“THE HUMAN COST OF THE PATRIOT ACT”

(Worcester, MA – September 26, 2003) The Center for the Study of Human Rights at Worcester State College will host “The Human Cost of the Patriot Act.” This lecture will feature guest speakers Amer Jubran and Professor Anthony Van Der Meer from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 7, 2003 in the Ghosh Center for Science and Technology, Room 103. The lectures will include a short film as well as a discussion at the conclusion of the event.

Amer Jubran is a human rights activist who was arrested on November 4, 2002, two days after helping to lead a protest for Palestinian rights in Boston. He was detained by INS custody for 17 days for insisting on his right to counsel when the FBI attempted to interrogate him regarding his political activism during this arrest. Mr. Jubran is now facing a deportation order from the Department of Homeland Security. Learn more about his case, about the plight of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and South Asian immigrants, and about the dangers to free speech and civil liberties in the U.S. today.

Professor Anthony Van Der Meer, of the Africana Studies Department at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, was arrested on charges of assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest after an altercation between a student and a National Guard Army recruiter. Professor Van Der Meer will discuss this experience and his opinions on what are real democratic rights, free speech and civil liberties in the United States as well as raising questions surrounding the democratic rights of Citizens of the United States to speak out against foreign policy and the occupation of Iraq by the United States.

This event is free and open to the public.

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