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Citizens Face Prosecution for Speaking Against Wars

Monday, June 22, 2009
Posted in Peace | Tagged Peace

BACKGROUND: On January 6, 2009, the first day of the 111th Congress, seventy people came to Washington D.C. from all over the United States to participate in the MARCH OF THE DEAD.   Their goal was to stage a peaceful protest displaying the ever-increasing death toll due to the AUDACITY OF WAR CRIMES committed by our government.  Their right to assemble and petition our government for redress of grievances was disrupted when the Capitol Police stopped the reading of the names of the dead from the illegal wars and occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.  Seventeen of them were arrested.

WHAT: Four of the people featured in this report by Bill Moyers’ Journal in January ( http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01092009/watch3.html) face prosecution for disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly.
 
The question must be asked, especially, in light of the release of “torture memos” and all the other mounting evidence of crimes committed by the Bush administration: Why are people being prosecuted for speaking against crimes committed by government officials who remain free from prosecution themselves?