No justice in his court
Rasmea Yousef Odeh will go on trial in September on trumped-up allegations of immigration fraud. The Palestinian-American community activist was arrested last October by Department of Homeland Security agents on charges that she failed to discose a previous conviction on her application for U.S. citizenship in 2004. That "conviction" came nearly half a century before, in an Israeli military tribunal, after Odeh was tortured--including being sexually humiliated and threatened with rape--by Israeli soldiers into confessing to a supposed connection to two bombings in Jerusalem.
Odeh and her supporters have built a public campaign to protest a prosecution which is clearly a political attack on her and on the Palestinian community in the U.S. In this statement, Rasmea's supporters reveal what has been learned about the judge assigned to her case and explain the latest motion her lawyers have filed.
IN A major development, attorneys for Palestinian community leader Rasmea Odeh filed a motion July 14, calling for Judge Paul D. Borman to recuse himself from the case. The supporting brief argues that Borman, as a lifelong and dedicated supporter of Israel, cannot play the "neutral and detached" role that the law requires.
A spurious report from the Associated Press irresponsibly presumes that the defense is bringing this motion because Judge Borman is an American Jew. Odeh and her attorneys, including Michael Deutsch, who is an American Jew himself, deny this, noting that the motion and supporting brief extensively document Borman's close ties to the state of Israel, never once mentioning his religion. The AP article has been picked up across the country, and the national Rasmea Defense Committee demands a retraction.
Odeh has pled not guilty to Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization, a charge alleging that she failed to mention, in her 2004 application for U.S. citizenship, that she was arrested in Palestine 45 years ago and tried in an Israeli military court that "convicts" 99.74% of Palestinians who come before it. Odeh was physically and sexually tortured into a confession by Israeli prison authorities in 1969.
The motion describes how this is important to her defense: "The defendant's case directly raises issues about the legality of the continuing 47-year belligerent occupation of the West Bank by the state of Israel and the state's policy of sanctioning the systematic torture of Palestinian detainees by the Israeli military and security police."
In the papers filed with the court this week, attorneys Deutsch and James Fennerty describe Judge Borman's long history of support for Israel, including fundraising for, and donating millions of dollars of his own money to, the state. They argue:
Clearly, one who has been a lifelong supporter and promoter of Israel and has deep ties to the state of Israel spanning over 50 years, who no doubt 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.
Further, it is reasonable to conclude that as a result of this court's many trips to Israel, and its active support and substantial efforts in fundraising for the state of Israel, that this court has "personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning this case.
According to one of the defense committee's spokespeople, Hatem Abudayyeh, "This motion is about trying to get Rasmea a fair trial. Borman's bias is clear. He's had a lifelong association with explicitly pro-Israel organizations, but we also uncovered that he has donated thousands of dollars to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. It is exactly the conduct and truthfulness of the IDF that is at issue in this case. A 'Friend' of the IDF can hardly be seen as unbiased."
"Winning this case is not limited to a legal strategy," Abudayyeh continued. "Thousands of people from across the country are supporting and fighting for Rasmea Odeh. We are urging the government to drop the charges against her. If they don't, we are mobilizing to fill the courtroom every day of the trial."
The trial is set for September 8 in Detroit.
