Stop FBI stops the bank freeze
By
Kris Hamel
Published May 18, 2011 3:41 PM
A victory was won May 10 by activists fighting FBI repression when the Twin
Cities Federal bank reversed its action and released funds held in accounts by
Hatem Abudayyeh and Naima Abudayyeh of Chicago. The family’s accounts
were frozen by TCF on May 6; the TCF branch manager asserted the Bank Security
Act prevented him from releasing any assets.
Hatem Abudayyeh is a Palestinian community leader and executive director of the
Arab American Action Network. He is one of 23 anti-war, Palestinian and
international solidarity activists subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in
Chicago after FBI raids last September.
Michael Deutsch, attorney for the Abudayyehs, said, “In my opinion, the
bank did not act out of the blue. I suspect that the FBI and U.S Attorney
investigation caused the bank to overreact and illegally freeze the
Abudayyehs’ banking accounts that had been there for over a
decade.” (fightbacknews.org, May 10)
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression reported in a May 16 email that people
across the United States called U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago and
the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to demand the
return of the couple’s money and an end to the repression and harassment
of activists.
All 23 of the targeted activists remain steadfast in their position that they
will not appear before a grand jury.
Hatem Abudayyeh will be a featured speaker at a May 21 meeting in New York
City, “Resisting State Repression: Confronting Police and FBI Repression
of Communities of Color & Oppressed Nationalities.” Sponsored by the
New York Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Al-Awda NY and DRUM (Desis Rising Up
and Moving), the event starts at 7 p.m. at 56 Walker St. in lower
Manhattan.
For more information on this and other anti-repression activities, see
www.stopfbi.net.
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