UNITED STATES: Feds back off on harrasment

Nicole Colson, Iowa

"Friends, the piece of news that I have is historic," Brian Terrell announced to a crowd of 150 cheering protesters gathered at the federal building in Des Moines, Iowa on February 10. "The subpoenas against the four of us were dropped today."

Terrell was one of four anti-war activists subpoenaed by federal officials in early February after participating in "Stop the occupation! Bring the Iowa guard home!", a November 15 anti-war forum held at Drake University. In a throwback to 1950s and 1960s spying, prosecutors got a court to order Drake to turn over all records of the conference.

Incredibly, they also tried to force the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild to turn over membership records — and slapped Drake University employees with a gag order over the case. While the National Lawyers Guild vowed to refuse to turn over any records, the subpoenas provoked outrage among anti-war and civil liberties activists across the country.

This angry response forced the government to drop the subpoenas and the gag order.

[Reprinted from US Socialist Worker <http://www.socialistworker.org>.]

From Green Left Weekly, February 25, 2004.

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From GLW issue 572