Group Fined $50,000 For Bringing Medicine To Iraq
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Danny Muller office: 773-784-8965 cell: 917-217-6809
HUMANITARIAN GROUP FINED $50,000 FOR BRINGING MEDICINE TO IRAQ
On November 6 the U.S. Treasury Department imposed $20,000 in fines on Chicago-based Voices in the Wilderness (VitW), a
campaign to end the sanctions on Iraq. On December 5 at 10 AM members of VitW will hold a press conference on the 2nd
floor of Grace Place, 637 S. Dearborn, Chicago.
They will affirm that they have traveled to Iraq in nonviolent defiance of US/UN sanctions and announce that they
intend to raise thousands of dollars to continue breaking the embargo. Sue Mackley, Nathan Mauger and others who have
returned from Iraq in the past few weeks will be joined by delegates scheduled to travel to Iraq before the end of the
year.
These fines are for delivering medicine to Iraq without a permit in 1998. They are directed against VitW co-founder and
double Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly of Chicago. Dan Handleman, of Portland, Oregon, was simultaneously fined
$10,000 for alleged travel-related expenses incurred during a 1997 VitW delegation to Iraq.
Earlier this year, Bert Sacks and Rev. Randall Mullins, both of Seattle, were fined $10,000 each for taking part in the
same 1997 delegation. They refused to pay, and instead raised over $10,000 to buy more medicine to bring to Iraq. This
medicine was delivered by Sacks last September.
The fines come as VitW is sending Americans and other internationals to Iraq almost every week to take part in its Iraq
Peace Team. Currently there are 16 volunteers in Baghdad with Iraq Peace Team. In the event of another US military
assault on Iraq, they intend to help coordinate humanitarian efforts, offer independent reporting, and stand in
solidarity with Iraqi civilians.
"We will not consent to pay any fine,” said Kathy Kelly, currently in Baghdad with the Iraq Peace Team. “We simply
reject the government's contention that we cannot carry medicine to the sick, and assert that it is a greater evil to
let the children die."
Since January, 1996, VitW has sent over fifty delegations to Iraq. In addition to medicine, they have illegally brought
to Iraq toys, medical books and journals, blood bags, pens and pencils for schools. Voices in the Wilderness
representatives will be available to speak publicly and with the media. VitW has sent hundreds of delegates from over
forty states- for local representatives, please contact us directly at 773 784 8065.
###