Detroit, MI – A major mobilization is underway to support Palestinian American leader Rasmea Odeh at her appearance in Detroit Federal Court, on Tuesday, April 25, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. A solidarity rally at starts at 1:00 PM and the hearing begins at 2:30 p.m., at U.S. District Court, 231 W Lafayette Boulevard, downtown Detroit.
San José, CA – On March 25, 200 people marched from San Jose Japantown to San Jose City Hall to express the solidarity between Japanese Americans and American Muslims. Since the election of Donald Trump, many Japanese Americans have been mobilized to oppose the anti-Muslim government policies such as the travel ban from majority-Muslim countries. The march was sponsored by the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) and the South Bay Islamic Association (SBIA).
Minneapolis, MN – Two Latin American leftists, Gloría Inés Ramírez and renowned Marxist sociologist Atilio Borrón, were detained by Mexican immigration authorities based on information provided by the U.S. government.
Detroit, MI – Michael Deutsch, Jim Fennerty, and the rest of the legal defense team for Rasmea Odeh are gearing up for trial, now scheduled for May 30. New motions filed this week put the question of Israel and its torturers front and center, and will be considered at a hearing on April 25 (moved from April 4).
Minneapolis, MN – I first met Lynne Stewart, and her husband Ralph Poynter, in the summer of 2008 at an anti-war conference in Ohio. When I met the famed “people’s lawyer,” she was in the midst of appealing her conviction for the bogus crime of vigorously defending her client. Lynne was humble and warm, and didn’t seem to notice that I was star struck as she signed on in support of the anti-war march I was organizing at the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul the coming September.
Tampa, FL – On Jan. 27, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” which bars entry of nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries regardless of whether they have valid visas, green cards or refugee status.
Today, Jan. 31, the lawyers defending Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh moved to dismiss the new indictment that was brought against her in December 2016. The motion and supporting brief argue that the government’s “superseding indictment has substantially broadened the scope of the trial and the evidence that will be relevant and at issue.”
New York, NY – On Jan. 28, the day after President Trump signed the executive order to restrict Muslims from seven countries from entering the U.S., reports came from the John F. Kennedy International airport saying that 12 people, including an Iranian Ph.D. student and two Iraqi refugees, were being detained under Trump’s new rule.
Grand Rapids, MI – Between 500 and 600 people protested President Trump's Muslim travel ban at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in West Michigan. The protesters stretched for a quarter mile along the busy entrance road to the airport at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29.
New York, NY – Activists gathered in front of the Philippine Consulate General on Fifth Avenue Dec. 9 to demand that Presidential Advisor on the Peace Process, Jess Dureza, uphold peace and justice in the Philippines.
Minneapolis, MN – Jan. 10 is the date set for the new trial of Palestinian American leader Rasmea Odeh. The new trial comes after a successful appeal to Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and legal wrangling before Judge Drain of Detroit’s federal court.