Three Palestine solidarity activists are heading to trial in Tarrant County, Texas on charges of criminal mischief enhanced to hate crimes. Supporters have referred to the case as the Tarrant 3. According to a statement on the Instagram account of the Palestinian Youth Movement Dallas (PYMDALLAS), which was signed by 15 other organizations, “three community members, Raunaq Alam, Afsheen Khan, and one other are facing a decade in prison for expressing political dissent in Tarrant County.” The third activist is Julia Venzor.
As the legal case heads to trial next month, local and national activists have rallied around the Tarrant 3. The joint statement calls on supporters to fill up the court in Fort Worth, Texas: it reads, “join us on September 8th, 2025, at 8:30 AM at the Tim Curry Justice Center to pack the court for the Tarrant 3.”
The three were arrested in April 2024 and initially charged with relatively minor offenses; due to the political activism and principles of the accused, these were enhanced to hate crimes, a third-degree felony in Texas, carrying up to ten years in prison. This has prompted supporters to argue that this case is not about a criminal offense, but about criminalizing and diminishing the broad support for the Palestinian people.
As documented in other articles and editorials found on The Worker, most recently the case of 20-year-old Palestinian activist Tarek Bazrouk, this case follows a pattern demonstrated by the government which includes efforts to stretch and distort the law, often with assistance from the monopoly media, to frame solidarity with the Palestinian people as antisemitic or a hate crime. In the case of the Tarrant 3, no violence is alleged by the state.
According to the joint statement put out by supporters of the Tarrant 3, “in Tarrant County, this [hate crime] enhancement is being used to defend Israel as if it were a protected identity, compromising the law’s value for those it was meant to protect and chilling dissent while expanding the state’s power to police political expression.”
According to the law, hate crimes enhancements do not extend to recognize countries or governments as protected groups, and only protect people from crimes committed on the basis of their nationality. Neither the police nor the State of Texas have produced evidence to support that this was the case, as no alleged victim was said to have been targeted on the basis of nationality. Instead, the state’s escalation is based on the politics of those allegedly involved—those who oppose the US-backed Zionist Genocide of the Palestinian people and those who condemn such atrocities.
The Worker calls on all of our readers, class conscious proletarian revolutionaries, anti-imperialist students, progressives, activists, all who stand for the right to rebel against reactionaries, and all who defend the democratic rights of the people to SUPPORT THE TARRANT 3 by following the call to action, raising awareness about this case, and donating when possible to the legal defense of those facing repression. We reiterate that, especially in times of mass protest, it is imperative to support political prisoners and fight for their freedom. Please read our related coverage including our editorial on politically-motivated deportations, as well as related articles here, here, here, here and here.
Image: Tarrant 3, Design by The Worker
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