Chicago: Protest Fitzgerald at UIC and Call-in Against Jonas: Thur., Jan 24
joe iosbaker
Protest former US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at meeting of University of Illinois Board of Trustees
Thursday, January 24th
3:30 pm
828 S. Wolcott, UIC Student Center West
Demand an End to Investigation of Anti-War Activists
Patrick Fitzgerald has been appointed to be a member of the UI Board of Trustees. His first meeting will be this week on the UIC campus. Activists who have been the targets of raids and grand jury subpoenas are calling for a protest.
Fitzgerald has played a leading role in the U.S. government's undermining of civil liberties during the so called “War on Terror.” He convened a grand jury in 2009 under the pretext of investigating “material support for foreign terrorist organizations,” and together with the FBI, sent undercover officers to infiltrate and spy on anti-war groups. The prosecutor in his former office, Barry Jonas, continues the investigation to this day, despite an outpouring of support for the targeted activists from the Arab and Muslim communities, faith leaders, labor unions, and a dozen members of Congress.
Fitzgerald also prosecuted Palestinians Muhammad Salah, who has U.S. citizenship, and Abdelhaleem Ashqar. Fitzgerald’s office presented evidence extracted from Salah through torture in an Israeli prison, and allowed the Israeli torturers to testify without allowing the defense to hear the testimony, the infamous "secret evidence." After Ashqar and Salah were acquitted of the major terrorism-related charges, Ashqar was indicted, convicted, and sentenced to over 11 years in prison for invoking his constitutional right not to testify to a grand jury--clearly a punitive response by Fitzgerald after his very public loss in the case.
In addition, Jonas was the primary investigator in the case of the Holy Land Five, in which leaders of a Palestinian Muslim charity were convicted of providing material aid to terrorism. They were sentenced to many decades in prison, based on alleged donations to the same Gaza-based charities that the U.S. government donated to, and based on the secret testimony of an agent of the Israeli state.
Also:
National Call In Day--Thursday, January 24
Call Assistant US Attorney Barry Jonas
at 312-353-5300 x 68027
Tell Barry Jonas..."We demand that:
1. Barry Jonas drop the “ongoing investigation” against 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists in the Midwest.
2. Barry Jonas return the personal belongings of Hatem Abudayyeh, a Palestinian-American activist in Chicago.
3. The FBI and other government agencies stop the political repression campaigns against Arab-Americans and Muslims, movements like Occupy Wall Street, and the Northwest grand jury resisters--currently in solitary confinement. "
On September 24, 2010, the FBI raided anti-war and international solidarity activists’ homes, eventually serving 23 subpoenas to a grand jury in Chicago, investigating “material support for terrorism.” Grand juries are secret courts with no judge; no lawyer for the subpoenaed, and the person in charge is the prosecutor. All 23 activists invoked their constitutional rights and refused to participate, but two and one-half years later, Jonas continues to insist the “investigation is continuing.”
Most of the activists targeted in this case, including Abudayyeh, helped organize the massive protest at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. At that time, an undercover law enforcement officer, going by the name of “Karen Sullivan,” infiltrated the protest efforts and stuck around to spy and lie about many of the 23 activists.
It is important to understand that Barry Jonas is the prosecutor responsible for putting Muslim charity leaders known as the Holy Land Five in prison for between 15 and 65 years in Dallas, Texas. See: http://freedomtogive.com/. Jonas is a dedicated Zionist, abusing his US government position to repress anti-war and solidarity activists.
For more on Hatem Abudayyeh and the 23 anti-war activists, go to the CSFR webpage.
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression is asking organizations to promote this national call in day on your lists and thru media for Thursday, January 24, 2013.
Let us flood Barry Jonas’ office with calls.
Thanks for your ongoing interest in the fight against FBI repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists!
Our mailing address is:
