Jordanian anti-nuclear and environmental activist Basel Burgan released on bail after a week in detention

Posted on March 25, 2019
Basel Burgan has been released on bail after seven days in detention by Jordanian authorities. Basel became the focus of concern in Jordan when he was put into administrative detention on Tuesday, March 19.  He was detained and then arrested that day during a meeting where he and his lawyer had voluntarily gone in for questioning with the state prosecutor after being summoned. 
The case against him is rooted in Jordan’s Cyber Crimes Law. Essentially, he is alleged to have “spread false information that leads to concern and affects a public institution,” according to Article 75 of the Communications Law, and Article 15 of the Cyber Crimes Law.
Basel Burgan posted a statement on Facebook in January 2019 where he called into question the safety of the construction that houses a test nuclear reactor inside the Jordan University of Science and Technology and he referenced a report that had been leaked and published by a former employee and expert of the Nuclear Commission residing in the United States. This was the cause of his recent detention.  

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Eight arrested blockading Des Moines drone command center on St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 21, 2019

photo by Ryna-Ria Ignacio

from the Des Moines Catholic Worker

Veterans for Peace and Catholic Workers from across the Midwest converged on the Iowa Air National Guard Drone Command Center in Des Moines on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day at 1 p.m. Eight activists were later arrested for blocking the entrance.

The Midwest Catholic Workers – a loose collection of dozens of autonomous communities spread out in urban shelters, soup kitchens and rural farmsteads across the region – were holding their annual “Faith and Resistance Retreat” March 15-17 in Des Moines. This year’s focus was the two year Des Moines Catholic Worker and Veterans for Peace “Close the Des Moines Drone Command Center” campaign.

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Eleven nuclear resisters arrested during blockade of Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, California

Posted on March 19, 2019

photo by Len Tsou

For the third time in nine years, the Pacific Life Community (PLC) met in Menlo Park, California for their annual gathering, each time concluding with a blockade of the main gate at the nearby Lockheed Martin factory in Sunnyvale that produces the intercontinental ballistic missiles for launching nuclear weapons from both U.S. and British Trident submarines.

On Monday, March 18, about 50 people from the Pacific Life Community were joined outside the Lockheed Martin gate by members of Code Pink and the Musicians Action Group, a marching ensemble of percussion and horns who enlivened the crowd of activists with rollicking renditions of Down by the Riverside and other peace and labor rights songs. A large banner made for the last PLC blockade at Lockheed Martin – four feet tall and long enough to block four lanes of traffic – was rolled out and carried around the intersection with a bold-lettered message for the auto and rail commuters passing by: Lockheed Weapons Terrorize the World.

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Two U.S. Veterans for Peace in Limerick Prison after action at Shannon Airport

Posted on March 19, 2019

Photo by Ellen Davidson

from Veterans for Peace

Two U.S. Veterans For Peace were refused bail at Ennis District Court 

Charged with Trespass and Causing Criminal Damage at Shannon Airport

A group of seven U.S. Veterans for Peace took part in a protest against U.S. Military Base at Shannon Airport on Sunday, March 17th. 

WHY? Shannon used for refueling troop planes bound for Middle East wars in which up to one million [1,000,000] children have died since 1991.

MARCH 29 UPDATE: At a preliminary hearing on March 28, Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff were granted bail and after 12 days in Limerick Prison, released on March 29 pending trial. Their passports were taken and they were ordered to stay away from airports. The men may not be able to leave Ireland before their trial. 

Two U.S. veterans were arrested at Shannon Airport on March 17 for entering the airfield to inspect and investigate an OMNI Air International plane on contract to the U.S. military. The two, Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers, were refused bail at Ennis District Court on March 18. (See below for support actions.)

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Chelsea Manning back in jail, refused to testify to a grand jury investigating Wikileaks

Posted on March 8, 2019
from BBC
Chelsea Manning: Wikileaks source jailed for refusing to testify
Former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been jailed for refusing to testify before an investigation into Wikileaks.

A Virginia judge ordered her taken into custody until the grand jury’s work is finished or she decides to testify.

Manning said she shared everything she knows during her court-martial.

