Oct. 2: Call-in for Rasmea Odeh + updates from last court appearance

Author: 
StopFBI.net (CIMC Repost)
Locality: 

1. Thursday, Oct. 2: Call the prosecutors and tell them, 'Drop the charges now!'
Call Jonathan Tukel in Detroit at 313-226-9100
Chief of National Security Unit, U.S. Attorney’s office, Eastern District of Michigan

Call Barbara McQuade at 313-226-9501
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan

When you call say, “Hello, my name is ________, and I am calling from _________ to demand that U.S. Attorney McQuade drop the charges against Rasmea Odeh." (first name pronounced Russ-MEE-yuh)

Make the calls!
Thursday, Oct. 2, from 9 am to 5 pm Eastern Time

2. Update on Rasmea’s last court appearance
Rasmea Odeh trial set for Nov. 4, important hearing set for Oct. 2
Protest demands ‘Drop the charges’

Detroit, MI – 70 supporters of Palestinian community leader Rasmea Odeh gathered here in the rain Sept. 2, before the latest court hearing in her case. When pressed by security to leave the sidewalk in front of the courthouse, the crowd stood firm. The addressed the U.S. Attorney in charge of Odeh’s case with chants led from a bullhorn across the street, shouting, “Hey McQuade, you must know, Rasmea’s case has got to go!”

Odeh has pled not guilty to the bogus charge of Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization, a charge which stems from Israeli convictions that were based on a forced confession after extended periods of vicious physical and sexual torture.

After filing into the courthouse for the 3:00 p.m. hearing, supporters learned that it would be closed to the public. They crowded in the hallway outside the chambers of Judge Gershwin Drain, waiting for news on what would happen next in the case of this beloved community leader.

After the closed session with the judge, defense attorney Michael Deutsch spoke to supporters, assuring them that the judge was aware of the outpouring of support for Odeh. “The judge knew that you were here. We told him so, and asked him to make arrangements for a bigger courtroom for the trial. Your presence is critically important.” He explained that Drain’s usual courtroom is smaller than that of Judge Borman, whose courtroom had been filled by supporters at earlier hearings. Borman was forced to step down from the case because of his close ties to Israel.

Judge Drain set Nov. 4 for the start of Odeh‘s trial, with an important hearing on Oct. 2. That will be a public hearing on several motions, including one to dismiss the charges against her. The motion argues that the indictment of Odeh sprang from what defense attorneys call an illegal federal investigation of 23 Palestinian and international solidarity activists, described by Rasmea Defense Committee spokesperson, Hatem Abudayyeh, as “a violation of our constitutional First Amendment rights.” Other important defense motions on the table that day include ones to allow testimony at trial by a torture expert, to exclude Israeli occupation court documents and to secure State Department documents from interviews with U.S. citizens who were among the 500 arrested by Israeli occupation forces in the massive sweep when Rasmea Odeh was arrested in 1969.

Frank Chapman, of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, expressed “complete and unqualified solidarity.” He said, “We have a future together,” citing solidarity from Palestinians to protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, and support by the Arab American Action Network (AAAN, the community organization where Odeh serves as Associate Director) for “victims of police crimes in the city of Chicago, many of them victims of torture just like Rasmea.” He pledged to bring more people to future hearings.

Jess Sundin, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, came from Minneapolis and addressed the crowd, “These charges are unfounded. Rasmea has done nothing wrong. The idea that the U.S. government could bring charges against her for the crimes that were committed against her by the Zionist state of Israel is an outrage, an insult to the concepts of justice or democracy. The U.S. government has never stood on the side of justice on the question of Palestine or Palestinians, so it is no surprise that they would try to criminalize Rasmea again. But we’re not going to let that happen - all out for Detroit!” Sundin said she would return to Detroit for future hearings, and people from across the country would mobilize for the trial.

The rally closed after Rasmea Odeh expressed her thanks to those gathered.

3. Come to Detroit on Oct. 2, Rasmea Odeh court appearance

Join us, the National Rasmea Defense Committee as we travel with Rasmea Odeh to court in Detroit on Oct. 2 for an important hearing before Judge Drain. We are asking you to join Rasmea Odeh’s supporters for rally and protest outside the court on Thusday, Oct. 2, Palestine solidarity and civil liberty activists from Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Grand Rapids and other Michigan cities will join Rasmea Odeh and pack the courtroom. You can make a difference in stopping this ugly U.S. government targeting of a great woman and Palestinian leader. Join us in saying, “No more torture! Drop the charges now!”
Court Hearing for Rasmea Odeh
Oct. 2
9 am. - Picket line outside the court building
231 W Lafayette Boulevard, in Detroit
Hearing starts at 10:00 a.m.

