"Your humanitarian work could land you in jail" (Mary Shaw)

[KoKo]

Your humanitarian work could land you in jail
by Mary Shaw | June 28, 2010 - 6:29am | permalink

SCOTUS disappoints again.

On June 21, in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is not unconstitutional for the government to block speech and other forms of advocacy supporting a foreign organization that has been officially (and arbitrarily) labeled as terrorist, even if the aim is to support such a group's peaceful or humanitarian actions.

In other words, they're throwing out the baby with the bath water, because, even if you only intend to support the positive humanitarian efforts of such an organization, you could be seen as providing material support to terrorists.

Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor dissented. (No surprise.)

In the case, the plaintiffs were seeking only to provide assistance and education on human rights advocacy and peacemaking to the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey. However, the KWP happens to be designated a terrorist organization.

So, according to this ruling, you can go to prison for promoting peace in a case such as this.

Attorney David Cole of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), had this to say about the decision: "We are deeply disappointed. The Supreme Court has ruled that human rights advocates, providing training and assistance in the nonviolent resolution of disputes, can be prosecuted as terrorists. In the name of fighting terrorism, the Court has said that the First Amendment permits Congress to make human rights advocacy and peacemaking a crime. That is wrong."

More at.........
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/mary-shaw/29749/your-humanitarian-work-could-land-you-in-jail