Violating our right to speak freely and criticize the government

Violating our right to legal representation and a speedy and public trial

Violating our right to know what our government is doing

Discriminating against us on the basis of our race, religion and ethnicity

Attacking the independence of the judiciary and the proper functioning of the criminal justice system

Inciting hatred and intolerance

Fact:

The Justice Department refused to disclose the names, whereabouts or charges against the hundreds of immigrants swept up after 9/11. Despite the fact that none of these detainees had anything to do with terrorism, Ashcroft claimed that providing that information would "aid terrorists." In addition, he claimed that disclosing the names of the detainees violate their privacy rights.

What's New

In anticipation of large demonstrations last month, the FBI sent a confidential memo to local law enforcement offices conveying information about the tactics and activities of antiwar protestors.

Read more. . . http://www.peoplevashcroft.org/whatsnew/article.asp?ContentID=16

Ashcroft claims nothing wrong was done in the "rendition" of a Canadian national to Syria, who was then subsequently tortured for ten months.

Read more. . . http://www.peoplevashcroft.org/whatsnew/article.asp?ContentID=15

As a slap in the face to the pro-choice community, John Ashcroft has designated his civil rights division to enforce the new, "Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003".

Read more. . . http://www.peoplevashcroft.org/whatsnew/article.asp?ContentID=10

Once again resurrecting an obscure law, John Ashcroft assembled a force of 2000 law enforcement individuals to target individuals for selling glass pipes over the internet.

Read more. . . http://www.peoplevashcroft.org/whatsnew/article.asp?ContentID=11

C lick this link to sign the petition:

http://www.peoplevashcroft.org/indictment/default.asp

Petition as follows:

Please read and sign the indictment on this page below! Once we have collected enough signatures, the indictment will be forwarded to the President of the United States, as well as the House and Senate leadership.

PEOPLE -v- JOHN ASHCROFT, Defendant

CRIMINAL NO: 0001

2003 TERM

INDICTMENT

WE, THE PEOPLE, CHARGE YOU WITH:

COUNT I

INVADING OUR PRIVACY BY:

1. Taking advantage of our fear after September 11, 2001 to pass provisions of the USA Patriot Act which allow F.B.I. agents to come into our homes unannounced, access our medical, library, and school records, and monitor our internet and television usage without probable cause. Under your law, we have no way of knowing whether you or your agents have rifled through our drawers and peeked inside our hard drives, and even if we do know, you have prohibited us from challenging your surveillance in court.

2. Arguing that even with all the surveillance powers you have under the PATRIOT Act, you need more power and must now have the Victory Act to give you even greater access into our private lives by authorizing prosecutors to force us to testify and produce our private documents without judicial approval.

COUNT II

VIOLATING OUR RIGHT TO SPEAK FREELY AND CRITICIZE THE GOVERNMENT BY:

1. Monitoring and investigating us merely because of the nature of our beliefs when we are gathered at churches, temples and mosques to pray, and when we join with others to protest or demonstrate against the unjust laws and policies promoted by you and your co-conspirators.

2. Expanding the definition of "terrorism�Eso far that we cannot donate to charities, invite foreign professors to speak at our schools, or represent clients without risking our lives and livelihoods.

3. Refusing to let us on airplanes subject to a secret "no fly list�Ethat may or may not include our names, for reasons we cannot begin to fathom.

COUNT III

VIOLATING OUR RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION AND A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL BY:

1. Detaining us without charges or access to an attorney or a judge and leaving us at the mercy of brutal and racist guards if we happen to be non-citizens;

2. Labeling us "enemy combatants�Ewithout any proof so that you can hold us incommunicado in military brigs without access to counsel or our families despite the fact that we are citizens and thought the Constitution applied to us;

3. Listening in, when we are lucky enough to have access to a lawyer, in disregard of the importance our legal system has always placed on attorney-client confidence.

COUNT IV

VIOLATING OUR RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT OUR GOVERNMENT IS DOING BY:

1. Refusing to tell us where our loved ones and neighbors have been taken when our loved ones and neighbors happen to be non-citizens about whom you are suspicious.

2. Using secret evidence against us at secret hearings that neither our loved ones, nor reporters, nor the public can attend;

3. Classifying everything you can get your hands on, to keep us from the information we need to judge your actions and the actions of your co-conspirators;

4. Refusing to tell us how you are using the new powers you have taken even though Congress has ordered you to do so.

COUNT V

DISCRIMINATING AGAINST US ON THE BASIS OF OUR RACE, RELIGION AND ETHNICITY BY:

1. Targeting those of us who are Muslim, Arab or South Asian and surveilling us where we work, live, and pray.

2. Destroying our Arab and South Asian neighborhoods by sweeping up our young men and placing them in detention, or making us come to your immigration offices to be questioned and fingerprinted and treated with disdain for the privilege of remaining in the country we too have lived in for decades.

3. Deciding that if we are Haitian, and come here seeking asylum, we must be kept in detention despite the fact that we pose no threat to anyone and only came here seeking freedom.

COUNT VI

ATTACKING THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY AND THE PROPER FUNCTIONING OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM BY:

1. Refusing to recommend us for judgeships unless we pass your a ideological litmus test and show that we are devoted to your brand of ultraconservative, radical rightwing politics;

2. Monitoring our sentencing patterns if we are federal judges to force us to hand down harsher sentences at odds with our reasoned judgment and our personal oath to uphold the Constitution;

3. Ordering those of us who are United States Attorneys and prosecutors not to consider plea bargain, but to seek the death penalty even when we don't find it appropriate;

4. Protecting foreign officials and multinational corporations that violate human rights despite a federal law, passed by our very first Congress in 1789, directing our courts to provide justice to the victims of international human rights violators.

COUNT VII

INCITING HATRED AND INTOLERENCE BY:

1. Encouraging us to be suspicious of and turn in our neighbors if they look different, worship differently, or keep "strange hours;�E

2. Telling us that anyone who disagrees with you is on the side of the terrorists and a traitor to this country when in reality, it is you who threatens our safety and our democracy.

Wherefore, we the undersigned call for the immediate removal of Defendant Ashcroft from the Office of Attorney General as a danger to democracy.

Deadline: Ongoing

TO THE SOURCE:

http://www.peoplevashcroft.org/home.asp

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