Grand Rapids, MI – Nida Abu Baker was a child when the FBI began their decades long campaign of repression against her father, Shukri Abu Baker, and the charity he helped run, The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF).

After trumped-up material support for terrorism charges and nearly two decades of prison, Shukri and his colleague Ghassan Elashi still remain behind bars. Their crime: fundraising for humanitarian aid and the construction of schools and clinics within Palestine.

It was weeks after 9/11, and the U.S. was already flexing its domestic muscle by ramping up its Islamophobic “war on terror.” Shukri Abu Baker, alongside his colleagues Mohammad El-Mezain, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh, were some of its earliest domestic victims.

Palestine solidarity activists in Grand Rapids were honored to have Nida Abu Baker speak on her own activism and the struggle to free her father and his colleagues from prison. She was joined by Zena Ozier, an activist-lawyer with the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), and Tom Burke, a member of the Anti-war 23 and labor leader, for a panel discussion featuring the story of the Holy Land 5 and the struggle of political prisoners at home and in Palestine.

“Politically, I didn’t choose activism. Activism chose me. I had no choice. My politicization came from my personal experience,” Nida Abu Baker began. “Everything that I am now is because of my childhood. When the HLF shutdown it’s like I lost my home. A lot of people in the community felt the same way. Homes were raided. Phones were tapped, people we loved were suddenly gone and deported. I was only seven years old when the initial raids happened, but I understood why we were being targeted – that helping Palestinians was being criminalized.”

After their sentencing, it became clear that the U.S. had been surveilling the Holy Land Foundation since the mid-90s. In 2001, the Foundation was raided and its assets were frozen. In 2004, the U.S. indicted the Holy Land 5 and raided their homes. In 2008, the five were convicted and sent to jail with heavy sentences ranging from 15 to 65 years.

“Growing up I remember seeing an unmarked FBI vehicle always parked in our neighborhood. The phones always sounded fuzzy – we knew we were tapped and we knew we were being watched. But that didn’t stop us from living normally,” said Abu Baker

When asked about her background and her own activism, Zena Ozier explained: “I learned to question the law. As a Lebanese American, I understood occupation. My maternal village had been occupied by Israel. My own lineage and family carried the struggle – it's part of my ancestry. The law here isn’t meant to protect people like us.”

Ozier continued, “Since the repression of the Holy Land 5, the U.S. uses several mechanisms to repress activists. For example, the prosecution itself was meant to send a chilling message to other organizations that even humanitarian aid could lead to prison time.”

The panelists also made it clear that solidarity between activists, groups, and between those facing political repression was necessary for combating these types of bogus charges.

“There were ties between what happened to the Anti-war 23 and the Holy Land 5,” explained Tom Burke. “Their goal was to give us sentences like what the Holyland 5 received – 15 years for just one charge.”

Both Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi are in Beaumont Prison complex in Texas. Both face worsening conditions brought on through almost 20 years of imprisonment and mistreatment.

“My father has had two near-death experiences while in Beaumont,” Nida Abu Baker said. “The conditions there are horrible. Once, my father was gassed by guards while other prisoners were fighting and he collapsed. If it weren’t for other inmates coming to his aid he would’ve passed away. Guards are constantly harassing him, raiding his room, and cutting him off from the outside world. Despite this he is an activist within the prison and has helped transform the lives of his fellow inmates for the better.”

The panelists fielded many questions from the audience on international solidarity, the Palestinian prisoner movement, and on organizing strategies.

Watch the full livestream of the event on Instagram @palestinesolidarity_gr

#GrandRapidsMI #MI #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #HolyLand5 #AntiWarMovement #Palestine

New York, NY – Jess Sundin, of the Committee to Stop FBI repression, spoke on a panel at the Left Forum here, June 8. Entitled the “Targeted killings of Americans on American soil: the story of Lynne Stewart, political prisoners and all progressive struggles in America.” The panel included Ralph Poynter, husband of jailed people’s lawyer Lynn Stewart and a leader of her defense committee. Also speaking was Ricardo Jimenez and Luis Rosa, fighters for Puerto Rico’s independence who served long prison sentences, Sue Udry of the Defending Dissent Foundation, Reverend Pinkney, Pam Africa, and others.

