>. The outrages continue.]
Friends,
Please excuse the second email this week. Yesterday, the government issued a motion asking for an anonymous jury and extra security in Fahad Hashmi's trial beginning next Wednesday, citing our recent mobilization and plans to turn-out people to court. (Exhibit A of the government's motion was the 500 at 500 poster we sent you last week calling on people to come watch the trial.)
It is disturbing that the government considers the growing public campaign we have built together around this case and these civil liberties issues dangerous. Their motion seems about ratcheting up the fear of the jury and painting Hashmi as guilty as he enters the courtroom. And it is quite revealing of how the US Attorney's office views people who will come to observe the trial, as they write "[I]t is likely that the jurors will see in the gallery of the courtroom a significant number of the defendant's supporters, naturally leading to juror speculation that at least some of these spectators might share the defendant's violent radical Islamic leanings."
The Center for Constitutional Rights issued a strong statement yesterday: http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-denounces-government-attempt-frighten-jury-nyc-trial-fahad-hashmi
Please consider attending the vigil Monday night April 26 outside of MCC (150 Park Row) or observing a day of the trial. Jury selection in the case begins Wednesday April 28 at 9:00 in Judge Preska's court at 500 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan. We expect opening arguments to begin Thursday afternoon or Friday morning and the trial to last 2-3 weeks.
Thank you for your continued commitment to these issues, Jeanne Theoharis Educators for Civil Liberties www.educatorsforcivilliberties.org