Presentation by Steve Downs, Esq. of Project SALAM

Steven Downs was in the Peace Corps in India from 1964-66 and graduated from Cornell Law School in 1969. Most of his professional career was spent as the Chief Attorney with the NY State Commission on Judicial Conduct in Albany, NY, disciplining bad judges.  He retired in 2003 and became a volunteer member of the defense team for Yassin Aref who was prosecuted and convicted of terrorism related charges.  Out of this experience he came to realize that not only had the government convicted an innocent individual, Yassin Aref, but the government had done so deliberately.  Morevover it was doing the same thing to hundreds of other innocent Muslims all across the country, using a program, referred to as “preemptive prosecution”, in which innocent people would be convicted of contrived charges to preempt them from possibly committing future crimes based on their perceived ideology. In 2008, he became one of the founders of Project SALAM to document and protest against preemptive prosecution.  In 2010, Project SALAM became one of the founding organizations of the NCPCF to rally the country to the dangers of Preemptive Prosecution, Profiling, and Prisoner Abuse.

Refreshments will be served. Free to the Public.

Sponsored by CNY Working for a Just Peace in Palestine and Israel, a project of Syracuse Peace Council. See www.peacecouncil.net or call (315) 472-5478 for more information.