Manning was found guilty in 2013 of charges including espionage for leaking secret military files to Wikileaks, but her sentence was commuted.

Manning, 31, told US District Judge Claude Hilton that she would “accept whatever you bring upon me”, but would not testify, the Associated Press reported.

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Two activists arrested crossing onto Beale AFB with “Let Venezuela Live” sign

Posted on March 2, 2019

Photo by Janie Kesselman

Report Back:  Occupy Beale AFB

February 28 – March 1, 2019 

by Toby Blomé

“STANDING WITH VENEZUELA at Beale Drone Base!”

2 Activists Arrested While Trespassing onto Beale AFB

On Thursday, February 28 and Friday, March 1, fed up with 17 years of endless wars, we were determined to bring our strong messages of solidarity with the people of Venezuela to one of the most important U.S. drone bases, Beale Air Force Base, home of the Global Hawk Drone and U2 spy plane, in Marysville, California.

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Sixteen activists, including Members of European Parliament, arrested at air base in Belgium where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored

Posted on February 23, 2019

Agir pour la Paix photo

Three Green Party politicians from Luxembourg, England and France were arrested with four Agir pour la Paix activists on February 20 in Belgium after climbing a fence to enter a military base where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored. After entering the Kleine Brogel base, they blocked the runway of F-16 fighter jets. The Members of European Parliament – Molly Scott Cato, Tilly Metz and Michele Rivasi – held a banner which read, “Europe Free of Nuclear Weapons”. The group was soon detained and taken into custody.

Nine supporters standing outside the base were also arrested, and authorities erased photos and videos from their cameras and phones.

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BOP moves elder Muslim philanthropist from prison medical center to freezing Brooklyn detention center

Posted on February 3, 2019
[Update: Power and heat was restored to MDC Brooklyn the evening of February 3. By the end of February, Rafil Dhafir was moved to FCI Allenwood Low in White Deer, Pennsylvania.]
Within days of his last contact with supporters on January 29, the federal Bureau of Prisons moved Dr. Rafil Dhafir, 70, from the medical center for federal prisoners in Massachusetts, into the Metropolitan Detention Center [MDC] in Brooklyn, New York.

The move comes just after a fire at MDC Brooklyn cut off electricity and heat to the facility as temperatures plunged below freezing to record lows, leaving prisoners and staff freezing in dark cells and corridors only dimly lit by emergency lights. Demonstrators braved the cold overnight on Saturday, February 2 in front of the 14-story prison, where officials have refused outside support. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that “New York City is sending trucks with hundreds of blankets and hand warmers to the Metropolitan Detention Center NOW and generators are being readied for transport. We’ve told the Federal Bureau of Prisons the supplies are coming – whether they like it or not.”

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During Fast for Yemen, 11 activists were arrested at the U.S. Mission to the U.N.

Posted on January 14, 2019

Photo by George De Castro Day

from Voices for Creative Nonviolence

On January 2, 2019, eleven people including Voices for Creative Nonviolence organizers Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell were arrested blocking the entrance to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City, part of an on ongoing two-week “Fast for Yemen” in New York and Washington D.C.  The group and their supporters held signs and banners reading, “Food, Fuel, Medicine for Yemen” and “Stop U.S./Saudi War Crimes in Yemen”.  The eleven activists were taken to One Police Plaza for processing, charged with disorderly conduct and released 5:30 that afternoon with a court date of Monday, February 25.  

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Witness Against Torture activists arrested for sit-in at Senator Mitch McConnell’s office

Posted on January 11, 2019

Photo by Steve Pavey

from Witness Against Torture

Activists call on McConnell to schedule a vote on the War Powers Act, allowing discussion in the Senate regarding the war on Yemen, and to fully support closure of Guantanamo prison

Four human rights activists were arrested on January 10 and charged with unlawfully demonstrating inside Senate office buildings after sitting-in at the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. They were among a group of about twenty-five Witness Against Torture activists who entered the office at 3:00 p.m. Many were clad in orange jumpsuits resembling those worn by prisoners in Guantanamo. They delivered a letter requesting McConnell’s assistance on two matters concerning human rights violations.

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