FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2005

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Scott Blackburn at 773-784-8065
Jeff Leys at cell 773-573-5380 (on July 5th & 6th on site in Washington, D.C.)

PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:
Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness and 2 time nominee for Nobel Peace Prize
Bill Quigley, Attorney representing Voices in the Wilderness
Bert Sacks, Voices delegate fined by the U.S. government for travelling to Iraq

COURT HEARING:
9:00 A.M., July 6th
U.S. Federal District Court - Courtroom of Judge John Bates
3rd and Constitution NW, Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.-Representatives of Voices in the Wilderness will gather on the steps of the U.S. Federal District Court at 8:30 a.m. and again at 2:00 p.m., before and following a hearing in Judge Bates’s courtroom on July 6th as the U.S. government continues to pursue a 20,000 dollar fine against the organization. Judge Bates has requested additional oral argument. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control alleges that a 1998 Voices delegation violated economic sanctions law against Iraq when it delivered medical supplies to Iraqis. Voices organized over 70 such delegations as part of this campaign of civil disobedience.

At 2:00 p.m., lawyers for Voices in the Wilderness will offer an update on the case. Voices members will then walk a short distance to the Treasury Department and there hold a rally, carrying signs that call the Treasury Department to accountability for enacting economic sanctions that directly contributed to sickness and death in Iraq over a 15 year period. The group notes that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control paid almost no attention to U.S. oil companies that violated economic sanctions, and yet was swift to threaten and penalize groups that traveled to Iraq for humanitarian reasons.