CLDC is overjoyed to announce the unanimous jury trial acquittals of our clients, Salem Younes and K Anton, on Thursday, January 23, 2025. The pair were found not guilty on Oregon state charges of disorderly conduct stemming from a well-attended act of civil disobedience in solidarity with the A15 Global Day of Action – a response to a plea from the Palestinian people suffering under the Israeli government’s war crimes and genocide. The global day of action involved over 82 cities and 19 countries on 6 continents. In the U.S., the party responsible for almost 70% of the weapons and aid provided to Israel to perpetuate the genocide, Americans blockaded weapons manufacturing facilities, ports, and other transportation corridors used to ship weapons to Israel. In Eugene, over 60 activists safely blocked traffic on the interstate highway, while over 50 more held signs and banners on the adjacent overpass bridge.

Despite the fact that the United Nations and International Criminal Court of Justice have ruled that Israel is engaged in war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and beyond, and Amnesty International has described the treatment of Palestinians by Israel as apartheid (beginning in 1967), both the Biden administration and (now) the Trump administration have continued to push the flow of armaments and financing into the hands of the Israel Defense Forces, to be used against innocent civilians, contrary to both U.S. and international law.

With a courtroom packed full of supporters for K Anton and Salem Younes, CLDC’s own Lauren Regan successfully argued factual and legal defenses on their behalf. Salem, who is Palestinian-American and who only arrived in Oregon to attend college a short time before war broke out, has been a campus organizer and strong voice for his family in Palestine as well for Palestinian liberation during his time here in Eugene. The judge allowed K Anton to testify to the overwhelming and tragic statistics regarding innocent civilians’ death, displacement, and injury resulting from the illegal and shameful attempt to crush the people and culture of Palestine. Anton also expertly described how the United States was largely responsible, through weapons sales and shipments, and why they felt they had no choice but to put their safety and freedom on the line to help stop the waking nightmare that has unfolded since Oct. 7, 2023. Lauren believes that the incredibly compelling testimony of the two defendants played a significant role in their acquittal. She said this about her clients’ testimony in front of the jury: “Both Salem and K were able to describe how the war and genocide are directly impacting their families on the ground in Gaza, Palestine and Beirut, Lebanon. They testified about the fear and anguish of living each moment of your day hoping that your family members are not killed in a military air strike, or that your family heritage and history are not erased from existence by a genocide. And they told the jury that they could not simply sit idle in the U.S. and do nothing while this genocide continued; they organized, they contacted their elected representatives, they rallied and marched and educated others—and none of it put an end to the suffering in Gaza and Southwest Asia (also known as the Middle East). By being part of a global collective political movement, they were able to demonstrate the ability of the people to impact the transfer of weapons used to perpetuate war crimes when the political leaders would not.”

Lauren wrapped up the defense argument by reminding the jury of the storied and proud history of civil disobedience and student political organizing that changed history for the better—Freedom Summers during the Civil Rights era, Apartheid in South Africa, and resistance to the war in Vietnam, to name just a few. She noted that based on this, it would be unreasonable for young people to do nothing in the face of this global atrocity ongoing in Palestine, and now Lebanon and beyond.

In an incredible show of solidarity, the 60-plus defendants chose to engage in a collective defense legal strategy to ensure that the most vulnerable among them were not left in an isolated and legally dangerous situation. Because Salem was one of two people who were not offered the same diversion agreement provided to all the other co-defendants by the District Attorney’s office, many of the defendants declined their diversion offers and set their cases for individual jury trials so that Salem was not the only defendant forced to go to trial. CLDC and other attorneys continued to try and negotiate diversions for all, but when the state refused, over 14 separate jury trials were held, with all but Salem and K convicted of disorderly conduct and sentenced to community service hours.

CLDC is proud to have represented 21 of these courageous human rights activists, and we are thrilled to have won not guilty verdicts for Salem and K, our final A15 cases set for trial. We will continue to provide movement-aligned pro bono defense to activists locally and around the country, as our capacity allows. Please help us grow our attorney capacity by contributing to our legal defense fund. Your donation will help us hire additional lawyers and pay for litigation expenses and court costs so that the individual activists don’t have to.