WASHINGTON, March 3, 2011 (WAFA) – A group of American activists have come together to fight what they described as a witch-hunt by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and has designated Tuesday as a call-in day to US officials to protest these measures.

A statement issued by anti-war and international solidarity activists accused the FBI of harassing anti-war organizers and repressing free speech and the right to organize.

The group, known as Stopfbi, said that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has ordered FBI raids on anti-war and solidarity activists’ homes and subpoenaed 23 activists from various US cities, including nine Palestine solidarity activists, mostly Arab-Americans, to appear at a Grand Jury.

“The Grand Jury is a secret and closed inquisition, with no judge and no press,” said the group’s press release. “The US Attorney controls the entire proceedings and hand picks the jurors, and the solidarity activists are not allowed a lawyer. Even the date when the Grand Jury ends is a secret.”

It said the 23 subpoenaed activists have 'asserted their right to not participate in Fitzgerald’s witch-hunt.”

The group asked supporters to call US President Barak Obama, US Attorney General Eric Holder and Fitzgerald to express their anger at the FBI harassment and to stop “FBI repression against the anti-war and Palestine solidarity movements.”

Stopfbi said 800 anti-war and international solidarity activists participated in four regional conferences to stop Fitzgerald’s “Grand Jury repression.”

M.A.