Sundin’s speech follows:

Greetings comrades and friends. It's an honor and humbling to speak with you today, and especially to appear on such an esteemed panel – you represent some of the most important movements of our time. Many of you have been invaluable allies to myself and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Thank you for all of your work.

As Ralph [Poynter] says, the clock is ticking for our brothers and sisters, political prisoners behind bars. These men and women, freedom fighters, were targeted by a government that has no interest in justice.

We are talking about a government that is in the hands of vampires who have no shame. They built a country on stolen land, on the backs of stolen people, by exploiting the labor of working people – especially African slaves, and now super-exploited immigrant workers. They wage brutal wars to seize control of other nations' wealth, and they protect banksters and bosses who steal the jobs, homes and safety net that thousands of working people need for our survival. They pass laws to limit our rights to organize and pave the way for environmental destruction. We must bear in mind that those in power have no interest in justice. In fact, their interests run counter to justice at every turn. They thirst for profit and domination and it is no surprise that they act out against those who see that another world is possible, and who dare to fight for it.

In preparing for today, I thought back to when I first met Lynne [Stewart] and Ralph, in the summer of 2008 at an anti-war conference in Ohio. This was after her conviction for material support to terrorism and related charges, but before her sentencing. I had stars in my eyes when I met the famous people's attorney, Lynne Stewart. I was charmed by her warmth and openness, when she signed on in support of the anti-war march I was organizing at the RNC in Saint Paul the following September. At that time, I had no idea that organizing would send me down a similar path to Lynne. Undercover agents surveilled myself and other protest organizers and began to manufacture a case against us, also on charges of material support to terrorism.

In 2010, the FBI carried out coordinated raids at the homes of anti-war and international solidarity activists. When they arrived at our home at 7:00 a.m. on Sept. 24, we did not understand the scope of these events. We were focused on the battering ram poised at the door when my partner and our 6-year-old daughter opened it. It soon became clear that the government was targeting us, just as it had Lynne, as well as so many Arabs and Muslims before us, in an effort to silence dissent and clear the way for imperialist wars abroad. In all, nine homes were raided, 23 people were subpoenaed to the grand jury, and another brother, Carlos Montes, was targeted with felony charges going back to an old COINTELPRO-era case against him as a leader in the Chicano movement. We had to fight back.

We made several important decisions:

First, we refused to cooperate with the prosecution. Not one of us testified at that grand jury, even with the threat of imprisonment for refusing. We would not help the government make a case against our colleagues in the U.S., nor would we give them information that could endanger the lives and work of our comrades abroad.

Our resolve won the support of thousands, who protested, made phone calls, signed petitions, and hosted speakers around our case.

Our second important decision was to build a public campaign in defense of ourselves and our work. I was giving press interviews on my front lawn, while FBI agents carried boxes of my belongings out the front door behind me. We never apologized for our organizing; we stood by liberation movements from Palestine to Colombia, even those unjustly termed ‘terrorist’ by the U.S. government.

Our third important decision was to unite with others fighting repression, starting with other targets of the bogus ‘war on terror.’ We have worked in support of the Holy Land 5, directors of the largest Muslim charity in the U.S., targeted because they are Palestinian and stand with their people against the Zionist occupation. The men of the Holy Land 5 are currently serving sentences as long as 65 years, after the same prosecutor from our case won a conviction on material support for terrorism. Amina Ali and Hawo Hassan, Somali women from Minnesota, were just sentenced last month to 20 and 10 years, for sending a few thousand dollars to support the orphans and widows of the civil conflict in their homeland – material support for terrorism. These are just a few cases, there are hundreds, everyone of them a shameful miscarriage of justice. Defending them is a key part of our strategy to defend ourselves.

