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Boston man faces felony charges
for protesting Abu Ghraib abuse

Mother told to remove religious
garb or leave kids unattended

Florida orders new purge of voter list

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Boston man faces felony charges for protesting Abu Ghraib abuse

June 3— A 21-year-old college student could spend years in jail on bomb threat charges after he stood silently outside a military recruitment office dressed like an Iraqi prisoner: in a black cape, hooded, wearing stereo wires hanging from his fingers. The police charged Joseph Previtera with making a bomb threat since the stereo wires resembled wires to a bomb.

An article in today’s Boston Phoenix begins like this:

“It was a skinny pair of stereo wires that got 21-year- old Joe Previtera charged with two felonies. A week ago on May 26, the Boston College student poked his head through a gauzy shawl, donned a black pointy hood, and ascended a milk crate positioned to the right of the Armed Forces Recruitment Center’s Tremont Street entrance.

“He extended his arms like a tired scarecrow; stereo wires dangled from his fingers onto the ground below.

“Without those wires, the Westwood native could have been mistaken for an eyeless Klansman dipped in black, or maybe even the Wicked Witch of the West...

“But those snaky cords made the costume’s import clear: Previtera was a dead ringer for one of Abu Ghraib’s Iraqi prisoners — specifically, the faceless man who’d allegedly been forced to balance on a cardboard box lest he be electrocuted.”

Prvitera stood outside the recruitment center for over an hour. And then the police arrived. Within hours he was facing charges more serious than any US soldier is facing for their role in the actual prison abuse in Iraq. Previtera was charged with three crimes: disturbing the peace, possession of a hoax device and making a false bomb threat. If convicted he could face years in prison.

The Boston Herald reported on Wednesday that prosecutors in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office are considering “amending” bomb-threat charges against Previtera.

But the Boston police have defended the arrest.

Michael McCarthy, a spokesman for the Boston Police Department told the Boston Phoenix: “It can be implied, with fingers and wires — especially in a heightened state of alert, as we are. Mr. Previtera should know better. He’s a young adult educated at Boston College from a wealthy suburb. I’m sure he knows wires attached to his fingers, running to a milk crate, would arouse suspicion outside a military recruiters’ office [when he’s] dressed in prisoner’s garb. If he has any questions as to why people think he may’ve had a bomb, then he needs to maybe go back to Boston College to brush up on his public policy. Or at least common sense, but they can’t really teach that there.”

Source: Democracy Now

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Mother told to remove religious garb or leave kids unattended

Omaha, Nebraska, June 9— The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on June 9 against the city of Omaha on behalf of Lubna Hussein, a Muslim woman who was told she must remove her religious garb in order to accompany her children at a municipal swimming pool.

“The city cannot operate its pools in a way that discriminates,” said ACLU Nebraska Legal Director Amy Miller. “In this case, they have barred the pool doors to three children because of their mother’s religious beliefs. There is no doubt that the City Parks and Recreation Department policies are not only discriminatory, but also have been applied in a disparate manner against Mrs. Hussein.”

In June and August 2003, Hussein took her three children, ages nine and under, to the Deer Ridge municipal pool in Omaha, only to be turned away at the gate after informing city employees that she could not wear a bathing suit without violating her religious beliefs. She was told by pool employees that she could not be in the pool area in her street clothing, even though she observed other people in the pool area who were not wearing bathing suits. On one occasion, officials told Hussein that her children could enter but that she would have to remain outside and observe them from the other side of the pool fence.

“What an unnecessary Hobson’s Choice the city offered Mrs. Hussein,” said ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Tim Butz. “On the one hand, she could follow her religion and stay outside the pool in her observant clothing and risk endangering her children because she was not close enough to supervise and tend to them. On the other hand, she could ignore the tenets of her faith and follow good parenting practices by being immediately present with children who are in a pool. The only solution she saw to this dilemma was to take her children home, which was not only embarrassing to her but disappointed her children to the point of tears.”

In following her religion, Hussein is required to keep all of her body covered except her face and hands. Each time that she tried to enter the pool, Hussein observed other individuals who were allowed inside without bathing suits.

The ACLU complaint charges that the policy, and the city’s actions in enforcing it, violated Hussein’s rights under the 14th Amendment to equal protection under the law, as well as a number of federal civil rights statutes.

Miller is representing Hussein as co-counsel with ACLU cooperating attorney Bassel El-Kasaby.

“Mrs. Hussein simply sought to allow her children the same opportunity for a summer swim as any other child, and she should not be forced to dress in a manner contrary to her religious beliefs in order to do so,” said El-Kasaby. “The city’s policies and practices not only discriminated against the Hussein family, but it discriminates against all families, Muslim or otherwise, with sincere religious beliefs on this matter.”

The ACLU is seeking a court order declaring the pool policy unconstitutional, as well as compensatory and and punitive damages for the humiliation, embarrassment and suffering experienced by Hussein and her children, plus attorneys’ fees. The litigation is being underwritten by the ACLU of Nebraska Foundation without cost to the Hussein family. It is unknown when the matter will be set for trial.

Source: ACLU

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