Swarthmore 9 case resolved: no time in prison

The following statement was released by members of the Swarthmore 9, upon conclusion of their repressive legal case on July 1, 2026.

On June 26, the Delaware County [Pennsylvania] District Attorney’s office made a plea offer to nine pro-Palestine activists faced with third-degree misdemeanor charges for peaceful protest. The terms of the deal include court costs and eight hours of community service each in exchange for pleading no contest to a noise violation offense, similar to an offer turned down last year.

This plea came just days before the protesters, known as the “Swarthmore 9,” were scheduled to become the first activists in the history of the Greater Philadelphia area to be brought to trial for campus pro-Palestine protest. 

The legal repression faced by the Swarthmore 9 came in response to a peaceful demonstration in May of 2025 that called on Swarthmore College to divest from companies complicit in the genocide in Gaza, at which the nine were violently arrested by over 30 police officers. 

After over a year of Swarthmore College’s refusal to drop the charges or honor the original demonstration’s demand for Swarthmore to cut ties with Cisco Systems, a tech company critical to the Israeli military and intelligence infrastructure, the defendants stated that taking the offer “was an incredibly difficult and far from unanimous decision,” reflecting “the challenging position that repression places us in: many of us felt that we had no good options, an all too common experience for those trapped in the legal system.” 

In their statement, they note that taking the deal enables them “to avoid probation or jail time, and thus … more rapidly rejoin the most important work – fighting for a free Palestine and a liberated world.” 

The statement also sends a message to their comrades facing the unprecedented escalation of political repression seen across the country, specifically the Michigan 8, Minneapolis 15, Stanford 5, Prairieland 8, and Mohamad Hamad and Muhammad Ali of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These activists face federal charges and decades in prison for their political dissent: “To our comrades in Texas, Minnesota, California, Pittsburgh, Michigan, and beyond: Take heart, and do not lose hope. Your fight is our fight, and we stand in unwavering solidarity with you.” 

Throughout the ongoing legal process, community members continued to show up in defense of the Swarthmore 9. Supporters made phone calls and sent emails to demand Swarthmore College and District Attorney Tanner Rouse drop the charges, over 400 academics signed a pledge to boycott Swarthmore, and nearly 100 community members from across the Greater Philadelphia area packed the Delaware County Courthouse to support the defendants in their recent court appearances. 

The defendants expressed deep gratitude “for the outpouring of support in solidarity with our case,” and maintain that the struggle is ongoing: “All the effort you have given our case should be redoubled and turned back against Swarthmore and its bloodstained investments; and in support of our comrades facing repression.” 

Visit Swarthmore9.com for more information and to read the activists’ statement in full.