Earlier this year, our efforts to unite against repression brought me to the shadow of Carswell, the prison that holds Lynne today. There were two important rallies for Aafia Siddiqui. She is a Pakistani woman about my age, mother of three, who on Sept. 23, 2010, the day before the FBI raided my home, was sentenced to 86 years for a bogus charge of attempted murder of a U.S. soldier holding her captive in Afghanistan, five years after she had been kidnapped from the streets of Karachi.

Unless people of conscience can win her freedom, Aafia will die in Carswell. Shamefully, the same is true for Lynne Stewart, and many people at the protest for Aafia carried signs for Lynne. As I stood outside of Carswell, it struck me that I could die there too. I have significant medical problems, and would likely be imprisoned there if the government made its terrorism case against me. Truth be told, the same could happen to anyone who stands up and organizes against this criminal system run by corporate gangsters and thug politicians.

We have revealing news reports every day, like the idea that the NSA is conducting warrantless phone and Internet surveillance against all of us, all the time. You know, I had a young activist friend, just last night ask on Facebook, why should she care if the government knows who she's calling or what she's writing in her emails, because she's not doing anything wrong. Of course, I wasn't doing anything wrong either, but an undercover agent spied on me for two years, posing as a friend and comrade, recording and reporting on our conversations and meetings. We need to understand that when the powerful are not openly repressing us, they are gathering information to use to repress us later. Now we are all treated like criminals. We are all Lynne Stewart.

The latest attack on sister Assata [Shakur], like the one on Carlos Montes in our case, shows us that the enemy never forgets. Both of them are heroes. They were attacked during the COINTELPRO era for their work, but they couldn't catch them then. Now, 40 years later, the government is trying to bring back those old cases, and call them terrorists. But they are heroes.

I want to close by urging everyone here to take real action to win freedom for Lynne Stewart, Mumia Abu Jamal, Oscar Lopez Rivera, and all political prisoners. I'll begin with my own pledge: The CSFR will stand with you. We've won real victories in our case – no one was jailed for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury, and Carlos Montes beat back charges that could have landed him 18 years, to resolve his case with not one day in jail. It's time for more victories, bigger victories. Let's bring Lynne home.

#NewYorkNY #PoliticalPrisoners #JessSundin #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #LynneStewart #InjusticeSystem #FBIRepression #HolyLand5 #NationalSecurityAgency

Minneapolis, MN – On April 15, Noor Elashi, daughter of wrongfully imprisoned Holy Land 5 defendant Ghassan Elashi, spoke to a packed room of over 50 people, mostly students from the University of Minnesota, about her father’s case. John Cline, Ghassan Elashi’s lawyer, also spoke of the injustice brought upon the five men who founded and built the largest Muslim charity in the U.S. George W. Bush shut down The Holy Land Foundation, falsely claiming its charity work for Palestine had ties to terrorism.

Elashi spoke passionately about the enduring spirit of her father despite being sentenced to 65 years. He is now in a Communications Management Unit prison in southern Illinois. “He’s told me that when he’s exonerated he will carry a sign saying ‘Free Palestine’ as he leaves prison,” Elashi said.

John Cline talked about the legal aspects of the case. Despite the government presenting many pieces of ‘evidence’ meant to scare the jury, the first trial of the Holy Land 5 resulted in a hung jury. All (but one) of the jurors thought the government had a faulty case. But the government’s Barry Jonas, and the other prosecutors, decided to try the men again. At the second trial, they used additional ‘evidence’ to guarantee a guilty verdict, including unverifiable evidence put forward by a witness testifying under anonymity and wild claims by so-called experts threatening a second 9-11-style attack.

A Federal Appeals court later found that it was a mistake to admit the new evidence but allowed the verdicts to stand.

Mick Kelly, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, ended the program by connecting the injustice brought against the Holy Land defendants to the attacks on those who speak out for justice, like himself and the other 22 anti-war and international solidarity activists who were subpoenaed and raided two and half years ago.

