Rasmea Odeh, a 67-year-old Palestinian American community leader who was tortured and sexually assaulted in an Israel prison in 1969, is now being unjustly prosecuted and threatened with deportation by the U.S. government.
She is being prosecuted by the authorities for “lying” 20 years ago on an immigration application regarding a torture-coerced confession. Outrageously, the judge in the case has ruled that Rasmea’s defense cannot include any mention of her torture at the hands of the Israeli authorities.
What does this mean? It means that the farce of a “justice” system has already denied the jury the most important piece of the story to hear in order for justice to be served.
The Israeli and U.S. version of the story, that Rasmea Odeh is a criminal and a terrorist, will be much, much harder to challenge without the true nature of the evidence being presented, especially in a U.S. court where judges clearly seek to carry out the anti-Palestinian strategies of the Pentagon and the State Department and where members of the jury will surely be affected by the pervasive anti-Arab racism in society.
The prosecutor has also threatened Rasmea Odeh’s supporters by accusing them, laughably, of criminal intentions and jury tampering. The judge has criminalized support of Rasmea Odeh by banning attire in support of Rasmea in the court room and “reminding” protesters that Detroit protest law bans shouting. In other words, the judge has demanded silence inside and outside of the court!
By seeking to further victimize Rasmea and the Palestinian community, the criminals in this case are the representatives of the U.S. government. In fear of the growing strength of the Palestine solidarity movement, the U.S. state is continually looking for ways to shore up the wall they have built between the people of Palestine and the people of the U.S.
The apparatus of the U.S. state wants you to view Palestinians as criminals and terrorists, not as who they truly are—a heroic people standing up to their oppressors. They wish to deny Palestinians the right to defend themselves both in their homeland and also in a courtroom in the United States.
We must not let this attack stand. All supporters of justice must rally to Rasmea Odeh’s defense.
Rasmea Odeh’s trial begins on Nov. 4. To find out more information and what you can do to immediately stop this outrageous attack click here now.
