Vol. 75/No. 5      February 7, 2011

Constitutional protections fought for and won by working people are the target of the federal grand jury currently convened in Chicago to hear a case involving 23 political activists. The FBI says the 23 are part of an “ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into activities concerning the material support of terrorism.” Those served subpoenas correctly accuse the government of a fishing expedition aimed at curtailing opposition to Washington’s wars and domestic policies.

This case is being vigorously pursued under the watch of President Barack Obama. Leading the prosecution is Patrick Fitzgerald, a Democratic politician and darling of liberals for his successful conviction of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a top aide of former vice president Richard Cheney. Fitzpatrick’s record includes helping to convict Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim cleric, on frame-up charges of trying to bomb the World Trade Center; and in sending to jail Lynne Stewart, who is serving 10 years for distributing a press release by her client Abdel-Rahman.

The same day as the January 25 grand jury session in Chicago, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a native of Tanzania, was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to damage U.S. property. The jury had acquitted him of 284 other counts of murder and conspiracy in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; much of the government’s evidence was gathered through torture. The capitalist rulers have chosen to try some detainees like Ghailani in federal courts rather than under military tribunals to set precedents for undermining the rights of the accused. Ghailani, for example, was prohibited by the judge from introducing evidence about his treatment over several years at the Guantánamo prison camp and in a secret CIA prison.

The current grand jury investigation in Chicago is deeply connected to attacks on rights such as freedom of speech and assembly and the right to a fair trial. The U.S. government keeps pushing to narrow these rights in order to defend the profit system, anticipating that workers will increasingly fight to defend themselves against the conditions being wrought by crisis-ridden capitalism.
 
 
Related articles:
Rally in Chicago opposes grand jury witch hunt
Prosecutor has long frame-up history  
 
 
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