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Peace activist Desiree Fairooz was convicted of disorderly conduct today in US Superior Court. Fairooz approached and called US Secretary of State Condi Rice a war criminal at a congressional hearing in September 2007.
Government prosecutor and pro-war supporter, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, asked Judge Richard Ringell to sentence Fairooz to 90 days in the DC Jail. Ringell told Fairooz that there is a price for civil disobedience that included jail time. However, the judge said he would not be sentencing Fairooz to jail time, according to peace activists who were in court today. Instead Ringell sentenced Fairooz to 5 days jail time suspended, 3 months of unsupervised probation, and the payment of $50 to the victims of violent crime fund activists said.
Fairooz, a Code Pink activist, is the latest peace activist to be convicted and sentenced for speaking out against the war and occupation of Iraq. In April, local DC activist David Barrows was convicted for speaking out against General Petraeus also in September 2007. Barrows was sentenced to 18 months supervised probation and a several hundred dollars fine. Barrows also did not receive a jail sentence in spite of the prosecutor’s request.
Statistics are being compiled by Baltimore peace activist Max Obuszewski for acts of nonviolent civil resistance that lead to the trials of these arrested activists. In 2007 over 1000 peace and social justice activists were put on trial for their acts of nonviolent resistance to the US war and occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, and torture according to Obuszewski.
The requests by government prosecutors for significant jail time is increasing in an attempt clamp down on organized resistance and dissent against the war and torture by the US. A government prosecutor was recently overheard telling police that if the government could just go after the “leaders” they could stop the movement according to a DC activist who witnessed this interaction in the hallway of Superior Court.
Prosecutor Shapiro, who represents the government in many of the trials with activists, is a known Iraq War supporter. He has had opinion pieces published expressing his support for the war in addition to politicians like Joe Lieberman. He is a former tabloid reporter who covered the Jon Benet Ramsey case.
Government prosecutor and pro-war supporter, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, asked Judge Richard Ringell to sentence Fairooz to 90 days in the DC Jail. Ringell told Fairooz that there is a price for civil disobedience that included jail time. However, the judge said he would not be sentencing Fairooz to jail time, according to peace activists who were in court today. Instead Ringell sentenced Fairooz to 5 days jail time suspended, 3 months of unsupervised probation, and the payment of $50 to the victims of violent crime fund activists said.
Fairooz, a Code Pink activist, is the latest peace activist to be convicted and sentenced for speaking out against the war and occupation of Iraq. In April, local DC activist David Barrows was convicted for speaking out against General Petraeus also in September 2007. Barrows was sentenced to 18 months supervised probation and a several hundred dollars fine. Barrows also did not receive a jail sentence in spite of the prosecutor’s request.
Statistics are being compiled by Baltimore peace activist Max Obuszewski for acts of nonviolent civil resistance that lead to the trials of these arrested activists. In 2007 over 1000 peace and social justice activists were put on trial for their acts of nonviolent resistance to the US war and occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, and torture according to Obuszewski.
The requests by government prosecutors for significant jail time is increasing in an attempt clamp down on organized resistance and dissent against the war and torture by the US. A government prosecutor was recently overheard telling police that if the government could just go after the “leaders” they could stop the movement according to a DC activist who witnessed this interaction in the hallway of Superior Court.
Prosecutor Shapiro, who represents the government in many of the trials with activists, is a known Iraq War supporter. He has had opinion pieces published expressing his support for the war in addition to politicians like Joe Lieberman. He is a former tabloid reporter who covered the Jon Benet Ramsey case.