A Federal District Court heard additional oral arguments today in the case of activists with the campaign Voices in the Wilderness who openly violated the U.S. economic embargo against Iraq. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control alleges that a 1998 Voices delegation violated economic sanctions law when it delivered medical supplies to…

NAN ARON Aron is president of the Alliance for Justice, which is a national association of public interest and civil rights groups. She said today that decisions by the Supreme Court will affect a wide variety of issues including “workers’ rights, consumer protections, environmental protection, civil rights and women’s rights.” More Information ELLEN CHESLER Chesler…

Today, President Bush made a public statement about the annual G8 summit which will be held in Scotland from July 6-8. He said with regards to malaria in Africa: “We believe that every life matters and every person counts.” The Live 8 concert is on July 2. The G8 Alternatives Summit in Scotland is on…

CINDY SHEEHAN Currently in the D.C. area, Sheehan is co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace. Her son Casey was killed in Iraq. She said today: “Bush says his war in Iraq is ‘worth it.’ What’s worth it? People in the U.S. are not safer, Iraq lies in devastation, our troops are dying, Iraqis are…

Reuters, in a story on an ABC News/Washington Post poll, reports: “For the first time, a majority of Americans said the administration ‘intentionally misled’ the public in going to war.” The following are available for interviews: NANCY LESSIN Lessin is co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. For a list of their members from around the…

HAIFA ZANGANA Zangana is an Iraqi-born novelist and former political prisoner. She went back to Iraq for the first time in 2004, after 25 years of exile. She had been imprisoned in Abu Ghraib by the Ba’athist regime and tortured. She said today at the World Tribunal on Iraq underway in Istanbul, Turkey: “The U.S.…

Iranians are voting Friday (June 24) in a runoff election that will determine the next president of their country. The contest pits former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani against the current Tehran mayor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the context of Iranian politics, Rafsanjani is a “moderate” while Ahmadinejad is a hardline fundamentalist. The following analysts are…

The World Tribunal on Iraq gets underway Friday (June 24) in Istanbul, Turkey. Participants include award-winning author Arundhati Roy, who will chair a “Jury of Conscience.” The following commentators are available for interviews: AYCA CUBUKCU Cubukcu is a member of the coordinating committee of the Istanbul World Tribunal on Iraq. She said today: “Official institutions…

The runoff election in Iran’s presidential race, coming up this Friday, has profound implications for the future. SIMIN ROYANIAN Royanian is co-founder of Women for Peace and Justice in Iran. She said today: “President Bush had proclaimed the elections in Iran undemocratic and a hoax from the beginning. … Mr. Bush, by claiming that the…

TOLGA TEMUGE Temuge is the international media coordinator for the World Tribunal on Iraq modeled on the Bertrand Russell Vietnam War Tribunal of the late 1960s. Participants in the tribunal, which will take place in Istanbul from June 24-27, include Arundhati Roy, Richard Falk, Dennis Halliday, Hans von Sponeck, Walden Bello, Dahr Jamail, and Barbara…