A decision is expected this week on Palestinian political prisoner Rasmea Odeh from her appeal last Fall at the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati. Odeh’s appeal is based on her Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that was the result of rape and torture in an Israeli military prison as these central factors were not considered in her conviction.
Rasmea Odeh came to the U.S. In 1993 and has been a tireless organizer for refugee women like herself and a leader in the Chicago Arab American community. In 2013, she was targeted by the immigration officials for providing false information on her immigration application which lead to her arrest.
To build support in these last hours before the Circuit Court decision, supporters of Odeh have launched a social media campaign (see picture). Odeh is currently out on bail, but could serve 18 months in prison and face deportation if the decision is not in her favor.
Odeh’s detainment by the Zionist Israeli Defense Forces that evicted her and her family along with thousands of others from their homes and her later conviction by the criminal and racist Israeli state is commonly known internationally as she was released from prison in Israel in a high profile prisoner exchange. The response on her immigration papers was related to having ever been convicted of a crime in which she truthfully responded in the negative. The application never asked if she was a prisoner of war during a racist occupation of her homeland and convicted of a crime while being tortured.
Angela Davis, a former political prisoner herself and Black Liberation activist wrote the Detroit News, “As a person with first-hand knowledge of the devastation wrought by politically motivated prosecutions — during the era of COINTELPRO, I was falsely charged with three capital offenses — I see Rasmea Odeh’s case as a continuation of the embarrassing history of decades of suppression of social justice activists in the U.S.”
Winning Rasmea Odeh’s appeal would be one important strike for justice against repression the people face in the U.S. as well as the struggle for a free Palestine. The growing movement to support Odeh is preparing to continue to build support in the event that her current appeal goes to the U.S. Supreme Court.
