LOS ANGELES, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A suit filed in Los Angeles federal court has challenged a portion of the Patriot Act as unconstitutional.
The contested portion makes it a crime to provide "expert advice and assistance" to terrorist organizations, even if that aid is humanitarian.
The suit, which names Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell as defendants, seeks an injunction barring the government from enforcing that section of the law, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
It was brought on behalf of five organizations and two individuals who said they want to support the "lawful humanitarian and political activities" of the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, both appearing on the State Department list of international terrorist organizations.
Anyone convicted of violating the law can be sentenced to 15 years in prison. The lawsuit contends that the prohibition violates the First and Fifth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
