Monday, February 25, 2008

Pack the courtroom!

Defend anti-war activists, defend free speech!

Come to the courtroom:
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 9am
Judge Kaye Christian
DC Superior Court
500 Indiana Ave. NW
The ANSWER Coalition urges everyone who can to attend an important free speech trial that begins Tuesday, Feb. 26 (tomorrow). On trial are three anti-war activists arrested on Sept. 6, 2007, while holding a press conference to publicize a mass anti-war march held on Sept. 15. The arrests, captured on video, provoked national outrage. The youtube video, which has drawn over 80,000 viewers, can be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EAfPgX7gs0. Despite these intimidation tactics, 100,000 people turned out on Sept. 15 for a spirited march from the White House to the Capitol.

Now the activists -- Tina Richards (CEO of Grassroots America and mother of a disabled Iraq war veteran), Adam Kokesh (of Iraq Veterans Against the War), and Ian Thompson (ANSWER organizer from Los Angeles) are facing up to 6 months in jail wrongfully charged with defacing property and assault on an officer. This case is a fight for free speech: whether or not the anti-war movement has the right to publicize its events without persecution.

Come pack the courtroom, and let these brave activists know that they are not alone, that they speak for all of us, and we will not let the Bush administration persecute them for their pursuit of peace and justice.

Come to the courtroom:
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 9am
Judge Kaye Christian
DC Superior Court
500 Indiana Ave. NW

*from an email from the ANSWER Coalition*