Alex Odeh Assassination Probe Demanded by Civil Rights Groups, Rep. Loretta Sanchez

[Jesus Malverde]

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Jewish Voice for Peace and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee are among the civil rights groups pressing the U.S. Justice Department to renew the investigation into Palestinian-American civil rights leader Alex Odeh's 1985 assassination by bomb blast in Santa Ana.

An online petition the groups launched seeking support for opening the probe has received 10,000 signatures.

"Whenever a leader for a civil rights organization is killed, it is the responsibility of our country as a whole--and a civil rights community as a whole--to stand up and demand that their killers be brought to justice and to ensure that the U.S. Department of Justice does everything in its power to close the case," NAACP President Ben Jealous told reporters in a conference call Monday (via the Associated Press).

Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) in June sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder calling for a renewed probe, and she has since urged her fellow lawmakers to sign on. One of them, Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan), said Monday he wants the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations to convene a hearing on the bombing.

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/10/alex_odeh_loretta_sanchez_naac.php

[Jesus Malverde]

1. In Alex Odeh's 1985 slaying, still seeking answers

Twenty-eight years ago, more than 1,000 people gathered at a Catholic church in Orange to mourn the death of Alex Odeh, a Palestinian American civil rights leader who was killed when a pipe bomb ripped apart his Santa Ana offices.

Odeh, who was 41 and the father of three, was remembered as a gentle, peaceful man, "an American in the highest sense of the word," as former U.S. Sen. James Abourezk (D-S.D.), who spoke at the funeral, put it. The White House condemned the killing as an act of terrorism. The FBI told Congress that solving the murder was one of its highest priorities.

But nearly three decades on, the killing remains unsolved.

Now, civil rights groups and members of Congress, including Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana), are calling on the FBI to do more to solve the case.

"I believe the Odeh family deserves closure," the Orange County congresswoman wrote in a letter to Atty. Gen. Eric Holder earlier this year.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-alex-odeh-20131021,0,5616296.story

[Jesus Malverde]

2. Demanding Answers in Unsolved Murder of Palestinian-American Activist Alex Odeh

Civil rights groups are demanding that the FBI solve a 28-year-old California murder long thought to be the work of Jewish extremists.

Alex Odeh, the Palestinian-American regional director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, was killed in October 1985 by a pipe bomb that exploded when he opened his office door. No one has ever been charged in the case.

Now, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee has launched a campaign to draw attention to the unsolved killing, in cooperation with other civil rights groups and members of Congress.

“Twenty-eight years is a long time, and, with all due respect, too long a time,” said Michigan Congressman John Conyers on a conference call announcing the effort.

NAACP president Ben Jealous and ADC president Warren David spoke on the call, as did Jewish Voice for Peace executive director Rebecca Vilkomerson

http://forward.com/articles/185693/demanding-answers-in-unsolved-murder-of-palestinia/

[sabrina 1]

3. I had not heard of him. But I hope the family gets the justice they deserve and those

responsible for his murder are found and prosecuted.

[ReRe]

4. Amy Goodman gave this...

... 45 minutes the other day, of her one hour show. Can't remember what day it was, Wed or Thurs I think.