FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 4, 2004

Contact: John Farrell (Voices in The Wilderness) (773) 619-2418 (on site)
Carl Messineo (Partnership for Civil Justice) (202) 270-3531

(Washington, D.C.) At a court hearing today in the US District Court Building in Washington, D.C., Judge John D. Bates has given the US prosecution team two weeks to explain why it took 3 years and 11 months to initiate the $20,000.00 fine that the US Treasury Department had assessed onto Voices in The Wilderness (VitW) for “exporting medicines to Iraq.”

Judge Bates also questioned inconsistency around the economic sanctions statute that explicitly allows for the delivery of food and medicine to those suffering in Iraq. Ironically, this was the same regulation that comprised the main complaint found in the summons which ViTW received on July 29, 2003 from the US Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control.

by Kathy Kelly
June 4, 2004

I’ve always liked the restful quiet of an empty classroom. Maybe this is why the large room where we wait to start mealtime duties, here at Pekin Federal Prison, feels comfortably familiar. During breaks, in the dining area, I’ve spent many hours reading, writing, studying Arabic, and staring out the window.

Today, looking out the window, I watched Kim LaGore crossing the compound, flanked by Ruth and Malika.

Yesterday, when I left the dish room, I sensed something was radically wrong. Clusters of women were gathered, many already puffy-eyed and tearful. “It’s Kim,” I was told. “Her other son just died.”

On March 21st, 2004, Kim Lagore’s younger son, Dustin, was killed in Iraq. He was a 19-year-old US soldier who had tried his best to stay out of combat. 72 days later, Sean, Kim’s older son, age 29, died from complications following back surgery. Ruth and Malika, who also lost children while in prison, have been like guardian angels for Kim, holding and helping her through this wretched grief.

Every person in the prison camp yearns to spin a protective cocoon around her. The authorities couldn’t do much. The system traps their compassion too. They allowed Kim extra phone calls and submitted a furlough request. I feel sure that they each wished for swift procedures to re-sentence Kim to home confinement during the remaining three months of her sentence. Who wouldn’t want to respond humanely to a woman who has lost both of her children within three months time while forcibly separated from her relatives and her hometown community? But the system’s wheels turn slowly, very slowly.

By Kathy Kelly
June 10, 2004

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” said the Pekin Federal Prison Camp (FPC) administrator, commenting about overcrowding. “We have about 40 more transports in the pipeline.” To alleviate overcrowding, the administrator asked 12 women to voluntarily relocate to Victorville, CA, where an FPC is being enlarged to handle more prisoners.

Only women facing three or more years of imprisonment are eligible.

Yesterday, three Hispanic women stuffed belongings they’re allowed to take with them into white net laundry bags, gave final goodbye hugs to friends here, and headed out to California where they will help build a larger prison.

Most of the dozen women who volunteered for relocation to Victorville, CA did so because it will place them closer to their children. “I just hope I can see my kids,” said Ana, a young mother whose children live in Arizona. “It’s been too expensive for them to come here. I really needs to see my kids. I think about them all the time, and it’s so hard to cope with being away so long. That’s why I’m out on the track running so much. I just try to run and pray.”

Shortly after I arrived here, Ana supplied me with used but quite usable gym shoes, a tote bag, and sweatpants. Several other women recalled her kindness and joined me in hoping she’ll be similarly welcomed in Victorville.

“Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. Your wealth has been stripped of you by unjust men … The government of Iraq , and the future of your country, will soon belong to you. … We will end a brutal regime … so that Iraqis can live in security.”

General F. S. Maude, commander of the British forces, to the people of Mesopotamia , 1917

“First, we will demonstrate to the people of Iraq and the world that the United States and the coalition aspire to liberate, not to occupy,”

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, in a statement to the UN Security Council, March 27 2003

Tomorrow, Thursday June 24, Irish activist Caoimhe Butterly will complete a two-week, water-only hunger strike outside of Cement Roadstone Holdings in Fitzwilliams Square.

The hunger strike was initiated in an attempt to focus attention on direct Irish complicity in the construction of Israel’s Apartheid Wall, which violates International Law and contributes to grave human rights violations of the Palestinian people. C.R.H. owns a 25% stake in the Mashav Group, an Israeli holding company for Nesher Cement, which is the sole provider of cement in Israel.

Amnesty International recently stated that C.R.H, through its subsidiaries Mashav and Nesher, is likely to be providing the raw material of the fence/wall so, it would contravene the U.N. norms on the responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights (2003).