LA 8 Hearings

I got this email from a friend today. Please tell others who live in the L.A. area about this.
Thanks.

ACTION ALERT: LA 8 HEARINGS BEGIN JULY 13!
Thank you for your appreciated and welcomed support for the Los Angeles Eight case (LA8).
The LA8 deportation hearing starts next week, 7/13-7/22.
Thousands of immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries have been harassed, intimidated, secretly incarcerated or deported in recent year, as part of the Bush administration's ongoing campaign to curtail civil liberties and immigrant rights while silencing dissent.
Michel Shehadeh and Khader Hamide were first arrested along with six other Palestinians and a Kenyan in 1987. They were held for 23 days in maximum-security cells, charged with "aiding terrorism." The basis of this charge was that they distributed magazines and fundraised for Palestinian social needs.

Former FBI Director William Webster testified to Congress that after an extensive three-year FBI investigation the Los Angeles 8 "have not been found to have engaged them selves in terrorist activity." Webster testified that, "If these individuals had been U.S. citizens there would not have been a basis for their arrest."
And yet today, 18 years later and counting, the government is still pursuing the case against Shehadeh and Hamide despite failing to present not a shred of evidence of any wrongdoing on the respondents part.

The ramification of the case is broad especially, against immigrants, and ultimately against everyone's freedoms. This administration claims that the constitutionally protected activities of the LA 8 are retroactively illegal under the USA Patriot Act. As Michel Shehadeh states, the government always picks the most vulnerable first in order to pursue dissent in general. Thus it is necessary to rally to the cause of Michel Shehadeh and Khader Hamide--an attack on them is an attack on free speech and is an attack on all. The LA times has recently published two in depth articles on the LA 8 as government hearings are set to begin later this month. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-fg-laeight29jun29,0,7631280,full.storyhttp://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-laeight30jun30,1,743032.story

WHAT YOU CAN DO!
1. Bring yourself, friends, family, and everyone you can to attend the hearings 7-13-05 through 7-22-05 at 606 South Olive St. Los Angeles, Ca 90014. IJ Einhorn's Court.

2. Forward this email or send your own about the case and upcoming hearing and send to all contacts on your list.

3. For donations please write the checks to International Humanity Center (or just IHC)/Committee 4 justice (or just C4J), and send it to the below address. Or, write it to the IHC and put in the memo C4J. Please don't write anything else on the check. Each donor will receive a tax exempt receipt by mail. You can donate online at www.committee4justice.com.
Please send your checks to the following address:International Humanity Center PO Box 923Malibu 90265
Thank you,www.committee4justice.comContact us: committee4justice@yahoo.com