Boston Protester Faces Felony Charges For Protesting Abu Ghraib Abuse

Democracy Now

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/03/142254

A 21-year-old college student could spend years in jail
on bomb threat charges after he stood silently outside
a military recruitment office dressed like an Iraqi
prisoner: in a black cape, hooded, wearing stereo wires
hanging from his fingers. The police charged Joseph
Previtera with making a bomb threat since the stereo
wires resembled wires to a bomb.

An article in today’s Boston Phoenix (see below) begins
like this:

"It was a skinny pair of stereo wires that got 21-year-
old Joe Previtera charged with two felonies. A week ago
on Wednesday, the Boston College student poked his head
through a gauzy shawl, donned a black pointy hood, and
ascended a milk crate positioned to the right of the
Armed Forces Recruitment Center’s Tremont Street
entrance.

"He extended his arms like a tired scarecrow; stereo
wires dangled from his fingers onto the ground below.

"Without those wires, the Westwood native could have
been mistaken for an eyeless Klansman dipped in black,
or maybe even the Wicked Witch of the West...

"But those snaky cords made the costume’s import clear:
Previtera was a dead ringer for one of Abu Ghraib’s
Iraqi prisoners - specifically, the faceless man who’d
allegedly been forced to balance on a cardboard box
lest he be electrocuted."

Prvitera stood outside the recruitment center for over
an hour. And then the police arrived. Within hours he
was facing charges more serious than any US soldier is
facing for their role in the actual prison abuse in
Iraq. Previtera was charged with three crimes:
disturbing the peace, possession of a hoax device and
making a false bomb threat. If convicted he could face
years in prison.

The Boston Herald reported on Wednesday that
prosecutors in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s
office are considering ``amending’’ bomb-threat charges
against Previtera.

But the Boston police have defended the arrest:

Michael McCarthy, a spokesman for the Boston Police
Department told the Boston Phoenix: "It can be implied,
with fingers and wires - especially in a heightened
state of alert, as we are. Mr. Previtera should know
better. He’s a young adult educated at Boston College
from a wealthy suburb. I’m sure he knows wires attached
to his fingers, running to a milk crate, would arouse
suspicion outside a military recruiters’ office [when
he’s] dressed in prisoner’s garb. If he has any
questions as to why people think he may’ve had a bomb,
then he needs to maybe go back to Boston College to
brush up on his public policy. Or at least common
sense, but they can’t really teach that there."

* Joseph Previtera, 21-year-old Boston College student
who was arrested last week for standing outside a
military recuitment office dressed like the hooded
Iraqi prisoner held at Abu Ghraib prison. He was
wearing a black cape, had a hood over his head and had
stereo wires dangling from his hands.

* David Procopio, spokesperson for Suffolk County
District Attorney Daniel Conley

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