Judge Paul Borman recuses himself from Rasmea’s case!

Tuesday, August 12 – Judge Paul Borman has recused himself from the case of Rasmea Odeh

PRESS STATEMENT: For Immediate Release | Rasmea Defense Committee

Press contact: Hatem Abudayyeh, 773.301.4108, [email protected]

Judge Borman steps down from the case of Rasmea Odeh

Today, Judge Paul D. Borman removed himself from the case of Palestinian community leader Rasmea Odeh.  Earlier this month, the judge stridently denied a defense motion calling on him to step down.  The motion claimed that his life-long support for the state of Israel—whose arrest, torture, and conviction of Odeh for alleged Jerusalem bombings in 1969 is at issue in this case—would not allow for a fair trial.  Odeh has pleaded not guilty to the charge of Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization, and vehemently refutes the Israeli convictions, which were based on a forced confession after extended periods of vicious physical and sexual torture.

Borman refused the motion, dismissing defense arguments about his decades of trips to and fundraising for Israel, claiming his “religious convictions” did not bring his impartiality into question.

According to supporters, Borman was falsely covering Zionist ideology with Judaism. “We opposed Judge Borman not because of his Jewish faith, but because of his decades of support for the state of Israel,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for Odeh’s defense committee.  “Rasmea overcame vicious torture by Israeli authorities while imprisoned in Palestine in the 70s. She has committed no crime and the government has no case. We need a judge willing to listen to a defense that puts Israel on trial for its crimes against Rasmea, and against all Palestinians.”

In an unexpected turn of events, Borman admitted his financial ties to Israel “could be perceived as establishing a reasonably objective inference of a lack of impartiality in the context of the issues presented in this case.” Defense claims of pro-Israel bias are vindicated, and Borman has removed himself.  The case has been randomly re-assigned to U.S. District Judge Gershwin A. Drain.

Supporters of Odeh hail this as a victory for the defense, but are re-doubling efforts to win justice for Rasmea.

Abudayyeh continued: “This case is a political attack on the Palestine liberation movement, and that means we need a political defense as much as a legal defense. Thousands of people from across the country are fighting for Rasmea, demanding that the government drop the charges against her. If they don’t, we are still going all out for Detroit, to fill the courtroom every day of the trial.”

A status hearing in front of Judge Drain is still planned for Tuesday, September 2^nd, in Detroit, and the Rasmea Defense Committee is calling for supporters to pack the courthouse and call the prosecutors to demand that they drop the charges on that day.  The date of the actual trial will be rescheduled.

The national Rasmea Defense Committee includes United States Palestinian Community Network, Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR), Coalition to Protect People’s Rights (CPPR), 8th Day Center for Justice, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)-Chicago, American Muslims for Palestine, Anti-War Committee (AWC)-Chicago, AWC-Minneapolis, Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Committee Against Political Repression, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Chicago, CAIR-Michigan, Friends of Sabeel-North America, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International League of Peoples’ Struggle-U.S., Jewish Voice for Peace, Lifta Society, National Boricua Human Rights Network, National Lawyers Guild (NLG), National Students for Justice in Palestine, Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago, Palestine Solidarity Legal Support, Palestinian Youth Movement-USA Branch, St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, United African Organization, United National Antiwar Coalition, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Voces de la Frontera, and Women Against Military Madness.

For background:

USA vs. Rasmea Odeh: Pro-Israel Judge Refuses to Step Down

://chicagomonitor.com/2014/08/usa-vs-rasmea-odeh-pro-israel-judge-refuses-to-step-down/

By Bill Chambers

As Rasmea Odeh’s supporters packed the courtroom for her hearing in the U.S. District Court in Detroit on July 31st, they heard Judge Borman refuse to step down from the case even though he has a history of giving funds to pro-Israel organizations.

Odeh was arrested by agents of the Department of Homeland Security and charged with immigration fraud. She is accused of not disclosing on her immigration application that she was arrested and convicted by an Israeli military court 45 years ago. While in an Israeli detention center, she was subject to torture and sexual assault by the prison authorities to obtain a false confession. Odeh was processed by an Israeli military court system that routinely bypasses due process holding Palestinians without charge or trial for months and years. (For additional background on Odeh’s case, see Rasmea Odeh: Repression of a Palestinian Community Leader.)