At this point, the legal remedies for the Holy Land 5 have been exhausted. But Elashi, Cline and Kelly made it clear that we should continue to speak out against the injustice of the Holy Land 5 case and speak against government repression like the ongoing case of the Anti-war 23.

This event was part of several events in Minneapolis, including one the previous night with local peace and justice activists. The event on April 15 was sponsored by Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Women's Student Activist Collective.

#MinneapolisMN #Palestine #PoliticalPrisoners #NoorElashi #IsraeliOccupation #AntiWar23 #GhassanElashi #HolyLandFive #FBIRepression #HolyLand5

Tampa, FL—Students, anti-war activists and community organizers gathered at the First United Church of Tampa on Sunday, March 24 to demand an end to U.S. government political repression. 35 people discussed ways to oppose political repression and gain freedom for the Holy Land Five.

Noor Elashi spoke about her father Ghassan Elashi, one of the Holy Land Five. Mr. Elashi co-founded The Holy Land Foundation and is currently serving a 65-year sentence in a Communications Management Unit (CMU) prison.

The Holy Land Foundation was a charity organization that provided food and supplies like clothing and books to children both in the U.S. and in Palestine. The Red Cross and other NGOs do very similar charity work. At the time, The Holy Land Foundation became the largest Muslim charity organization in the U.S. Shortly after 9/11 however, then-President Bush launched an FBI investigation and raided the homes of the charity leaders. They were investigated, tried twice and sentenced to long prison terms, becoming known as the Holy Land Five.

“Everyone who hears the facts of my father's case says he is an innocent man,” said Noor Elashi. She described visiting her father and taking photos outside the prison. The guards harassed her and confiscated her film, delaying and threatening to prevent the family’s visit with Ghassan Elashi. The guards forced Noor to delete all of her photographs; not even a photograph of her father was allowed to stay on her camera.

Noor describes how Ghassan Elashi was thrown in solitary confinement, “for hugging my little brother, who has Down syndrome, or for writing his name on a yoga mat.” Solitary confinement is a torturous way to punish those who are already serving time in special prisons for Muslims. Ghassan Elashi is now held at the CMU prison in Marion, Illinois. CMU prisons violate the human rights of prisoners and are much more restrictive than regular prisons.

John Cline, attorney for Ghassan Elashi, talked about the legal restrictions and outrageous rulings in the Holy Land Five case. The crowd learned the case is based on hearsay evidence – statements alleging the Holy Land Foundation was part of Hamas. In addition there was “shock video” unrelated to the case of Palestinians burning flags.

Finally Cline spoke of an Israeli military officer, never identified to the defense, who was allowed to testify. This is something new to U.S. trials and law. This is the first time the U.S. government structured a case in this manner. “I almost quit my practice after learning this detail,” said Cline. “It was hard for me to believe the justice system had failed and that there was no justice here.” Attorney John Cline ended his talk with urging those who were present to share this story with everyone they know. The Holy Land Five marked the beginning of a judicial form of political repression targeting American Muslims, but also anti-war and international solidarity activists.

The final speaker was Mick Kelly from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, who described the FBI raid of his home, “I was at work at 7:30 in the morning when I got a call from my wife telling me the FBI was in my house,” said Kelly. He left work and came home to a crowd of FBI agents taking pictures, throwing newspapers and other items into dozens of boxes. “Over 70 agents all across the country did the very same thing to 22 other anti-war activists,” said Kelly.

The raids were a direct attack on anti-war activists. Mick Kelly and the other 22 antiwar activists are living day to day without knowing when or where they may be raided or indicted. Under U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas' watch, law enforcement agent Karen Sullivan met and tricked her way into anti-war activists' lives; all while monitoring and reporting back to the FBI.

“I have spoken out about supporting the people's right to self-determination, to liberation for Palestine and Colombia. No amount of political repression will make me stop saying that,” said Mick Kelly.

Jared Hamil, an organizer of the event, said, “What every person at the talk took home with them was the fact that anti-war sentiment is growing. The Holy Land Five represent everything that is wrong with our current justice system. Charity is not a crime. Feeding children is not a crime. Being anti-war is not a crime. We must unite and fight back against these attacks and demand a stop to government political repression.”

