US House candidate Kat Abughazaleh indicted over anti-ICE protest

'This political prosecution is an attack on all of our First Amendment rights,' Abughazaleh says in response

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA)— A federal grand jury has indicted Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh for allegedly assaulting and conspiring to obstruct law enforcement during a protest last month outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility near Chicago, according to US media reports on Wednesday.

Abughazaleh, 26, and five others were charged with felony offenses stemming from clashes with officers at the Broadview facility, ABC News reported.

The indictment, filed Oct. 23 and unsealed on Wednesday, accuses her of joining others to block a federal agent’s vehicle by surrounding and striking it to stop it from moving.

The former journalist and progressive Democrat, running for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, rejected the charges in a video posted on social media Wednesday, calling the indictment a “political prosecution.”

“This political prosecution is an attack on all of our First Amendment rights. I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win,” she wrote on US social media company X.

Kaynak:

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