WASHINGTON ― With only one week left in Joe Biden’s presidency, greater than 120 tribal leaders on Monday urged him to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier, the ailing Native American rights activist who has been in jail for almost 50 years after a trial riddled with misconduct and a damaged parole course of.
“Mr. President, we honor your demonstrated commitment to Indian Country. You have stood with us many times – both in the White House and in the U.S. Senate,” reads their letter. “Our standing in the world as a champion of freedom, justice, and human rights cannot be maintained in a system that allows Leonard Peltier to die in prison.”
Quite a lot of outstanding tribal leaders are on the letter, together with Frank Star Comes Out, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota; Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group; Mark Macarro, president of the Nationwide Congress of American Indians and tribal chair of the Pechanga Band of Indians in California; and Deborah Parker, government director of the Native American Boarding College Coalition.
A White Home spokesperson declined remark.
Right here’s a duplicate of their letter:
Peltier has been in jail ever because the U.S. authorities accused him of murdering two FBI brokers in a 1975 shoot-out on a reservation in South Dakota. There was by no means proof that Peltier dedicated a criminal offense, and the federal government by no means did determine who shot these brokers. However federal officers wanted somebody to take the autumn and all of Peltier’s co-defendants have been acquitted on grounds of self-defense. So, they settled on Peltier.
His trial was riddled with misconduct: The FBI threatened and coerced witnesses into mendacity. Federal prosecutors hid proof that exonerated Peltier. A juror admitted on the second day of the trial that she had “prejudice against Indians,” however she was saved on anyway.
The U.S. authorities’s case fell aside after these revelations, so it simply revised its prices in opposition to Peltier to aiding and abetting whoever did kill the brokers ― primarily based completely on the truth that he was considered one of dozens of individuals current when the shoot-out occurred.
Peltier, now 80, has maintained his innocence your entire time he’s been in jail, which has nearly definitely led to him being denied parole. His extended imprisonment is so uncommon that it prompted a panel of United Nations authorized consultants to overview his case in 2022. In a damning 17-page authorized opinion, they concluded his imprisonment is “arbitrary,” and the one purpose he’s nonetheless being detained is “because he is Native American.”
Peltier’s well being has faltered lately. He’s principally blind now and makes use of a walker to get round when he’s not confined to the inches of house in his cell. He has struggled with an aortic aneurysm and diabetes, which despatched him to the hospital in July with “open wounds and tissue death on his toes and feet.” He was hospitalized once more in October.
The one purpose Peltier continues to be in jail is due to staunch opposition from the FBI, at the same time as its said arguments for blocking his launch are both outdated, deceptive or just false.
The FBI nonetheless hasn’t publicly addressed the important thing context of that 1975 shoot-out, both: The bureau itself was deliberately fueling tensions on that reservation as a part of a covert marketing campaign to suppress the actions of the American Indian Motion (AIM), a grassroots motion for Indigenous rights. Peltier was an energetic AIM member and an FBI goal.
Just about each worldwide human rights chief in trendy historical past, together with Pope Francis and Nelson Mandela, has known as for Peltier’s launch. Remarkably, so have a number of the similar individuals who put Peltier in jail within the first place.
Former U.S. Legal professional James Reynolds, who prosecuted Peltier many years in the past, has been privately urging Biden to grant him clemency. He did so in a surprising letter to the president a couple of years in the past, and once more, in a brand new video launched Monday.
“I had been, as a U.S. Attorney, I had been involved in the prosecution of Leonard’s case,” Reynolds says within the video. “As it went on and went on and went on, and more and more stuff was revealed, it became quite embarrassing that I had anything to do with it.”
“When I saw that Leonard was asking for clemency, I decided on my own, and I hadn’t talked to people or anyone, I just decided on my own it was my duty as the U.S. Attorney that was involved in the case to write to the president,” he mentioned.
You catch watch Reynolds’ video right here:
The handfuls of tribal leaders now urging Biden to launch Peltier are hoping to enchantment to the president’s pleasure in his legacy of supporting Indigenous peoples’ rights.
As president, Biden has made historic investments in tribes and Native communities, between directing billions in federal {dollars} to tribal communities and populating his administration with high-profile Indigenous appointments, together with Inside Secretary Deb Haaland. He’s arguably the strongest ally tribes have had within the White Home, and granting clemency to Peltier could be welcomed as a closing act of mercy to many.
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“Mr. Peltier’s continued incarceration is a symbol to Native Americans of the systemic inequities of the criminal justice system in America,” the tribal leaders wrote to Biden.
“We ask that you urgently consider this opportunity to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier,” they mentioned. “Stand with us again.”
