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News and Views from the People's Struggle

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By Rasmea Defense Committee

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Rasmea Defense Committee

All out for November 29th federal court hearing – most important of the case – in Detroit! If you're not in the Midwest and can't make it to Detroit, organize a solidarity event in your city!

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By Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Oct. 29, 2016 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

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By staff

_Interview with the General Union of Palestinian Students _

On April 6, students at San Francisco State University (SFSU) protested the Israeli mayor of occupied Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, who came to speak on campus. For nearly five months, the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) was under investigation by the SFSU administration after the protest. SFSU released the investigator’s report on Sept. 1.

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By Michela

New York, NY – The struggle is building to get justice for long time Palestinian American leader Rasmea Odeh as her defense attorneys and supports push back against new legal attacks.Odeh’s case began on Oct. 17, 2013 when federal agents arrested her on a trumped-up immigration charge, alleging she failed to disclose her arrest 40-plus years ago in Israel. When Odeh and her defense team headed to trial in November 2014, they presented the presiding federal judge, Gershwin A. Drain, with solid evidence that Odeh didn’t disclose her arrest on the 20-year-old immigration form because she was suffering from PTSD as a direct result of torture by the hands of the Israeli military. However, Judge Drain deemed the evidence inadmissible and Odeh was convicted on these charges.Odeh and her legal team didn’t give up. They pushed for an appeal and Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Judge Drain should have accepted the expert testimony concerning Odeh’s mental state.This Nov. 29, Judge Drain will assess arguments on whether Dr. Mary Fabri’s expert testimony is valid and scientifically sound to accept for the case. Dr. Fabri is a renowned psychologist who has worked closely with torture survivors.Prosecutors are making motions to “examine” Odeh before the Nov. 29 hearing. This move is an attempt to intimidate Odeh. A statement from the Rasmea Defense Committee notes, “Such an examination is irrelevant as to whether Dr. Fabri’s testimony is reliable and applicable. Nothing asked of Rasmea would change Dr. Fabri’s credentials as an internationally recognized expert on PTSD, or her ability to opine on how Rasmea’s PTSD affected her mental state during any of the dates in question.”The Rasmea Defense Committee is carrying out a major mobilization for the Nov. 29 hearing which will take place at the courthouse at 231 W. Lafayette Boulevard, in downtown Detroit, Michigan,

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By staff

Minneapolis protest against deportation of Cambodian refugees.

Minneapolis, MN – A hundred people rallied in Minneapolis Sept. 14, calling for a stop to the deportation of several Twin Cities-area Cambodian (Khmer) refugees who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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By staff

Rasmea Odeh

Detroit, MI – Defense attorneys for Rasmea Odeh, the Palestinian American icon who was wrongfully convicted in a politically-motivated, federal immigration case, filed a motion yesterday in response to last week’s ruling by Judge Gershwin Drain that Rasmea would have to submit to up to 18 hours of a government expert’s examination of her mental state.

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By Meredith Aby

Burhan Mohumed

Minneapolis, MN – Burhan Mohumed, a Somali-American leader in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis and a member of Minnesotans Against Islamophobia, was visited by law enforcement on July 22. Mohumed refused to speak to them and quickly posted the audio of their encounter online.

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By staff

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Detroit, MI – Rasmea Odeh, a survivor of vicious torture at the hands of the Israeli military, will be compelled to undergo hours of psychological evaluation by a government forensic examiner, according to a ruling by federal Judge Gershwin Drain. Drain cancelled a Sept. 22 hearing on the matter in Detroit, where supporters from across the Midwest had planned to join Odeh.

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By Rasmea Defense Committee

All out for September 22nd federal court hearing in Detroit

Rasmea Odeh speaking.

Fight News Service is circulating the following August 5 statement from the Rasmea Defense Committee.

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By National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera

Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad)

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad).

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