The Alliance for Global Justice has learned that at least three more solidarity activists in the Chicago area have been contacted by the FBI and are to receive subpoenas to appear before a Grand Jury. This is a continuation of the assault on the solidarity and anti-war movements that began on September 24th. This case began with 14 subpoenas delivered to anti-war, labor and solidarity activists in coordinated raids that swept the Midwest, involving scores of federal agents. “The FBI is continuing their campaign to intimidate the movement,” stated Joe Iosbaker of the National Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Iosbaker was one of those raided and subpoenaed in September.
National Lawyers Guild Attorney Jim Fennerty is one of the lead NLG attorneys from the
legal team for the activists. According to Fennerty, “The new subpoenas are summoning people for grand jury dates. At least one of the three has been told to appear before the grand jury Tuesday, January 25th, in the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.”
Three of the original 14 are also awaiting new grand jury court dates as well. Iosbaker
explained, “If the three women who have been called back – Sara Martin, Tracy Molm
and Anh Pham – refuse to take part in the fishing expedition carried on by the U.S.
Attorney, they can expect to be cited for contempt and jailed for the life of the grand
jury.” That consequence could apply to the three additional people subpoenaed as well.
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression urges supporters to contact U.S. Attorney
Patrick Fitzgerald and condemn the use of the grand jury to repress the anti-war and
solidarity movements. Call Patrick J. Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300.
The Alliance for Global Justice condemns and also urges all people of good will to
protest these attempts to criminalize dissent by contacting President Obama, Attorney
General Eric Holder, and your elected officials. We cannot allow this assault on
freedom of speech and association to become the norm in our country. Since the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we have seen vulnerable populations such as Muslims and
immigrants targeted with increasingly repressive legal and law enforcement tactics.
Protection of our rights has not improved under the Obama administration.
Thousands of solidarity activists have visited countries such as Colombia, Palestine,
Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Iraq, and Afghanistan which have governments or
resistance movements opposed to US imperialism. If we stand by and allow any group
to be targeted unfairly by US law enforcement, we all stand vulnerable. It is critical that
we act today.
Sample phone message: My name is ______________ and I live in _____________. I
want to protest the September 24, 2010, FBI raids on Minneapolis and Chicago peace
and justice activists and the expanding witch hunt by Federal Prosecutor Patrick J.
Fitzgerald. People involved in peaceful, anti-war activism and humanitarian justice work should never be harassed in this way. I demand that the raids and subpoenas against solidarity and anti-war activists be stopped immediately, that the grand jury drop its investigation, and that surveillance and infiltration of peace and justice organizations end. Thank you.
Make protests to:
Attorney General Eric Holder
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530-0001
202-514-1057 Main switchboard
202-353-1555 Comment line
[email protected]
President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
202-456-1111 Comment line
www.whitehouse.gov/contact
For more information on the case: www.stopfbi.net
