Comrade Karim in Kangaroo Court
February 25, 2007
Friday, February 23rd, over 50 people gathered to support my friend and SDS member Karim Ahmath at his arraignment following an erroneous arrest on Thursday, February 15th. Karim was passing out anti-recruitment fliers at a Western Washington University career fair with other SDS members. While many engaged in debate with military recruiters, Karim was the only one singled out for arrest.
According to a message from my pal Ian:
They charged him with disorderly conduct, citing his argument with one of the Army recruiters as the reason for the arrest. However, I witnessed the whole thing, and although there was definitely a heated argument, I and others feel the arrest was unjust. At no time did anyone in charge of the Career Fair ask Karim or any of us passing out flyers to leave the event. At no time did Karim engage in physical contact with the recruiters or the police (except when the police put his arm behind his back, forced him out of the building, and later handcuffed him). In addition, I feel that Karim, who is Asian American, was racially profiled. Specifically, I feel he was profiled by the military recruiters, as they are the ones who requested the police remove Karim. My reasoning for this claim is that at least 5 or 6 other students were engaged in handing out the same flyers in front of the Army and Navy recruiting tables. Some of us were also engaged in verbal disagreements with the recruiters. One of us was even engaged in a shouting match with one of the Navy recruiters. But, the recruiters did not request police intervention for any of the rest of us. As you may have guessed, everyone of us, except Karim, is white.
This is only Karim’s first year in Bellingham, but his electric personality and mad organizing skillz, along with the radical energy of his SDS comrades, have endeared him to many in Bellingham - a fact testified to by the outpouring of support at his court appointment, which occured at 8:30 AM. Anything that can get college students up that early has got to be special.
Anyway, Karim plead not guilty, and his trial has been set for the 1st of May. May Day, can you believe it?!
May 3, 2007 at 2:40 am
[...] for those that might be wondering, Karim Ahmath’s day in court lasted mere minutes. His lawyer requested the trial be postponed until July, [...]
May 23, 2007 at 8:56 am
[...] protection, protective fencing, the works, but a single person of color with leaflets - SDS member Karim Ahmath - is the one worthy of ‘disorderly [...]