Two A15 pro-Palestinian protesters found not guilty of disorderly conduct

Two A15 defendants were found not guilty of disorderly conduct on Thursday. The defendants were K. Anton, a Lebanese American, and Salem Younes, a Palestinian American university student. The two decided to take part in a joint trial to draw further attention to the Middle East and show the personal connection, with both of their families impacted by Israeli aggression.

Dozens of Eugene-Springfield residents took part in a global day of action on tax day April 15, known as A15, to create a blockade of US weapon shipments to Israel. Protesting the genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza. Doing what they can to highlight the US role in it and providing what they saw as their part in stopping it to the best they could. 62 people in total were arrested near I5 by the overpass, many were offered and took plea deals. However 20 people refused to take a plea deal in solidarity with Younes, the youngest defendant and only Palestinian American defendant, who was not offered a deal.

Younes is a 19-year old Sophmore at the University of Oregon, became an active pro-palestinian advocate shortly after coming to campus where they have served as co-director of SJP. Younes is a first generation American, their mom was born in Palestine and their dad is from Jordan, after his family was forced out of Palestine. They say that the state of Palestine is always a point of conversation with their family and that they almost feel guilty not being with their remaining family in Palestine. They felt it as part of their duty as a “conscious” person to take part in the A15 action.

“I attempted to prevent the extinction of my people,” Younes said about their motiviation for taking part in the A15 action.

Anton, the other defendant in the case is of Lebanese descent, and still has family living in the country. Specifically their family lives in suburbs of Beirut, the hardest hit region of the country by Israel’s latest invasion. Anton’s cousin works as a doctor in Lebanon, and they say that the stories they hear from them are a major motivation for their Palestinian advocacy. In a pre-trial hearing they talked about how Israeli’s aggression and Gaza and Lebanon are at different levels but the atrocities are perpetrated by the same nation and the root cause of the evil is the same: US imperialism.

“I talked on the phone to my grandma recently and she said God has turned his back on us [the people of Lebanon and Palestine]…. I don’t think that god has turned his back on us, but I think the people in power have,” continued K. Anton on their personal relationship to the war in Palestine and Lebanon.

Deputy District Attorney Colin Breeze aimed to prove in the county’s case that the actions of the protest were simply an act of “selfishness.” The county did score an early win, in a pre-trial hearing Judge McIntyre rejected the defense from using choice of evils defense. The choice of evils defense argues that they had to take this action to prevent a worse outcome from happening, in this case genocide. Judge McIntyre swiftly denied the defense from using the choice of evils after defendants testified for it, consistent with all other A15 cases.

Lauren Regan, a veteran defense attorney, having founded the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) over 20 years ago, argued, that this was a not a case of selfishness, but of “solidarity and compassion.” Proving that this action was linked to other actions across the globe including shut downs of airports transporting weapons and of weapons manufacturers themselves.

In addition to having the defendants present as witnesses, Regan also brought up Alicia Rabideau, who has worked as crisis counselor, and served as a driver in the A15 protest. They testified that it was them and the other drivers that stopped the traffic on I5 that day, and not people like Younes and Anton, that protested only after traffic had stopped. Rabideau also spoke safety of the action, saying as a crisis worker they would not have participated in if organizers had not implemented the safety precautions that were put in place.

Regan closed the case by drawing analogies to famous civil disobedience actions, like the march Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewsis led on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She proclaimed that her clients were not being selfish, in fact the actions did not better themselves but only helped others.

Ultimately the jury found that the county did not meet the burden of proof that Younes and Anton took part in criminal disorderly conduct. In the twelve A15 cases before the jury found the defendants guilty, these were the first two individuals to be found not guilty. When the jury decision was read nobody in the courtroom was allowed to react to the decision, but after the judge called the case to a close everybody was surprised and elated.

“We stood strong for our comrades who told the jury exactly why direct action against the US facilitation of genocide is not only necessary but right—& the jury did the right thing,” The A15 Eugene defendant collective said in a statement on Instagram.

Only two individuals have court cases left related to A15, with trials set for January 29th and February 6th.