January 12, 2012

Contact:
Nathan Tempey, Communications Coordinator
communications@nlg.org
212-679-5100, ext. 15

New York - Over a month after National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Vice President Mumia Abu-Jamal was moved from death row, he remains in transitional solitary confinement under harsh restrictions.

“Mumia’s move off death row is a hollow victory if it means he is subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of the United Nations Convention against Torture,” said NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian.

Since Mr. Abu-Jamal’s transfer to administrative custody at SCI Mahanoy on December 7, 2011 he has been held in conditions far more restrictive than death row at SCI Greene, where he spent the last 17 years. He is now shackled and handcuffed whenever outside his cell; his visitation is cut to one hour-long visit per week; the number of stamps and envelopes he can use is greatly limited; his phone call privileges are reduced; and his commissary privileges have been revoked. He is also barred from having a television, typewriter or radio in his cell, and access to personal possessions such as books is severely limited.

The National Lawyers Guild and the Human Rights Research Fund sent Pennsylvania corrections department secretary John Wetzel a letter yesterday, calling on him to move Mr. Abu-Jamal out of administrative custody in SCI Mahanoy’s Restrictive Housing Unit and into general population.

“Once the District Attorney announced that its office would not seek a new sentencing trial, Mr. Abu-Jamal should have been transferred into general population,” the letter reads. “Such a transfer is not dependent on a judge’s formal resentencing to life imprisonment. Given that, and given his exemplary disciplinary record, we can only conclude that Mr. Abu-Jamal’s prolonged detainment in solitary confinement is in retaliation for his highly publicized and internationally-supported efforts to secure a new trial, and intended to placate those who have been demanding his execution.”

A petition in support of the letter is now circulating on the website change.org.

Convicted of the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer, Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist whose case and writings about the criminal justice system have garnered international attention. The Philadelphia district attorney’s office ended its pursuit of the death penalty last month after a federal appeals court found that jury instructions at Mr. Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial were misleading.

The NLG has long maintained that Mr. Abu-Jamal is entitled to a new and fair trial. Procedural irregularities plagued his case from the outset, including blatant constitutional violations.

Mr. Abu-Jamal has served as the NLG’s jailhouse lawyer vice president for over a decade.
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has members in every state.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

BOSTON — Civil rights attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union went to court today seeking to protect the rights of free speech, assembly, petition, and association for demonstrators at Occupy Boston in Dewey Square, in light of the heavy-handed police crackdowns in recent days on Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York, Portland, Ore., and Oakland, Calif.

“The Greenway is a public park and traditional open public forum and, as such, is a place where rights of free speech and assembly are paramount,” said Howard Cooper, an attorney from Todd & Weld, who filed the suit as a cooperating attorney with the National Lawyers Guild-Massachusetts Chapter and the ACLU of Massachusetts.

“It is unreasonable to suddenly and forcibly oust peaceful protestors from streets, sidewalks, and parks that have long been used as places for peaceful expression,” said Cooper.

The suit, filed in Superior Court, seeks a Declaration from the Court recognizing the right to peaceful protest and assembly under the U.S. Constitution and the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, as well as an injunction to prevent police from staging another night-time raid, such as the one that began Oct. 10, 2011 and continued into the early morning hours of Oct. 11, when the Boston Police conducted a mass arrest of 141 people in the middle of the night.

Although Boston police have said that they have no plans “today” to evict the Occupy Boston protesters, Boston Police Department spokesperson Elaine Driscoll told boston.com that, “It’s difficult to say what will happen moving forward, but we will make those decisions on a daily basis.”

Meanwhile, a BBC report aired on WGBH this morning suggests that the recent crackdowns in other cities may be part of a coordinated effort. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said that she participated in a conference call with leaders of 18 cities shortly before the latest wave of raids targeting Occupy Wall Street encampments across the country were launched, although she didn’t mention Boston by name.

“What happened in Boston on the night of October 10th when the police prevented hundreds of peaceful protesters from exercising their constitutional rights could be viewed as an indication of the City’s sentiments,” expressed Urszula Masny-Latos, Executive Director of the NLG, Massachusetts Chapter. “It seems like the Courts declare our rights; however, it is up to the Mayor and the police to decide who can exercise them, when, and how.”

“The right to peaceable assembly and protest is critical to our democracy,” said Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. “We urge the Court to issue a clear statement that, in America, the public streets and parks belong to the people, and the rights to peaceful protest and assembly will be protected.”

