestinians on the street? I went there so I could make up 
my own mind and talk about what I saw. It seems to me our government 
wants to hide what Israel is doing to Palestinians.

As Smith suggests, a trip to the Middle East is hardly a criminal 
act. But as Michael Deutsch, a lawyer with the People's Law Office in 
Chicago, has noted, the subpoenas point to a disturbing expansion of 
"anti-terrorism" laws under the Obama Justice Department.

In a Supreme Court case in June, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 
the court found in favor of the Justice Department that certain types 
of speech--even if they do not advocate or lead to violence--can be 
considered "material support" for terrorism. 
<http://www.truth-out.org/justice-department-prepares-expansion-laws-targeting-activists>Writing 
in Truthout.com, Deutsch noted:

The court distinguishes what it refers to as "independent advocacy," 
which it finds is not prohibited by the statute, from "advocacy 
performed in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign 
terrorist organization," which is, for the first time, found to be a 
crime under the statute. The exact line demarcating where independent 
advocacy becomes impermissible coordination is left open and vague.

Seizing on this overbroad definition of "material support," the U.S. 
government is now moving in on political groups and activists who are 
clearly exercising fundamental First Amendment rights by vocally 
opposing the government's branding of foreign liberation movements as 
terrorist and supporting their struggles against U.S.-backed 
repressive regimes and illegal occupations.

In the context of the government outrage over the WikiLeaks release 
of secret documents, the Feds' attack is only likely to grow.

In the coming weeks and months, as these activists face dates to 
appear before the grand jury, it will be important for the entire 
left and everyone who cares about free speech to support them.




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