Tell Republican DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett to Stop Persecuting 13th Congressional District Residents for exercising their Constitutional Right to Free Speech!

Free Jeff & Sarah - the DuPage Duo!

Jeff Zurawski and Sarah Hartfield are DuPage County peace activists who are being persecuted by Republican DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett.  If found guilty they are facing up to one year in jail in DuPage County simply for exercising their 1st amendment rights by holding a sign calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney and indicating our country is in distress by holding an American flag upside down.  Birkett has also thrown in trumped up charges that Jeff and Sarah were throwing objects onto the interstate highway.  These charges are baseless and as of today no witness or motorist has come forth claiming they saw anyone throwing any objects onto the interstate.

I'm very troubled by the possibility that trumped up charges may have been raised by local law enforcement to silence citizens of the 13th district  because they were exercising their constitutional right to voice their dissent.  It's just another example of ever increasing authoritarian behavior by public officials in the U.S. and unfortunately I'm not surprised that such an incident would occur in today's political climate created by the President and Congress, including my opponent, Judy Biggert, since her voting record is alarmingly supportive of an authoritarian state.

Ms. Biggert voted for the 2006 Military Commissions Act, which made it legal for the U.S. President to accuse anyone in the world (including U.S. citizens) of terrorism (without any checks and balances, no judicial review of any kind), designate them a military combatant, and imprison them indefinitely, never allowing them to have a lawyer, their day in court, or even be accused of a crime.  This set of rights are typically referred to as the "writ of habeas corpus" which were rights given to U.S. citizens over 800 years ago by the King of England before the U.S. fought for and won its independence from England.  The Military Commissions Act is a clear violation of the writ of habeas corpus that was so important to our country's founders that they guaranteed this right in the first article of the U.S. constitution.  This authoritarian law also makes it legal for the President to torture these so called military combatants and if the President decides to charge a military combatant with a crime, it allows for show trials where hearsay evidence can be used, including evidence obtained via torture, and allows charges to be made against the defendant without the defendant and their lawyer even being informed of the charges, thus not allowing the defendant to defend themselves against secret charges.

When the congressperson of the district votes for dangerous authoritarian U.S. laws, such as the Military Combatant Act, he or she creates a climate within the district that can lead to encouraging local law enforcement to be more likely to trample local citizen's rights - especially citizens who dissent against pro authoritarian laws and the illegal invasion, occupancy, and pillaging of countries that pose no threat to the U.S., like Iraq.

Latest News

• April, 10, 2008: Judge allows case against protesters to go to trial
• Jeff's Blog

What Can you do?

• Those who would like to express their opinions regarding the case may wish to contact the DuPage County State’s Attorney:
  

• Write a letter to your local newspaper
• Protest - See below
• and the one action that will have the most impact - Vote on November 4th, 2008!
  

PROTEST Rally BEING PLANNED

A protest rally is being planned.  Please check back later.

Trial

Jeff and Sarah are scheduled to have a trial on June 9th.  Please plan to attend to show support for Jeff and Sarah and the First Amendment.

Monday, June 9th, 2008
505 N. County Farm Rd, Room 4007
Wheaton IL 60187
Time: 9:30am

Remember, no camera phones and get there early for parking and to get through security.