—

To view the documents submitted to file for a Temporary Restraining Order in Superior Court, please visit our other post: http://www.nlgmass.org/2011/11/legal-materials-occupy-boston-vs-city-of-boston-et-al/

Here is a copy of an article from Boston.com following the arrests at Occupy Boston on October 11, 2011.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino today defended the arrests of scores of Occupy Boston protesters in a section of the city’s Greenway park, saying he agrees with them on the issues but they couldn’t be allowed to “tie up the city.”

“I understand they have freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but we have a city to manage,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’m open to suggestions, but civil disobedience will not be tolerated.”

The early morning arrests of the protesters, who have gathered downtown in recent days to criticize the financial industry and social inequality, began at about 1:20 a.m. Police said late this afternoon that 141 people had been arrested.

“The message they are saying … is the middle class of America is having a difficult time. That’s the issue they are trying to get across,” Menino said.

“I agree with them on the issues. Foreclosure. Corporate greed. These are issues I’ve been working on my entire career. But you can’t tie up a city,” he said.

He said protesters had crossed two lines, first, by marching on the North Washington Street Bridge and threatening to tie up traffic and, second, by expanding their campground to a newly renovated area of the Greenway that the city had asked them to stay off.

Occupy Boston said today in a statement that police had “brutally attacked” protesters.

“Today’s reprehensible attack by the Boston Police Department represents a sad and disturbing shift away from dialogue and towards violent repression,” the group said on its website.

“Members of Veterans for Peace [a peace group that has joined the loosely organized protest] carrying American flags were pushed to the ground and their flags trampled as the police hauled them away,” the group said in a statement.

Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said officers “have a right to protect themselves,” and acted with restraint.

“We believe all our officers were respectful and proportional,” she said.

She said police felt compelled to break up the demonstration when it expanded beyond Dewey Square, where protesters have been camped for nearly two weeks, to the adjacent section of the Greenway.

“We have been very accomodating to everyone’s right to demonstrate peaceably,” she said. “But when unpredictability starts to enter the scenario, we are obligated to maintain public order and protect public safety.”

She said camping overnight on the Greenway, a public park, is generally not allowed. Police can also arrest groups of people for “unlawful assembly” if they do not disperse when ordered.

The first wave of those arrested made their appearances in Boston Municipal Court this afternoon.

By mid-afternoon, nine men who were still in custody, and 10 more men who had been released by police, were notified that Suffolk prosecutors wanted their cases converted into civil infractions from criminal violations.

Municipal Court Judge Raymond Dougan agreed to the request by prosecutors from Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. All 19 had originally faced two criminal charges. One, unlawful assembly, carries a maximum sentence of a year in the county jail or a $500 fine. The second, violation of a municipal bylaw, carries a $300 fine. The protesters were ordered to pay a $50 assessment fee to the courts.

The arrests began around 1:20 a.m. when police lined up on Atlantic Avenue. Minutes later, dozens of sheriff vans and police wagons arrived, and more than 200 officers, both in uniforms and riot gear, surrounded the section of the Greenway — bounded by Atlantic Avenue, Congress, Purchase, and Pearl streets — occupied by the protesters.

Police Superintendent William Evans and Commissioner Edward F. Davis watched from across the street. Evans gave the crowd two minutes to disperse, warning that they would be locked up if they did not comply.

The crowd, energized by the sudden appearance of the Boston and transit police officers, chanted, ‘‘The people united will never be defeated,’’ “This is a peaceful protest,” and “The whole world is watching.’’

About 10 minutes later, the first officers entered the park and surrounded the group. Evans, using a loudspeaker, gave one more warning and then each protester was individually put on his or her stomach, cable-tied, and dragged off as other officers tore down tents and arrested and detained people on the fringe of the park.

One police officer was hit in the face. According to police, no protesters or police were seriously injured.

A number of protesters retreated from the Greenway to Dewey Square when police arrived.

Urszula Masny-Latos, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild’s Northeast regional office, said she was on the scene as a legal observer. The Guild is a national non-profit that often represents people engaged in civil disobedience.

Masny-Latos said no protesters fought with police. She said police could have employed a technique routinely used at other protests – police approach a protester, tell them they are violating the law, and the protester then submits to being taken into custody – and still achieved their goal of clearing the area.

“They really attacked,’’ Masny-Latos said of police. “They used force that was completely unnecessary. … It was just brutal. I have no idea why they arrested us with such force.’’

