Amnesty Worldwide Urges Biden To Launch Leonard Peltier Earlier than Leaving Workplace

WASHINGTON ― Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier, who has been in jail for almost 50 years, is popping 80 on Thursday ― and Amnesty Worldwide USA is interesting to Joe Biden to lastly launch him earlier than his presidency involves an finish.

Peltier “was recently denied parole and compassionate release by the US Parole Commission and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) respectively,” reads a Sept. 4 letter to Biden from Paul O’Brien, the group’s government director.

“As President of the United States, you have the opportunity to rectify a case that has long troubled human rights advocates and Indigenous Peoples worldwide,” O’Brien wrote.

Peltier has been in jail for the reason that U.S. authorities put him there within the Seventies. He was convicted for the homicide of two FBI brokers throughout a 1975 shootout on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and was given two consecutive life sentences.

However there was by no means proof that Peltier killed anybody. His trial featured astounding ranges of misconduct, together with federal prosecutors hiding exculpatory proof and abruptly altering their cost to aiding and abetting after somebody discovered the proof they’d hidden.

The FBI by no means did work out who killed these brokers; the federal prosecutor in Peltier’s case, Lynn Crooks, later admitted as a lot. However the U.S. authorities wanted somebody to go to jail. Peltier ― a member of the American Indian Motion, a grassroots Indigenous activist group the FBI was concentrating on ― was one among dozens of individuals current on the shootout, and was the one particular person left to go after. He was separated from his co-defendants, all of whom had been acquitted on grounds of self-defense, and was discovered responsible.

Because the years have rolled by, Peltier’s imprisonment has drawn outcry from U.S. politicians, tribal leaders, celebrities and worldwide human rights leaders together with Pope Frances, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. His parole course of has violated worldwide requirements, drawing uncommon condemnation from United Nations human rights authorized specialists, who in 2022 referred to as his extended imprisonment “arbitrary” and easily the results of his being Native American.

Peltier has maintained his innocence all these years. The FBI has stated he ought to by no means be launched, providing outdated and incorrect statements to justify his imprisonment. Peltier was up for parole earlier this 12 months, however was denied.

He’s thought-about America’s longest-serving political prisoner.

In his letter to Biden, O’Brien pleaded with the president to consider Peltier’s health risks as he remains in a maximum security prison in Florida.

“He suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, the effects of a previously suffered stroke and complications from jaw surgery. He was diagnosed with an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA), which can be fatal if it ruptures,” O’Brien wrote. “The BOP is plagued by staffing shortages of medical professionals … This shortage limits the ability of incarcerated individuals to access medical care, which could have deadly consequences for Mr. Peltier.”

“This is not only timely but a necessary measure in the interests of both justice and mercy,” O’Brien added, again urging for Peltier’s sentence to be commuted.

Asked for comment in response to Amnesty International’s letter, a White House spokesperson referred HuffPost to the Justice Department. “We don’t comment on individual pardon petitions,” the White House spokesperson said.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Amnesty Worldwide USA has more and more made Peltier’s launch a spotlight of its efforts. In June, the group requested the U.S. Parole Fee and the Bureau of Prisons to grant Peltier parole or compassionate launch, respectively. Each businesses denied the group’s requests.

Justin Mazzola, a researcher with Amnesty International USA, said in a statement that allowing Peltier to be home with his family and community in his final years would be a meaningful step to “help mend the fractured relationship between Native Americans and the government.”

It would also be “forever be part of Biden’s legacy,” he said.

“Keeping an 80-year-old man with various health issues locked behind bars for the rest of his life doesn’t serve justice,” Mazzola said. “We hope that President Biden finds it in his heart to release Leonard Peltier as a matter of humanity, mercy, and human rights.”