FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 23, 2025

Contact:
Lauren Regan, Director of Litigation & Advocacy
Civil Liberties Defense Center
info@cldc.org

Pro-Palestine Activists Salem Younes & K Anton found NOT GUILTY at Trial —
Community Shows Strong Support of Defendants Challenging Genocide & U.S. Complicity

Eugene, OR — On January 23, 2025, Salem Younes, a first-generation Palestinian-American college student, and K Anton, a Lebanese-American human rights activist, were found NOT GUILTY by a unanimous trial jury in Lane County Circuit Court in Eugene, Oregon. The two activists faced charges of disorderly conduct in the second degree following their participation in the April 15, 2024, Global Day of Action (A15).

The A15 protests at issue at trial briefly halted traffic on I-5 near Eugene, OR, standing as a bold and courageous act of resistance to spotlight the urgent crisis in Palestine—described by organizers not merely as a humanitarian emergency but as an ongoing genocide that demands immediate action. Supporters argue the action was a direct response to the U.S.’s role in supplying over 70% of the weapons used by Israel in its military campaigns against Gaza and Lebanon. Out of 62 people arrested and charged in this act of civil disobedience, Younes and Anton are the first to win jury acquittals.

Mx. Anton eloquently testified to the jury about the multitude of harms and threats facing the people of Southwest Asia, including Palestine and Lebanon, where their family members live. They explained why Americans have a particular duty to stand up against government complicity in the war crimes that Israel is responsible for. Mx. Younes testimony outlined the urgency of the protest and the importance of calling attention to the devastating realities faced by Palestinians, including their family living in Palestine.

Lauren Regan, their defense attorney and Director of Litigation & Advocacy at the Civil Liberties Defense Center, thanked the jury for holding the government to their burden of proof and coming to the just and right outcome. The defense filed motions to argue the necessity defense, or “choice of evils,” justifying the potential acts of civil disobedience last week before the Judge. They called two expert witnesses at that hearing, Dr. Michael Fakhri, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, who testified about the Israeli government’s intentional plan to starve Palestinian civilians, one of the bases for the international declaration that Israel is and has committed genocide and war crimes against the Palestinian people, and Dr. Stan Taylor, a political science professor and lawyer who testified about both the national and international crimes of Israel, as well as the long history of Americans engaging in effective political movements to end wars. Dr. Fakhri testified that young people and the college political movement are the most powerful political movements in the world right now. When students act, governments are forced to respond, including with actions intended to repress their dissent and protest. Ultimately the court ruled that the defense was unable to be presented to the jury, including the expert testimony, but the two young defendants were able to testify about many of the same issues and concerns in their jury testimony.

Community members filled the courtroom in a show of solidarity.

A Critical Moment for the Right to Protest

The trial of Mx. Younes and Anton is seen by many as a test of the justice system’s treatment of those who are willing to stand up against political violence. Civil rights advocates argue that the charges represent an alarming trend of criminalizing protest and silencing those who speak out against pervasive systemic injustices at home and abroad.

The case has galvanized local activists, who view it as a critical moment in the fight to protect the right to protest and bring attention to global human rights violations. Community members filled the courtroom to show their solidarity with Younes and Anton, as witnesses testified to the fact that this kind of political action is necessary.

For more information, interviews, or further statements, please contact CLDC at 541.687.9180.

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