The Rasmea Defense Committee, United States Palestinian Community Network, and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR) are mobilizing to fill the courthouse.

The national Rasmea Defense Committee includes United States Palestinian Community Network, Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR), Coalition to Protect People’s Rights (CPPR), 8th Day Center for Justice, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)-Chicago, American Muslims for Palestine, Anti-War Committee (AWC)-Chicago, AWC-Minneapolis, Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Chicago Light Brigade, Committee Against Political Repression, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Chicago, CAIR-Michigan, Friends of Sabeel-North America, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International League of Peoples’ Struggle-U.S., Jewish Voice for Peace, Lifta Society, National Boricua Human Rights Network, National Lawyers Guild (NLG), National Students for Justice in Palestine, Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago, Palestine Solidarity Legal Support, Palestinian Youth Movement-USA Branch, St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, United African Organization, United National Antiwar Coalition, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Voces de la Frontera, and Women Against Military Madness.

4. Organize a protest in your city or on your campus Oct. 2
In addition, for those who cannot go to Detroit, we are calling for support rallies to be organized across the country on the day of the hearing. Also, spread the word about the call-in day!

5. FBI returns personal papers to Hatem Abudayyeh

Sept. 3 statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression

Recently, the FBI in Chicago returned to Hatem Abudayyeh the boxes of documents and personal effects they seized from his home four years ago.

Abudayyeh, a well known organizer in the Palestinian community of Chicago, had his home raided on Sept. 24, 2010, and was subpoenaed to a federal grand jury. The investigation involves a total of 23 people: anti-war and international solidarity activists, seven of them Palestinian.

“This is another victory, but it’s not over,” commented Abudayyeh. “According to Barry Jonas, the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is the prosecutor in our case, the government has an eight year statute of limitations on this investigation.”

Lawyers for the activists also believe that the statute gives the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago four more years to investigate.

“There’s no doubt that they copied all the documents, in addition to the thousands of documents seized from the homes of the other anti-war activists, so we’re not out of the woods yet,” continued Abudayyeh. “But this witch hunt must end. They’ve got nothing. All we did was work to end U.S. support for Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and that is not a crime.”

Rasmea Odeh the new target of Jonas

On Oct. 22, 2013, Barry Jonas played a role in the arrest of Rasmea Odeh, a legendary Palestinian leader in Chicago. Since her arrest, Odeh’s case has been linked to the case of the Anti-war 23.

When all 23 refused to testify, with the support of a broad mass movement, the grand jury ground to a halt. The Department of Justice did not stop their efforts to suppress the movements for Palestine and against war, however. They first arrested Carlos Montes, a veteran Chicano activist from East Los Angeles. Thousands of people from around the country spent over a year defeating the prosecution of Montes.

Then the Department of Homeland Security came after Odeh on the pretext that she failed to disclose in her application for citizenship that she had been unjustly imprisoned by the Israeli occupiers of Palestine and tortured into confessing to a crime that she did not commit.

Abudayyeh is the director of the Arab American Action Network, and Odeh is his co-worker.

Jonas was present in court the morning Odeh was arrested. He has a long history of persecution of Palestinians in this country for their efforts to support their homeland. He was the prosecutor in the case of the Holy Land Five, the leaders of the largest Muslim charity in the U.S. They are in prison and sentenced for up to 65 years.

Prosecutors and judiciary work together to uphold Israel’s criminal occupation

The case against Odeh turns on a confession extracted through sadistic, sexual torture by the Israelis. Barry Jonas upholds tortured confessions, as do many judges. Odeh’s lawyers objected to Paul Borman in Detroit, the first judge assigned to her case, because of his close ties to Israel and support for the occupation of Palestine. They feared that he would be one of those judges for whom Israel’s record of torture posed no problem. Borman was compelled by legal action and public pressure to recuse himself and step down from the case.

Abudayyeh concluded: “Our efforts helped push Borman out of Rasmea’s case, but we have to redouble our efforts to support and defend her.”

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.