Rasmea Yousef Odeh to Appear in Detroit Court on Wednesday, May 28th

posted on: May 28, 2014

Palestinian American organizer from Chicago, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, will appear in U.S. District Court at 231 W. Lafayette Blvd., in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, May 28th, 2014, with a new attorney, Michael Deutsch of the People’s Law Office in Chicago.

Last week, Odeh decided not to accept a plea agreement that would have revoked her U.S. citizenship and forced her deportation, and instead dismissed her previous attorney. Judge Paul Borman requested that she retain a new one for her pre-trial conference today.

Odeh is being charged with Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization, but is strongly asserting her innocence and appearing in court this morning at 10:30 AM with Deutsch, who has represented political activists and victims of police and government civil rights violations since 1970. He was one of the lawyers for the Attica prisoners following the 1971 uprising and state massacre, and won an acquittal in 2006 for Muhammad Salah, who was accused of running a terrorist-recruiting and financing cell in the U.S.

Odeh has been in this country for 20 years, a citizen for 10 of them, and has been a social justice activist for close to 50 years. “This immigration charge is nothing but a pretext,” said Muhammad Sankari of Chicago’s Coalition to Protect People’s Rights, which is leading the national Rasmea Defense Committee. “Rasmea is being targeted because of who she is, a Palestinian Arab Muslim woman who continues to organize for Palestinian liberation and human rights for all people in Chicago and across the world.”

Borman may set a trial date today, and Odeh’s supporters will be mobilized from across the country to rally in her defense, and fill the courtroom every day of the trial. Some of them will be distributing literature about the case today as well, starting at 9:30 AM.