Anti-war activists who visited Iraq before the United States invasion have discovered that they could face up to 12 years in prison and $1-million in fines.
Although travel firms now tout adventure tours to a country that is a temporary home to 150 000 US troops, scores of American protesters have been warned they risk fines or imprisonment for violating a pre-war travel ban.
During the past few weeks a retired schoolteacher in her 60s and a number of other activists have received warnings from the US Treasury that they could face punishment for travelling to Iraq.
”When I came back from Iraq I had a letter from the Treasury threatening up to 12 years in prison and up to $1-million in fines,” said Faith Fippinger (62).
Fippinger spent the war as a human shield, living in the grounds of an ageing oil refinery in Baghdad.
She was among about 30 Americans who arrived in Iraq in the run-up to war to serve as human shields and was one of the few who stayed. More than 150 other US protesters — including the actor Sean Penn — travelled to Iraq in the run-up to war.
Fippinger said a Treasury official told her last week that if she agreed to pay, the fine would be reduced to $10 000. She replied that she had no intention of paying. ”It’s a matter of principle, having made the decision to go there out of caring for human life, and then once there having to deal with the dead children from cluster bombs, and also seeing the young American military being killed.”
Fippinger said she was warned that the funds could be seized from her pension, or through the sale of her house.
At least three other US activists who travelled to Baghdad before the war have received similar notices from the Treasury. But a spokesperson denied any suggestion that the enforcement effort was politically motivated. He would not say how many Americans faced charges.
According to the regulations, US citizens, except for journalists and humanitarian workers, were prohibited from visiting Iraq, or engaging in commercial activities.
”Breaking the law in the act of protest does not change the fact you are breaking the law,” said Taylor Griffin, a Treasury spokesperson. ”We’re not talking about humanitarian organisations, we’re talking about people who travelled in flagrant violation of the sanctions.”
Scores of Americans could soon find themselves in the same predicament as Fippinger. A few weeks ago Voices in the Wilderness, a peace group that sent 80 delegations to Iraq, received a summons from the Justice Department seeking to collect fines levied in the mid-1990s.
”I am a bit taken aback,” admitted Bitta Mostofi, who spent two months in Iraq just before the war. ”I am surprised that you would fine a group of people taking medicine and toys, and then go and take them to court.”
Other activists saw the enforcement campaign as a chance to reopen the war debate. ”I say bring it on,” said Ellen Barfield, an activist from Baltimore who went to Iraq last year.
”I don’t want the hassle, but obviously it publicises the issue. So I say: ‘Go ahead and do what you say you are going to do and punish people who went to Iraq out of a fine concern for human beings.”’ — Â