The event was organized by Mel Underbakke of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms and Jared Hamil with Committee to Stop FBI Repression-Tampa. Leaders from Students for a Democratic Society, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the Bradley Manning Support Network were present.

Tampa is one of three Florida cities – also including Tallahassee and Gainesville – where Noor Elashi, John Cline and Mick Kelly are touring. If you are unable to attend the upcoming talks, be sure to sign the Stop FBI Repression Pledge to Resist FBI, Grand Jury Repression here: http://www.stopfbi.net/get-involved/pledge-of-resistance and share their stories with everyone you know.

“I told my father that as long as I am alive, people will hear about my father's case. I will not stop until there is justice,” stated Noor Elashi.

#TampaFL #NoorElashi #AntiWar23 #GhassanElashi #HolyLand5 #PoliticalRepression

“Hands off our families, hands off our friends! Barry Jonas, this must end!” This chant rang out in front of DePaul’s College of Law in Chicago, where over 30 protesters gathered to denounce Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas’ speaking at an event titled, “Fighting Terrorism in the Courtroom,” about government targeting of charity organizations that send humanitarian aid to Palestinians, especially the Holy Land Foundation (HLF). The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at DePaul raised the call, “Hey DePaul, let’s be clear – racists are not welcome here!” Other members of SJP organized a silent protest outside the door of the event, giving visual representation to how Palestinians are often silenced and reminding attendees of the killing of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli military.

Jonas is the notorious anti-Palestinian ideologue who is guilty of prosecutorial misconduct in the HLF case – most egregiously denying the defendants their constitutional right to confront witnesses against them, specifically an Israeli intelligence officer who refused to release his identity, agreeing only to testify under a pseudonym. This and many other constitutional violations led to the convictions of five leaders of HLF, each now serving decades in prison.

A number of protesters went inside the event to confront Jonas directly, putting themselves face to face with him and his supporters. Some questioned the audience, asking how an institution that claims to stand for justice could allow a presentation rooted in Islamophobia and racism. Others spoke to Jonas directly.

Joe Iosbaker, one of the 23 antiwar activists who were subpoenaed to a federal grand jury by Jonas’ superiors in 2010, queried him: “My wife and I had our home raided two and a half years ago due to similar allegations of material support for terrorism. No indictments have been issued but we have had a dark cloud hanging over our heads ever since. How long is the statute of limitations on cases like this?” Jonas responded that the statute of limitations was eight years but added that he could not comment on ongoing investigations. Iosbaker left the room while shouting: “Solidarity is not a crime! Charity is not a crime! Organizing is not a crime!”

Jonas’ supporters revealed even more about the true nature and character of these investigations. One shouted that he hoped Iosbaker would be “indicted tomorrow,” and another suggested using torture techniques on a protester who was being escorted out of the event by the police. In the morning, an organizer of the event told a DePaul law student, who was passing out leaflets about Jonas’ history of attacks on Palestinians, that she would make the rest of his career at the College of Law very difficult for him. She also stated that he may be in violation of student conduct rules by objecting to Jonas and that his protest would most certainly be a roadblock to his ability to practice law in the future.

Despite the bloodthirstiness of his supporters, Jonas and his co-panelist, Stephen J. Landes, crumbled under the pressure of the dissenters. They could not make it through the whole presentation and the event ended half an hour early, much to the embarrassment of the Judaic Studies faculty, students and staff who organized the event.

Jonas was escorted out of a back entrance to avoid contact with protesters, but the picket outside DePaul continued. Attendees left hearing the sound of chants like, “Hey hey, ho ho, Islamophobia has got to go!” Muhammad Sankari, a member of the Chicago chapter of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and a protester, said, “Our shutting down of Jonas was a major victory. These people cannot just spew their racism with impunity.”

