“Organized mass struggle is the only way justice is won” say activists

Detroit, MI – Judge Gershwin Drain oversaw jury selection today in the case of Rasmea Odeh. Odeh is on trial in Detroit for failing to disclose in her application for citizenship that she was tortured by the Israeli military in 1969 until she confessed to a crime she didn’t commit. Over 90 people filled the overflow room set up for her supporters to watch on close circuit television.

Detroit, MI – Judge Paul D. Borman was forced to remove himself from the case of Palestinian community leader Rasmea Odeh, Aug 11. Late last month, Judge Borman stridently denied a defense motion calling on him to step down. The motion asserted that his lifelong support for the state of Israel – whose arrest, torture and conviction of Odeh for alleged Jerusalem bombings in 1969 is at issue in this case – would not allow for a fair trial. Odeh has pleaded not guilty to the charge of Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization and vehemently refutes the Israeli convictions, which were based on a forced confession after extended periods of vicious physical and sexual torture.