WASHINGTON, March 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, Inc. (IRmep) urges the Department of Justice to proceed with its long delayed prosecution of former AIPAC employees Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman. Colonel Lawrence Franklin, a co-conspirator indicted in 2005 for allegedly passing classified information in violation of the 1917 Espionage Act, has already been convicted. Growing special interest calls for dismissing charges against the former AIPAC employees strongly resemble previous demands for special treatment under the law.

In 2008 the release of formerly secret internal Department of Justice documents revealed that the DOJ ordered AIPAC's parent organization to register as the foreign agent of an Israeli principal in 1962. After three years of behind the scenes pressure and lobbying the DOJ acquiesced to pressure that the foreign agent registration be heavily redacted and filed in secret, an unprecedented exception in the history of public Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings. The 1938 FARA protects American citizens and Congress from foreign funded stealth lobbying.

Shutting down the current US v Rosen and Weissman case before it goes to trial would similarly short circuit rule of law in the United States. Only a public trial can reveal whether AIPAC lobbyists crossed a red line in their advocacy activities. An open trial may reveal whether there was an effort to leverage classified information into US military action against Iran, or whether mainstream media and the public are manipulated by lobbyists selectively trafficking secrets.

"Quietly folding this prosecution would promote a growing perception across America that some organizations and individuals are free to break the law with impunity, at great cost to law abiding citizens." said IRmep Director Grant F. Smith. "Based upon the alleged activities raised by the indictment our supporters from 37 states urge the Department of Justice to proceed to trial. Doing otherwise could have grave consequences for governance in America."

Reporters seeking background about the current AIPAC espionage case or the 1962 foreign agent registration episode may consult case files online at http://www.irmep.org/ila.

The Israel Lobby Archive, http://IRmep.org/ila/fta is a unit of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington. The Archive digitizes declassified documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act filings with law enforcement, intelligence, and trade agencies.

SOURCE Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.irmep.org