Update, Jan. 24: Great news! Charges against Azar have been dropped in Multnomah County.
Journalist Alissa Azer was arrested while filming a pro-Palestine protest at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon in May 2024 and subsequently charged with criminal trespassing.
Prism recounts Azar’s ongoing dealings with Oregon authorities, who she says have targeted her specifically for her antifascist journalism. Last year, she was prosecuted for using pepper spray in self-defense against Proud Boys, some of whom later pled guilty to disorderly conduct and harassment. In court, prosecutors attempted to argue that Azar is an activist, not a reporter. And now the trespassing charge is the latest attempt to silence Azar’s journalism:
Azar’s case has brought to light a complex history of harassment, violence, and abuse of power by local law enforcement and reveals a landmark legal condemnation against social media journalists and press freedom in the U.S. Her identities as a self-taught movement journalist, Arab, and antifascist woman puts her at the speartip of state repression—an apparent consequence of going against the status quo and daring to report a counternarrative. In an era when newsrooms are rapidly shuttering and political dissent amounts to “terrorism,” Azar’s supporters say her arrests, jail time, and legal harassment mark a clear erosion of both journalistic and free speech protections. Her mistreatment is a harbinger that should concern all reporters, they say, and especially movement journalists staring down at a second Trump presidency.
Azar is scheduled to go on trial in Oregon on Monday, January 27. The charges against her are an affront to the First Amendment right to a free press and should be dropped immediately. Defending Rights and Dissent has created an advocacy tool so you can easily write a letter urging the Multnomah County District Attorney to drop the case at once.