Miami activists want release for 'Liberty City 7'

A Miami activist group is holding a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday to call for the immediate release of the Liberty City 7, the 'home-grown terrorists' whom DOJ plans to re-try (but with a 'secret' jury this time) in order to prop up the effort to convince Americans to surrender their liberties in favor of security.

I know Max Rameau, one of the organizers, and have written about him here at dKos before. He's the real deal, and he's emerging as one of the most prominent progressive voices in South Fla.---couldn't happen to a better guy.

Says Rameau:

"In this political climate, the fact that a jury refused to convict a group of men charged with terrorism speaks volumes about the weakness of the case against them," says Max Rameau of CopWatch. "The US government is using the 'war on terror' to advance a domestic political agenda. In addition to costing time and money, in addition to ruining the lives of these men and their families, this is not making anyone safer."

The entire news release is posted below.

lutznancy posted a brief but excellent diary about the Liberty City 7 a few weeks ago if you're unfamiliar with the case---it has a couple excellent comments as well.

Here's the Copwatch news release:

Press Release
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Community Activists Demand Freedom For the Liberty City 7
for immediate release

CopWatch and other community organizations, led by CopWatch, are calling for the Justice Department to drop all charges against the Liberty City 7 and to release all seven men so they can spend the holiday with their loved ones. The press conference will be held on Monday, December 24, 2007 at 10:00AM in front of the warehouse used by the group on NW 15th Ave. at 63rd St.

Following the highly publicized arrests in the summer of 2006, including a press conference by then Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, community members and legal experts raised questions about the quality of those arrests, given the dubious charges and claims by prosecutors that seven impoverished and unarmed black men concocted a viable plan to overthrow the United States government.

Days after the arrests, CopWatch organized a press conference raising questions about the political nature of the charges, rhetoric and timing of the raid, set to coincide with an appearance of the FBI director on the Larry King show. At the time, the New York Times was set to release a story about the Bush Administration spying on the financial transactions of millions of American citizens. Subsequent media coverage of seven "home grown terrorists" easily outpaced that of stories recounting government spying on US citizens. Since then, the Justice Department has been hammered with accuasations of politically motivated investigations and arrests, ultimately resulting in the resignation of Attorney General Gonzalez.

Since then, the seven men faced prosecutors and a jury which could not find six of the men guilty, but did acquit one defendant, Lyglenson Lemorin, outright. In spite of his acquittal, Lemorin remains in the custody of federal immigration officials and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, even though he is a legal resident found guilty of no crimes. Community organizations argue that the arrests were motivated by political considerations, not national security. The men are no threat to anyone, and, therefore, all charges should be dropped.

"In this political climate, the fact that a jury refused to convict a group of men charged with terrorism speaks volumes about the weakness of the case against them," says Max Rameau of CopWatch. "The US government is using the 'war on terror' to advance a domestic political agenda. In addition to costing time and money, in addition to ruining the lives of these men and their families, this is not making anyone safer."

The groups are calling on the Justice Department to drop all charges and cancel the upcoming new trial set for January 7, 2008.  Community organizations and individuals will speak at the event.

Contact:

Max Rameau, CopWatch

•  Stop the Republican war against poor Black people

  When these seven men were arrested in mid-2006, the Bush regime made fantastic claims, which now turn out not to be true. These seven black men have lost more than 18 months of their lives and the Bush "justice" department is unable to convince a jury of anything.

  
  Officials had acknowledged that the defendants, known as the Liberty City Seven for the depressed section of Miami where they frequently gathered in a rundown warehouse, had never acquired weapons or equipment and had posed no immediate threat. But, the officials said, the case underscored a need for pre-emptive terrorism prosecutions.

  And for doing exactly nothing, they face 70 years in prison. ("Each defendant faced up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all four charges." )

  There is terrorism here but it is not by the poor black men behind bars. It is terrorism by the Bush  "justice department."

  Government needs to put up or shut up. The jury foreman said they have a weak case. The government is raising the terror level by charging these men with crimes they can not prove, and holding them in jail for a second trial. This is not the kind of "justice" Scooter Libby got.

  The New York Times

  December 14, 2007
  U.S. Falters in Terror Case Against 7 in Miami
  By KIRK SEMPLE

  MIAMI — One of seven indigent men charged with plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago as part of an Islamic jihad was acquitted on Thursday, and a mistrial was declared in the prosecution of the six others after the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked.

  The outcome was a significant defeat for the Bush administration, which had described the case as a major crackdown on homegrown terrorists.
  
  Officials had acknowledged that the defendants, known as the Liberty City Seven for the depressed section of Miami where they frequently gathered in a rundown warehouse, had never acquired weapons or equipment and had posed no immediate threat. But, the officials said, the case underscored a need for pre-emptive terrorism prosecutions.
  ...
  As for the six defendants on whom the jury deadlocked, the United States attorney’s office here said Thursday that it would retry them. The judge, Joan A. Lenard, ordered jury selection for the retrial to begin Jan. 7 and barred prosecution and defense lawyers from discussing Thursday’s outcome with reporters.

  The defendants — five Americans and two Haitians — worked in a small construction business owned by Mr. Batiste and were members of the Moorish Science Temple, a sect that blends Islam, Christianity and Judaism and does not recognize the authority of the United States government. They were charged with planning to join forces with Al Qaeda to blow up the Chicago skyscraper and several federal buildings in an effort at a government overthrow.

  The seven came under government surveillance in the fall of 2005 when a Yemeni man contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to report what he described as suspicious activity by them and their request that he help them contact Al Qaeda.

  Mr. Agron, the jury foreman, who described himself as an educator at a synagogue, said the case’s complexity, with seven defendants each facing four conspiracy counts, had made for "tough" deliberations.

  "There were just different takes by different people," he said. "People have different takes on what they saw, on what was said and what was meant."

  Mr. Agron declined to detail how the 12 jurors had split on each count and each defendant. But he said they had thought the weakest count was the government’s charge that the defendants had conspired to wage war against the United States.

  The other charges were conspiracy to provide material support to Al Qaeda, conspiracy to destroy federal buildings and conspiracy to provide material support for the destruction of federal buildings.

  Each defendant faced up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all four charges.

  The case first seemed headed for a mistrial on Thursday of last week, when the jury, in a note to Judge Lenard, suggested that it was struggling to agree on verdicts for all seven defendants. A second, similar note was sent to the judge on Monday. Both times, she directed the jurors to keep trying.

  On Thursday afternoon, the jury sent out a third note, saying that it had reached a verdict on one defendant but that "we believe no further progress can be made."

  Terry Aguayo contributed reporting.

  Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

  http://www.nytimes.com/...

  by skywriter on Mon Dec 24, 2007 at 01:47:36 AM PDT

•  It would be an encouraging sign

  I'd like to see these guys released. It's one of the things I'm looking for, a bellwether of a return to sanity. Keeping my shoes on at airport security, that's another one. Gitmo closing is another one. Telco prosecutions for the spying bit, that's another.

  Because these guys being behind bars makes me feel a lot less safe. Their incarceration means that the government is manufacturing bogus charges and trying to railroad people into prison for theatrical reasons.

  by The Raven on Mon Dec 24, 2007 at 02:51:47 AM PDT

•  The fact that we can't trust

  our own justice department shows just how far our country has fallen.

  The very people American citizens need to be able to trust have shown themselves to be liars and political hacks.

  I would rather take my chances against the "terrorists" than have those traitors in DOJ protect me.

  by saildude on Mon Dec 24, 2007 at 02:59:57 AM PDT