AMP staffers heading to court

Press Release from American Muslims for Palestine.

(WASHINGTON DC 04/19/2017) – AMP staffers Taher Herzallah and Kareem El-Hosseiny are due in DC Superior Court at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow for a status hearing on the criminal charges of unlawful disruption of Congress. Their attorney Ann Wilcox of the National Lawyers Guild will ask the court to dismiss the charges, on the grounds they amount to selective prosecution that’s based solely on the men’s racial, religious, and ethnic bias.  

Capitol Hill police arrested Herzallah and El-Hosseiny and four white, Jewish activists from Code Pink and IfNotNow in February during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing for David Friedman, who has since been approved as U.S. ambassador to Israel.

Herzallah and El-Hosseiny — the only two Arabs and Muslims in the group — are also the only two facing criminal charges filed against them by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Three of the white Jewish protesters were allowed to pay a small fine the same day. One had his case transferred to traffic court.

Herzallah and El-Hosseiny face six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Several organizations, including Code Pink and IfNotNow, have rallied around the AMP staffers.

We need you! Here’s how you can help!

WASHINGTON DC

If you live in the DMV area, please attend the rally tomorrow, from 8-9 a.m. in front of the DC Superior Courthouse, 500 Indiana Ave. NW. We need to show that we reject biased prosecutions!

TWITTER/FACEBOOK

If you are not able to attend the rally, please support today and tomorrow by keeping this issue alive on social media. Use the hashtags #DroptheCharges and #SelectiveProsecution. You can get memes, sample Tweets, media Twitter handles and more background information on our special project page!

DONATE

Please help AMP defray the costs associated with defending our colleagues by making a generous donation today!