Ohio 7 (United Freedom Front)

The Ohio 7 were tried for their involvement in actions carried out by the United Freedom Front (UFF) and the Sam Melville-Jonathan Jackson Unit (SM-JJ). In 1985-86, members of these groups were convicted for conspiracy and bombing of unoccupied military and corporate facilities. For a decade these guerrilla units targeted governments and corporations that engaged in criminal activities in South Africa and Central America. Rather than verbally support the resistance movements in foreign lands, the UFF/SM-JJ Unit brought the war home to those who sponsored and facilitated these bloody wars against humanity. Sentences for the UFF/SM-JJ Unit prisoners ranged from 45 to 53 years in prison. While the intellectual architects and butchers of South Africaʼs apartheid system go free, the UFF prisoners who resisted this crime against humanity are forgotten. While those who profited politically and economically from bloody wars against the people of Central America go about business as usual, the UFF prisoners remain caged. Conviction at a government-orchestrated political trial is not the same as being guilty of a crime.  Itʼs the position of the UFF prisoners that they exercised their responsibilities under international law in actively opposing human rights violations perpetuated, aided and abetted by the U.S. government and corporate greed. Such responsibilities are outlined in the Nuremberg Principles, which came into being following the defeat of Nazi Germany. These principles state that "crimes against humanity" - the subjugation, persecution and murder of innocent people - require citizens to take whatever actions are necessary to prevent or stop these crimes.

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United States

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