To her shock, Masny-Latos herself was among those arrested. She said Boston police usually respect the legal observers the guild routinely dispatches to public protests.

However, even though she was wearing a green hat with the words, “legal observer’’ clearly visible, Masny-Latos said, she was the second person arrested by police.

“It was very surprising,’’ she said of being arrested. “Boston police usually respect our legal observers. And they usually leave us alone. … I was legal observing. I wasn’t even chanting anything.’’

“Four officers grabbed me and dragged me,’’ she said. “I begged them to stop, [told them that that] they were hurting me. I have no idea why they arrested us with such force.’’

Police had earlier warned the approximately 1,000 protesters to leave the Greenway area and relocate to either Dewey Square or a small, adjacent strip of the Greenway.

John Nilles, 74, a former Marine from Medford who served in Vietnam and is a member of Veterans for Peace, said he was knocked down during the arrests.

He believes he did not get arrested in the chaos because he got knocked down and banged up his knee.

“I have absolutely no use for police anymore,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

He talked about how it reminded him of the 1960s. “This is not the world I intended to come back to,” he said in reference to Vietnam.

James Woods, 52, of Roxbury, a protester who was not arrested, said this morning that police had not used their batons but he had seen them “aggressively manhandling women.” He also said police had used pepper spray on some people. The site was cleared, he said, and protesters’ cameras, tents, and clothes were thrown into a dumpster.

The section of the Greenway once occupied by the protesters remained closed off this morning, surrounded by groups of police officers and steel barricades.

The Rose F. Kennedy Greenway is a strip of green that winds through downtown Boston, named in honor of the matriarch of the legendary Kennedy political family. The park was created when an unsightly elevated highway through the center of the city was placed in a tunnel as part of the mammoth Big Dig project.

The Occupy Boston protest is one of the offshoots of the Occupy Wall Street protest that began in September in New York City. The loosely organized movement has recently begun drawing attention from Democrats and unions. Earlier Monday, hundreds of college students had marched through the city’s streets in a show of support.

Occupy Boston describes itself as the “beginning of an ongoing discussion about reforming Wall Street and removing special interests from government” and it says it is just one of more than 120 encampments nationwide.

To view the original article, click here: http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2011/10/boston-mayor-says-sympathizes-with-protesters-but-they-can-tie-the-city/GFmOU1qwApiGhBNsNSzMIL/index.html?p1=News_links

Here is some footage of the Boston Police arresting veterans and one of the Guild’s Legal Observer.  Footage taken on October 11, 2011.

July 5, 2011

By: Michael Avery, Professor of Law at Suffolk University and Former NLG President

Saturday, July 2, was Thurgood Marshall’s birthday, and it is high time President Obama remembers who Marshall was and what he meant to the struggle for civil rights and social justice in this country. Obama should announce now that at the first opportunity he intends to appoint someone to the Supreme Court with the experience, vision, courage and integrity that made Marshall such a great lawyer and great justice.

The son of a railroad porter who was born in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, Marshall endured racism first-hand. The future Supreme Court Justice was barred from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1930 because it was segregated. Marshall addressed that problem soon after graduating from Howard Law School, joining Charles Hamilton Houston in persuading the Maryland courts to order the school integrated in 1936. Marshall argued: “What’s at stake here is more than the rights of my client. It’s the moral commitment stated in our country’s creed.” In 1980 when the school named the law library after Justice Marshall he refused to attend the dedication ceremony, declining to be used as a vehicle for the school to salve its conscience.

As a lawyer, Marshall literally risked his life to argue for civil rights. He traveled through the Jim Crow South in a 1929 Ford, writing papers on a manual typewriter in his car, representing common people who had the courage to challenge the prevailing order. He sat in their homes, listened to their stories, felt their pain and then told truth to power, taking their cases to the highest court in the land. He worked for the NAACP for twenty-five years, twenty-three as lead counsel. He won 29 of 32 cases he argued in the U.S. Supreme Court, including of course, Brown v. Board of Education.

President George H.W. Bush replaced Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court with the conservative Clarence Thomas, whose principal civil rights “contribution” had been undermining the mission of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as its chair. When George W. Bush ran for office he promised to appoint conservative justices like Thomas and Antonin Scalia, and, as president, he did, making John Roberts the chief justice and putting Federalist Society stalwart Samuel Alito on the court. President Obama should have campaigned on the promise he would find a worthy replacement for Justice Marshall.

