There is concern that Robert Norse Kahn, who began a 60-day prison sentence in San Fransisco on 17 June 1996, may be a prisoner of conscience. Mr Kahn is a member of Food Not Bombs (FNB), an organization of volunteers who distribute free food to the poor and homeless as well as literature on homlessness and related issues. He was sentenced to 60 days’ imprisonment in 1994 for violating an injuction forbidding FNB from distributing food in public in San Fransisco without a permit. Since 1988 more than 1000 FNB activists have been arrested for feeding the homeless without a permit. There is concern that FNB activists have been targeted for political reasons because their activities were unpopular with the city administration.