Odeh’s defense team of Michael Deutsch, Jim Fennerty, and William Goodman had prepared a motion for Judge Borman to recuse himself from the case due to his political and financial investment in organizations supporting the state of Israel. In a press release, it states that “in the papers filed with the court attorneys Deutsch and James Fennerty describe Judge Borman’s long history of support for Israel, including fund raising for, and donating millions of dollars of his own money to the state. They argue: “Clearly, one who has been a life-long supporter and promoter of Israel and has deep ties to the State of Israel spanning over 50 years, who no doubts believes that Israel is a great democracy and protector of human rights, cannot be ‘reasonably’ said to be impartial when these claims of torture and illegality are raised by a Palestinian defendant.”

At the beginning of the hearing, Judge Borman indicated that he “had reached a decision on the recuse motion ten minutes ago” and the decision was distributed to the attorneys. Quickly, the Judge shifted to technical matters regarding the defense motions needing to be resubmitted separately “as is the standard procedure for the Detroit district”. But the biggest issue discussed was the defense motion to include for the jury an expert witness who has stated that Odeh suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) as a result of the torture suffered in the Israeli prison. The defense contends that Odeh was suffering from PTSD at the time of her completion of the immigration application – affecting her psychological intent in supplying the answers that she did. The government prosecutors deny that this expert testimony is necessary or relevant to their case against Odeh. They also indicated that they would want to provide their own expert witnesses if the judge ruled the testimony admissible. This will be an important ruling as if it is allowed to go ahead, it will also become part of the jury instructions for deciding the case. Given Judge Borman’s pro-Israel background, it is hard to imagine that he would allow even a discussion of Israel’s torture of Palestinian detainees in a U.S. court.

As Michael Deutsch explained afterwards, “The judge refused to remove himself from the case saying he was just a Jewish person providing support for Jewish organizations. The evidence against Rasmea all comes from a military court, it is not a fair system. We are hoping to present an expert testifying to her torture while in prison and that she is suffering from post traumatic stress, but there is a question whether the judge will allow it before the jury. If it is denied, he will be stopping her from mounting a defense.”

The next steps are a hearing on September 2 to resolve all of the defense motions that have been submitted to the court. If everything is resolved at that time, her trial date will be September 8. Whether the trial starts then will likely be dependent upon whether the expert testimony issue can be quickly resolved.

Both before and after the hearing, about 150 of Odeh’s supporters from Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis picketed and rallied – hearing speeches from Palestinian, Muslim, and anti-war leaders. Kristin Szremski, Director of Media and Communications at the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) spoke about the wide range of people who had turned out. “Look at the diversity of the women at this protest. In her work for women in the Arab, Muslim, and immigrant community, Rasmea stands for each one of us. Her work is important for women from every country. Our activism is not illegal, we will continue to stand on the path to truth.”

Dawud Walid, Executive Director CAIR-Michigan, spoke to the support of CAIR in Rasmea’s case. “Rasmea is a victim of the pro-occupation Zionists who also always seem to be Islamophobes. We call for an end to the normalization of Islamophobia in the Justice Department.”

With the many supporters from Detroit and the surrounding area, there were strong connections made between the repression of Palestinians and the experience of the Detroit community. Abayomi Azikiwe from the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Racism, said “We protest the illegal emergency state takeover of our city – we are also under occupation in Detroit. At our protests, people chant ‘Water for the people of Detroit, Water for the people of Palestine.’”

Odeh’s hearing was also taking place at the height of Israel’s assault on Gaza. That fact was in the minds of many of those picketing. Hatem Abudayyeh, from US Palestinian Community Network (USPN)-Chicago, made this connection with his statement that “Israel has been shown to be lying about the bombing of civilians in Gaza and they are lying about Rasmea too. Just like it has been hard to get the media to cover the truth about the attacks on Gaza, we need to work harder to get the media to cover the facts about Rasmea’s case.”

After the hearing, Odeh’s supporters continued to picket outside the courthouse and spoke of their determination to return in even larger numbers for the September 2hearing and the September 8 trial. Michael Deutsch had the last word.

“All of us being here is as important as my work in the court. When the Judge sees you filling the courtroom bearing witness, it makes a difference.”