In a move unprecedented in U.S. history, John Ashcroft's Justice Department has indicted an entire organization – Greenpeace! -- for the peaceful protest activities of its members.http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/view.fpl/8154/article/853.html
For years, we have been working to halt environmental destruction and human rights abuses by criminal enterprises in Brazil's Amazon rainforest. In April 2002, miles off the coast of Florida, two Greenpeace activists boarded a ship that was carrying wood illegally exported from the Brazilian Amazon. Their goal was to hang a banner that said "President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging."
But instead of intercepting the contraband and prosecuting the smugglers, the federal government has charged Greenpeace with crimes for boarding the ship. This case poses a serious threat to citizens' right to free speech and to engage in peaceful dissent. A trial is currently scheduled for December.
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