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US Fines fail to deter flood of new Human Shields Volunteers

S. Stankowic | 30.04.2006 13:42 | Anti-militarism | Repression | World

The ongoing law suits against the human shields who went to Iraq, have not stopped the rapid growth of numbers pledging to go to Iran human shields.

The fact that American Human Shields who went to Iraq are currently appealing against fines of up to $8000, has done little to stem the flood of volunteers willing to go to Iran to try and stop military intervention.

Judith Karpova and three other US peace activists who went to Iraq as human shields in 2003 were fined by the Government for violating economic sanctions. Karpova filed a law suit arguing her constitutional rights to free speech and travel were being violated and disputing the suggestion that she had provided ‘an economic service’ for Iraq. The government attempted to dismiss her suit and last week, Karpova appealed against a government motion to dismiss her complaint.

All this comes at a time when the Human Shield Movement is now mobilizing again to try and prevent military action against Iran. But it seems that attempts by the US government criminalise protest have been counter productive and have only increased the numbers of people willing to pledge themselves as human shields.

The Human Shield Movement which gained global prominence in the 2003 when hundreds of so-called Western civilians descended on Iraq in an attempt to prevent the invasion, came out of hibernation followint President Bush’s State of the Union in Februrary 2005. Whilst they have been collecting pledges of people willing to act as human shields in Iran since that time it is only in the last few months that their numbers have grown rapidly.

They now have over 700 people who are willing to go to Iran at short notice, should an invasion look imminent. Although travelling to Iran is seen as a ‘last resort’ the Movement is determined to do all it can to put pressure on the US and the British to make them think twice about unjustified and illegal action against Iran.

A spokesman for the Movement, Schlomo Stankowic, said today;

“We believe that there is only one reason that the US and Britain are ‘talking up’ the threat posed by Iran. It is to justify their intended military action. The US and British might not try to occupy the whole of Iran, but they are determined to get control of a strip of land that runs along the border with Iraq call Khuzestan Province. Khuzestan is home to 90 per cent of Iran's oil.

It is up to all of us to do everything in our power try and highlight the real reasons for the desired attack against Iran and to save this planet from this dangerously misguided foreign policy. If we had had 10,000 human shields in Iraq before the war, Bush and Blair might have hesitated in their rush to war. Unfortunately in 2003, we had little more than a month to mobilise human shields. This time it will be different. This time we will be prepared.”

For more information contact  humanshieldsiran@hotmail.co.uk

If you would like to pledge yourself as a human shield contact  humanshieldsiran@hotmail.co.uk

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S. Stankowic
- e-mail: humanshieldsiran@hotmail.co.uk