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ACLU Files Brief in Case Challenging Indictment of Greenpeace Activists
November 7, 2003
Miami, FL ? Denouncing criminal charges filed by the federal government against Greenpeace USA as an egregious violation of freedom of expression, the ACLU of Florida today filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief on behalf of the environmental advocacy group.
"This controversial motion by the U.S. Justice department marks the first time in American history the government indicted an entire organization for free speech activities of its advocates," said Randall Marshall, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida.
The U.S. Justice Department filed criminal charges against the group after two of its protesters boarded a vessel at the Port of Miami believed to be transporting illegally harvested mahogany. The protesters held a banner that read, " President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging," in reference to an international treaty banning mahogany imports from the Brazilian Amazon. Greenpeace was charged with violating a law, passed more than a century ago, that prohibits "sailor-mongering" ? boarding a vessel before it reaches its final destination.
The ACLU charges in its brief that the application of the statute "to an internationally recognized nonviolent environmental and political action group of the twenty-first century raises a red flag of suspicion that the government has targeted Greenpeace ... for its political speech." The indictment was the first criminal prosecution of its kind in U.S. history.
The activists were indicted based on a statute passed in 1872 that prohibits unauthorized persons from boarding a vessel before it reaches its final destination. However, the ACLU argues in its brief that the context of the law relates to the "sailor-mongering" of the 19th century and its application to the protesters' free speech activities is "absurd." Numerous scholars, organizations, and citizens have decried the indictment; among them, former Vice-President Al Gore who labeled the prosecution as "highly disturbing" and "[inhibitory] to Greenpeace's First Amendment activities."
The ACLU brief also emphasizes that the First Amendment "forbids the government from selectively prosecuting Greenpeace for acts of civil disobedience committed by it members."
"This is an ominous extension of John Ashcroft's Patriot Act," said John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace. "If this prosecution succeeds, non-violent civil protest ? an essential American tradition from colonial times to the civil rights movement ? may become yet another casualty of Mr. Ashcroft's attack on civil liberties."
Earlier last month, the Greenpeace ship, M.Y. Esperanza, was denied dock space at the Port of Miami, when it intended to invite citizens onboard to learn more of Greenpeace's mission.
The case is set to go to trial in January.
Cooperating attorneys: Maria Kayanan, Joel S. Perwin, Michael R. Masinter, Legal Panel Chair of the ACLU of Florida's State Board of Directors, and Randall Marshall, Legal Director of the ACLU of Florida.
