The Obama Administration Targets Antiwar Activists: Frozen Bank Accounts and Free Speech in the US

Meanwhile, in the United States, Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and Attorney General Eric Holder are ramping up their attempts to indict and prosecute a number of antiwar and Palestinian support activists in the Midwest.  Most recently, the U.S. government (via the Treasury Department) froze the bank accounts of the Arab-American Action Network’s Executive Director Hatem Abudayyeh and his wife, Naima.  Neither of these individuals have been charged with a crime.  However, both were part of the series of sweeps conducted in late 2010 by the FBI and US Justice Department against antiwar activists in the Midwest.  These raids were conducted under the aegis of the PATRIOT Act and the Effective Death Penalty and Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996.  Both of these laws intentionally obscure the differences between expressing support for popular struggles in other nations and providing “material support.”  Of course, it is only activists supporting popular struggles opposed by the United States that face the possibility of prosecution.  Those that give millions to Israel, the so-called rebel movements in Libya and other armed groups supported by Washington are hailed as supporters of freedom, much like those that traded cocaine for guns to support the contras in Nicaragua.  Indeed, these latter endeavors are not only cheered but assisted by the federal government itself.

 full article here


Edit: for more information on how you can support activists targeted by the Obama Administration, check out StopFBI.net.