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> Fri., July 2, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
More Explosions in Baghdad
Death Penalty in Mexico?
Death Penalty in the U.S.
Activist Attorney on Trial
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Florida Felons List
FSRN Headlines
"Anti Terrorism" Efforts Increased in UK
Police stops and searches under the new anti-terrorism law
in Britain have dramatically increased according to government
numbers released today. Searches of Asians alone have increased
a startling 302-percent. Naomi Fowler has more from London.
NAACP Banned at Catholic University, DC
Students at Catholic University in D.C. marched to protest
University officials’ decision to ban a chapter of the
NAACP from campus. Ingrid Drake was there.
Conflict in Palestine Heats Up
The conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories heated
up this week. By special arrangement with the International
Middle East Media Center, George Rishmawi reports.
WI Police Taken to Court
A local anti-war group in Madison, Wisconsin is taking the
police department to court over a scheduled protest this weekend.
Steve Zelaznik of WORT explains.
Voter Activist Arrested Outside Farenheit 911
There are reports of voter registration drives at the politically
charged movie Fahrenheit 911, from California to Florida.
One activist in Pennsylvania, Lani Frank was arrested and
charged with disorderly conduct for handing out voter registration
forms. Just 5 minutes after the movie ended, Frank distributed
about 25 voter registration forms. A security guard and the
theater manager asked her to leave. After talking with the
manager, a state trooper called her over and asked her for
identification then told her she had to stop giving out the
forms. She questioned the trooper. Frank says she responded
to the charge with a “not guilty” plea. She is
waiting for a hearing date.
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More Explosions in Baghdad (2:47)
Downtown Baghdad residents woke up to the sound this morning
of rocketfire as guerillas attacked a pair of hotels that
are guarded by U-S troops and used by a number of contractors.
David Enders and Salam Talib have a full report from Baghdad.
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Death Penalty in Mexico? (3:51)
The Mexican government is considering a new package of anti-crime
measures. In addition to stiffer penalties for kidnappers
and the debut of a cash-for-tips program, one of the measures
currently under debate is the implementation of the death
penalty. Vladimir Flores files this report from Mexico City.
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Death Penalty in the U.S. (3:54)
The Abolitionist Action Committee wraps up a week of protest
outside the Supreme Court today against the discriminatory
death penalty. From 1973 to 1993, 114 people were released
from death row with evidence of their innocence. From 2000
to the latest numbers this year, 27 inmates were freed from
death row and exonerated. Today we look at two cases of wrongful
conviction that shed light on the growing controversy about
how the death penalty is applied in the United States. Jenny
Johnson reports.
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Activist Attorney on Trial (3:32)
Activist attorney Lynne Stewart was back in court this week
in her fight to defend herself against charges that she materially
aided a terrorist and lied to the government. The government
claims that the case against Stewart and her co-defendants
is about a jail break involving the release of comments made
by Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Muslim cleric jailed in
the United States. The Sheik was sentenced in 1996 to life
after being convicted of inciting followers to carry out a
failed attempt to bomb New York landmarks. Assistant US Attorney
Christopher Morvillo asserts that Stewart, the lawyer for
the imprisoned Sheik and her co-defendants, Ahmed Abdel Sattar,
a US Postal worker and Mohammad Yousry, an Arabic interpreter,
conspired to smuggle messages in an out of prison on behalf
of the spiritual leader of the Egyptian-based Islamic Group.
Defense attorney Lynne Stewart spoke with Reporter Gail Walker
from Pacifica station, WBAI.
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Civil Rights Act of 1964 (2:46)
Forty years ago today, the Civil Rights Act was passed by
the US Senate and signed into law on the same day by President
Lyndon Johnson.. On this anniversary we hear the voices of
those who struggled to get this piece of legislation passed.
We’ll hear an excerpt from a new documentary entitled:
“A Passel of Pomp & A Circus of Circumstance: Historic
Conventions Coverage from the Pacifica Radio Archives”
hosted by Amy Goodman. “In 1964, at the Democratic National
Convention, members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Party were refused seats inside the Convention. This was nothing
new to the delegates from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Party, since the Party formed as a reaction to not being allowed
to attend local meetings of the Mississippi chapter of the
Democratic Party. At the Convention though, members were given
an opportunity to argue for seats in front of a credentials
committee. Here Amy Goodman details the events of that credentials
committee meeting.
**The voices in this report are taken from “A Passel
of Pomp & A Circus of Circumstance: Historic Conventions
Coverage from the Pacifica Radio Archives” which will
air on Democracy Now! later this month. For more information,
go to www.pacificaradioarchives.
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Florida Felons List (2:15)
On this 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Civil Rights
Act we not only look back at some of the events that led to
the passage of the landmark Act – we also look at the
current state of civil rights in the United States. One of
many chronic civil rights issues of today is access to the
polls. Yesterday a Florida Judge ordered the state to release
a list of over 47,000 Floridians identified as possible felons
who face removal from voter rolls. And already, news organizations
are finding names wrongly listed. Mitch Perry reports from
Tampa.
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