FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Contact: Linda Jacobs (415) 410-4484
sf@worldcantwait.org sfbaycantwait.org worldcantwait.org firejohnyoo.org
ATTN: Daybook/News Desk
PHOTO OPS and INTERVIEWS
Back To School at UC Berkeley Law: “Torture Professor” Draws Protest
EVENT: Press Conference and Protest Action:
WHERE: UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall) steps
WHERE: UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall) steps
WHEN: Monday August 16, 2010
Press Conference 12 Noon
Procession Against Torture and Complicity begins 12:30
On this first day of Fall 2010 classes at Boalt Hall, John Yoo is expected to return to the classroom to teach Constitutional Law and other courses. Protesters have frequently challenged Yoo’s presence on the UC Berkeley Law faculty, pointing to his Office of Legal Counsel stay under the Bush administration where Yoo authored legal memos which were instrumental in the development of military and CIA “harsh interrogation” techniques that many label as torture.
The online law school course list now includes Yoo’s Monday and Tuesday 11:20-12:35 class, giving a Boalt Hall location as Room 140.
“John Yoo can’t hide. Torture is a war crime, and until Yoo is removed from teaching and prosecuted for his role in setting up the torture apparatus, we’ll be here and these protests will continue,” said Stephanie Tang of World Can’t Wait today. Tang was one of four protesters arrested at Yoo’s classroom on last year’s first day of classes.
Cindy Sheehan, Medea Benjamin (Code Pink), Ann Fagan Ginger (Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute) and other prominent attorneys representing several generations of University of California law school alumni, and Boalt Hall students will speak to the press. Speakers will mark the first day of Berkeley Law classes with demands for John Yoo to be removed from his teaching post, disbarred and prosecuted for war crimes. They will announce upcoming events, on and off campus, which will pursue these demands over the coming school year, including the “BERKELEY SAYS NO TO TORTURE” WEEK of protests and events this October.
Other participants in the press conference and/or the protest action include World Can’t Wait, Fire John Yoo.org, Progressive Democrats of America, the National Lawyers Guild’s Committee Against Torture, the National Accountability Network, and other human rights and legal community representatives.
A “PROCESSION AGAINST TORTURE AND COMPLICITY” will immediately follow the press conference.
-30-