Kait McIntyre is a member of the Chicago Antiwar Committee

#ChicagoIL #PalestineSolidarity #JoeIosbaker #AssistantUSAttorneyBarryJonas #AntiWar23 #FBIRepression #HolyLand5 #PoliticalRepression

John Cline of the Holy Land legal team described how the government first shut down the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), the largest Islamic charity in the U.S., in 2001, and then in 2004 charged five of their officers with aiding Hamas, a Palestine Islamic group. These five included the president of the HLF, Shukri Abu Baker, chairman of the board Ghassan Elashi, and Mohammad El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulraham Odeh.

Despite years of wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping, the government had no convincing evidence that the HLF was funding Hamas. Instead the government argued that the HLF aid to local Zakat (Islamic Charity) Committees in Palestine improved the lives of the people and thus helped Hamas. But these same committees also received aid from the U.S. government, the United Nations and the Red Crescent (Islamic Red Cross) and were not on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Despite the use of an anonymous witness who worked for Israeli intelligence and testimony about Hamas, the jury did not convict any of the defendants and there was a mistrial.

The government came back and charged them again. In the second trial the prosecutors, including the notorious Barry Jonas, had a witness testify that “everybody knew” that the Holy Land Foundation was Hamas – which is hearsay and generally not admissible in trials. Another witness from the U.S. Treasury Department said that the official U.S. terrorist list doesn’t matter. A third witness testified that the HLF charity “could lead to another 911.” Last but not least, an anonymous witness testified who claimed to be a Israeli military officer. This witness further claimed to have documents from the Israeli attack on the Palestinian Authority headquarters, saying that the HLF was the fundraising arm of Hamas. With this, the government was able to win a conviction on material aid to terrorism and sentence the defendants to 15 to 65 years in jail.

While an appeals court found that the four testimonies in the second trial should not have been allowed, it upheld the conviction. A later appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was turned down, ending the legal fight. The Holy Land Foundation 5 are now being held in a Communication Management Unit or CMU, where inmates are not allowed contact with each other and very limited contact with the outside world. About 70% of the CMU inmates are Muslim, reflecting the government’s campaign of harassment and repression against American Muslims.

The next speaker was Ling Wu Lee, director of the Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education. Ms. Lee told the audience how in the days after Pearl Harbor, the government rounded up thousands of Japanese immigrant men who were religious, business and cultural leaders in the community and sent them to prison camps. With the established leadership of the community in prison, President Roosevelt issued executive order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942 that led to the roundup and incarceration into concentration camps of 120,000 Japanese Americans on the west coast.

Fred Korematsu was a young Nisei (second generation American of Japanese descent) who tried to evade the roundup but was caught and convicted. Korematsu appealed his conviction with the help of the Northern California ACLU (the national ACLU leadership refused to help) but in the end the U.S. Supreme Court, on a six to three vote, upheld the concentration camps.

40 years later, a team of lawyers from the San Francisco Asian Law Caucus, along with professor Peter Irons, proved that government prosecutors had lied and withheld evidence that Japanese Americans were not supporting Japan. This led to Fred Korematsu and other concentration camp resistors – Gordon Hirabayashi and Min Yasui – having their convictions overturned.*

Fred Korematsu, before he passed away in 2005, and the Korematsu Institute today, opposed the treatment of American Muslims after 911.

Other speakers on the panel included Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of the Bay Area Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) who called for “compassion, inspiration and indignation,” from those there that night. Dan Carpenter of the National Lawyers Guild, and on the legal team for the Irvine 11 (eleven college students who were prosecuted for protesting a speech by the Israeli ambassador), called for people to organize together to make change.

In the question and answer session that followed, John Cline stressed that while the U.S. legal path seemed to be closed for the Holy Land Foundation 5, there is a need to speak out and affect political change in the country.

*[editor’s note: While their convictions were overturned, this was done on procedural grounds, and there was not a judgment that the World War II concentration camps were unconstitutional. Thus, legally, there is not a ban on the U.S. setting up concentration camps again.]

#SantaClaraCA #AsianNationalities #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #HolyLandFive #FredKorematsu #HolyLand5