Summary
A Nigerian and seven Palestinian student activists arrested in 1987 and pursued for deportation for two decades over alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as recounted in the Palestine Legal/CCR Report (The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the US, PDF p.41).
Details
- Prosecutors first charged them under an anti-communist statute, which a federal court found unconstitutional in 1989, then charged two of the eight under a new immigration law making material support of terrorist organizations a deportable offense (PDF p.41).
- The evidence against them consisted of “lawful First Amendment activities, including distributing newspapers, participating in demonstrations and organizing humanitarian aid fundraisers” (PDF p.41).
- After four appearances before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and one at the US Supreme Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed the case in 2007, calling it “an embarrassment to the rule of law” (PDF p.41).
Related pages
The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the US, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Freedom of Expression