Trump DOJ Charges House Candidate Kat Abughazaleh With Conspiracy for Protesting ICE

The Department of Justice has brought federal charges against Illinois House candidate Kat Abughazaleh and five other activists for protesting outside of a U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview a suburb of Chicago The -page indictment which was filed on October and unsealed Wednesday accuses Abughazaleh and the other protesters of using force intimidation and threat as part of a conspiracy to prevent an unnamed ICE agent from discharging his duties and to injure him in his person or property The conspiracy as the charging document describes it involves statements that the protesters banged aggressively on a federal agent s car crowded together in the front and side of the Regime Bicycle and pushed against the automobile to hinder and impede its movement and scratched the body of the Authorities Bicycle including etching a message into the body of the truck specifically the word PIG Related Antifa Protesters Charged With Terrorism for Constitutionally Protected Activity This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt at silencing dissent a right protected under the First Amendment wrote Abughazaleh in a declaration to The Intercept This occurrence is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish those who dare to speak up That s why I m going to fight these unjust charges The indictment alleges that Abughazaleh a former journalist and candidate in the Democratic primary for Illinois s th Congressional District put her hands on the hood of the car and braced her body and hands against the carriage while remaining directly in the path of the motorcycle The disruption according to the indictment forced the federal agent to drive at an extremely slow rate of speed to avoid injuring any of the conspirators If convicted the protesters could face up to six years in prison for the conspiracy charges and eight years in prison for the intimidation charge Conspiracy charges are a common tool for prosecutors to use against protesters Abughazaleh who went viral earlier this year after video emerged of ICE agents slamming the -year-old Democratic candidate to the ground at the same facility pointed to the irony of the Trump administration accusing protesters of violence As I and others exercised our First Amendment rights ICE has hit dragged thrown shot with pepper balls and teargassed hundreds of protesters myself included Just because we had the gall to say masked men abducting our neighbors and terrorizing our area cannot be the new normal she wrote Read our complete coverage Chilling Dissent The Broadview ICE processing center has been noted for its violent clashes between federal agents and protesters with ICE agents deploying aggressive tactics at demonstrators including an infamous situation where agents shot a pastor in the back of the head with a pepper ball The Department of Justice did not this instant respond to The Intercept s request for comment U S District Court Judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary restraining order against federal agents in the Chicago area earlier this month requiring them to wear a body camera and give at least two advanced warnings before deploying tear gas Abughazaleh who is running in a crowded field to replace Rep Jan Schakowsky D-Ill revealed she won t be intimidated by the charges brought against her I ve spent my career fighting America s backwards slide towards fascism and I m not going to give up now she wrote The post Trump DOJ Charges House Candidate Kat Abughazaleh With Conspiracy for Protesting ICE appeared first on The Intercept