There are major new developments in the case of the peace activists
targeted by FBI raids last September. Lawyers for the activists in
Minnesota and St. Paul have learned a government agent infiltrated their
group and conducted extensive spying. Going by the name "Karen
Sullivan," the agent began attending organizing meetings of the Twin
Cities Anti-War Committee in the lead-up to the Republican National
Convention. Sullivan then took an active role in the group, chairing
meetings, handling bookkeeping, and communicating with dozens of other
organizations. Anti-War Committee activist Jess Sundin spoke to Democracy Now! on Wednesday.
Jess Sundin:
"Karen came to weekly meetings. We're all volunteers, and so we make
decisions together at those meetings, and she participated in those
discussions, sometimes even chairing the meetings. Karen had a key to
our office, a key which she later used-or the FBI used-to raid the
office on September 24th and let themselves in. And she also at times
assisted with our bookkeeping and had full access to our financial
records, our membership lists and everything else we're involved in."
Sullivan
even accompanied two activists when they tried to visit the Occupied
Territories in 2009. But upon landing in Israel, Israeli agents were
already aware of their trip and refused to grant them entry. The
activists' attorneys have also learned prosecutors are focusing on a
small donation the two activists wanted to give to their host in the
Occupied Territories, the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees. The
group is not listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. and is a registered
NGO with the Palestinian Authority. Sullivan left the Twin Cities last
fall, shortly before the raids of September 24th.