My argument is not that Obama needs to appoint an African-American justice. It is that he needs to appoint someone who has a visceral understanding– based on repeated exposure and opposition to injustice– of what the Constitution promises and how those promises have been broken.

Many such lawyers exist. Stephen B. Bright, senior counsel at the Southern Center for Human Rights, is a brilliant lawyer, author and professor who has devoted his life to fighting racial discrimination and representing poor people accused of crime, particularly in death penalty cases. If the president wanted a somewhat younger person with the promise of a longer tenure on the court, he could choose Bryan Stevenson, the executive director of Equal Justice Initiative. Stevenson, recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a professor at NYU Law School, has represented capital defendants and death row prisoners in the South for more than 25 years. Mary Bonauto has been the civil rights project director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders since 1990. She argued the Massachusetts case where the Supreme Judicial Court held that prohibiting marriage to same-sex couples is unconstitutional.   As a principal architect of the campaign for marriage equality in New England, she evokes the experience of Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston and the NAACP in overcoming state-sponsored apartheid.  All three are widely respected, and any of them would be a worthy heir to Justice Marshall. It is time for the president to honor his memory by promising to nominate a civil rights veteran to the Supreme Court.

Click here to see the original article.

January 26, 2011

United States Parole Commission
via facsimile 301-492-5543
5550 Friendship Boulevard, Suite 420
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815

Re: Oscar López Rivera, 87651-024, FCI Terre Haute

Dear Chairman Fulwood, and Commissioners Mitchell, Cushwa and Wilson Smoot:

On behalf of the National  Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter, I am writing to you with a plea to parole Oscar López Rivera.  The National Lawyers Guild, which was formed in 1937 as an alternative to the then-segregated national bar associations, is an association of thousands of lawyers and legal workers nationwide committed to serving the interests of the most disadvantaged members of our society.

I am aware of the parole hearing examiner’s recommendation to deny parole.  Nevertheless, I urge you to do the right thing and parole Oscar López Rivera.

Oscar was neither accused nor convicted of causing injury or taking a life.  He was never accused or convicted of participating in the 1975 Fraunces Tavern bombing, or any other action that resulted in injury or death.

In 1999, President Clinton determined that Oscar’s sentence was disproportionately lengthy and now Oscar has served three decades.  It is time for him to come home.

The parole hearing examiner arrived at the mistaken conclusion that releasing Mr. López Rivera on parole would depreciate the seriousness of the offense.  His decision was based on the testimony of people who unfortunately suffered as a result of a 1975 explosion at Fraunces Tavern in New York.  However, this unfortunate explosion had nothing to do with Mr. López Rivera, as he was not convicted or even accused of participating in that act.  These allegations are not new.  President Clinton had access to the very same information when he offered to commute Mr.Lopez Rivera’s sentence under certain conditions, which have now clearly been satisfied.

The recommendation also fails to take into account the fine examples of Mr. López Rivera’s co-defendants, who are productive, law-abiding members of society after their presidential commutation in 1999; and it fails to consider this Commission’s 2010 parole of his co-defendant Carlos Alberto Torres after he served 30 years in prison.

Mr. López Rivera clearly meets all of the criteria for parole.  His immediate parole will not depreciate the seriousness of the offense, and he poses no risk to public welfare, as evidenced by the overwhelming support for Mr. López Rivera’s parole from virtually the entire civil society of Puerto Rico, from the Puerto Rico Bar Association to the Ecumenical and Interreligious Coalition of Puerto Rico (which includes every religious denomination) to elected officials across party lines, including many, like Pedro Pierluisi, the Resident Commissioner to the U.S. Congress who represents the almost 4 million people of Puerto Rico, who opposes independence, the ideal to which Mr. López Rivera has devoted his life. This is critical evidence that the hearing examiner erred in overlooking or discounting.  This support also includes several members of the U.S. House of Representatives; prominent personalities, civic and religious leaders throughout the U.S.; elected officials, including from New York, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois; and international figures from Haiti, Mexico, and Australia.

It also includes Javier Jiménez Pérez, the pro-statehood mayor of San Sebastián, Puerto Rico — Mr. López Rivera’s hometown which he hopes to make his home once again.

Again, I urge you to grant Oscar López Rivera’s immediate release.

Sincerely,

Urszula Masny-Latos

Executive Director

For Immediate Release -
09/28/2010

New York:

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and its Mass Defense Committee provides legal defense and educational resources to activists, including those subjected to the September 24 raids and grand jury subpoenas in Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. The Guild denounces the attacks on free speech, freedom of association, and the right to dissent that these actions represent. The raids and summonses reflect escalating hostility toward individuals and groups working in solidarity with the Palestinian and Colombian people and are blatantly political attacks on peaceful activists.

