Arrest at Portland protest of pro-Israel AIPAC event ruled unconstitutional

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Written by AUPHR AUPHR
Published: 12 August 2009 12 August 2009
Hits: 2397 2397
Date: July 15, 2009
Subject: Arrest at Portland protest of pro-Israel AIPAC event ruled
unconstitutional in Multnomah County.
Contact: Peter Miller, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
(AUPHR) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

During a March 29th, 2009 protest by local activists at the annual
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) "Oregon community
dinner," Joe Walsh, a member of the Veterans for Peace, was arrested by
Portland Police. Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR)
is pleased to report his arrest was ruled unconstitutional by the
Multnomah County Circuit Court on July 13th.

About 80 protesters were present in March to call attention to AIPAC's
advocacy of pro-war, anti-Palestinian, and anti-human rights positions
and to criticize the attendance of this right wing event by so many
Oregon politicians, including Governor Kulongoski, Secretary of State
Kate Brown, Attorney General John Kroger, US Senator Jeff Merkley,
Oregon Senate Majority Leader Richard Devlin, Oregon Senate Republican
Leader Ted Ferrioli, other Oregon state senators and representatives,
Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, Democratic Party of Oregon
Chairwoman Meredith Wood Smith.

Joe's attorneys were able to show that, at the time of his arrest, one
of the keynote speakers for the AIPAC event, Israeli official Ishmael
Khaldi, was able to freely move about the scene of the protest and
photograph protesters in violation of police orders to keep the driveway
to the Mittleman Jewish Community center clear. It was ironic that an
American citizen and Vietnam Veteran (with an oxygen tank) was targeted
and arrested by local police while an Israeli without U.S. citizenship
was able to freely violate police orders. Because of this obvious
unequal enforcement of the law, Multnomah County Circuit Judge
Christopher Larsen ruled that Joe's arrest was unconstitutional.

We thank the efforts of attorneys Jason and Greg Kafoury on this case.

Peter Miller
President
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
www.auphr.org
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