National Lawyers Guild lawyers, in their continuing efforts to protect the right to dissent, are coordinating defense of these activists. The NLG offers several resources for activists who are subject to similarly aggressive and politically motivated breaches of their rights.

NLG Hotline: 888-NLG-ECOL (888-654-3265)

-A hotline for U.S. activists who have been contacted by the FBI. Callers are matched with NLG defense attorneys in their states who have experience dealing with similar cases.

Know Your Rights Brochure: www.nlg.org/resources/know-your-rights

-A two-page brochure that summarizes the rights of citizens when they are contacted or stopped by the police or federal authorities. Available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Farsi and Punjabi.

Operation Backfire: www.nlg.org/publications/operation-backfire

-A booklet that discusses government attacks on activists and subsequent prosecutions. Available for free download.

The National Lawyers Guild recommends that activists consult and make use of these resources. The Guild advises anyone visited by the FBI to assert your right not to answer any questions, to get the card of the FBI agent and state that you will have an attorney contact the agent on your behalf.

The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.

The National Lawyers Guild recommends that activists consult and make use of these resources. The Guild advises anyone visited by the FBI to assert your right not to answer any questions, to get the card of the FBI agent and state that you will have an attorney contact the agent on your behalf.

Massachusetts activists should contact the Massachusetts Chapter of the NLG by calling 617-227-7335 or e-mailing nlgmass-director@igc.org.

Contact:
Paige Cram, Communications Coordinator
communications@nlg.org
212-679-5100, ext. 15

June 1, 2010

Contact: David Gespass, NLG President
president@nlg.org
205-566-2530
New York:

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) renews its call for a complete boycott of Israel in light of the latest unjustified assault on peaceful humanitarian assistance to the residents of Gaza in which at least ten human rights workers were killed. The NLG has supported the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel for several years based on Israel’s ongoing violations of the rights of the Palestinian people. A Guild delegation to Gaza after the December 27, 2008 Israeli attack there found overwhelming evidence of violations of international law by the Israeli military, as did the UN Report of Justice Richard Goldstone. Israel’s assault on the flotilla of ships bringing aid to Palestine demonstrates, once again, that Israel is a rogue state acting with impunity and with the support of the United States government.

The Israeli commandos’ claim that they were attacked first is belied by the facts of open aggression, with the commandos rappelling from helicopters onto the ships, which were on international waters.

In the face of this latest violation of human rights and international law, the NLG calls on every person of conscience to boycott travel to Israel and the purchase of Israeli goods, on every investor to divest of any Israeli corporate stocks and on all UN member states to impose sanctions against Israel commensurate with its continuing violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people. We further call for an immediate investigation of the actions of the commandos and prosecution of the perpetrators of these latest crimes against humanity.

The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.

January 26, 2009

Letter to Editors

Massachusetts NLG Supports Investigation of Human Rights Violations in Gaza

As we read with heartbreak of the devastation caused to children by Israel’s attacks on Gaza (“In Gaza, Palestinian children bear deep scars of war,” 1/26/09), we must consider legalaccountability for violations of international legal norms. The human cost is old news less than a week after the end of the Israeli invasion: more than 1300 Palestinians killed (33% of whom were children and far more civilians), 13 Israelis killed, and devastation of infrastructure in Gaza, affecting thousands. The reckless bombing of civilians by Israel included a strike on the main UN compound in Gaza, killing three staff members and on another UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) facility in the northern Gaza, the Fakhura Girls’ School in Jabalya, killing dozens. These actions are gross violations of international law, including Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibiting collective punishment and Article 48 forbidding military actions against civilian populations and infrastructure. Israel’s use of white phosphorous is also under investigation.

In addition, Israel’s near total closure of Gaza, denying essential humanitarian aid including food and medicine to be delivered to the desperate population is a violation of the obligations of an occupying power under the 1907 Hague Convention and the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the UNRWA have called for an investigation of the Israeli air strike on the UN compound facilities.

The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild joins in this call for an investigation and an assessment of Israel’s actions in light of the shocking human rights violations that have occurred and continue to impact the lives of the people of Gaza.

Neil Berman
Eleanor J. Newhoff
Co-Chairs/Massachusetts Chapter
National Lawyers Guild