Can we mention Leonard Peltier?

[G_j]

written last summer)

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/03/obama-mandela-and-leonard-peltier/

JULY 03, 2013

Set Him Free!

Obama, Mandela and Leonard Peltier
by HARVEY WASSERMAN

--

Mandela was charged, among other things, with attempting to overthrow a government, which he admitted.

For 37 years, Peltier has consistently denied the charges against him, which arose from a native American resistance action at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

His bitterly contested 1977 conviction in the killing of two FBI agents came in Fargo. Peltier has since been held under extremely harsh circumstances in a variety of US prisons. He has been denied a wide range of basic rights, been severely beaten, and can’t get much-needed medical care. Now in his late sixties, Leonard’s health has dangerously deteriorated.

As an indigenous activist, Peltier has been deemed a political prisoner by Amnesty International and numerous other human rights organizations.

---

President Obama’s silence on Leonard’s case casts a long shadow over his visit to Robben Island. Amidst his many tributes to Nelson Mandela, Obama seems to have overlooked—we hope temporarily—that Mandela himself has asked that Peltier be given justice.

So have the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Parliaments of Europe, Italy and Belgium, the Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and many more. Before he passed away three years ago, Judge Gerald W. Heaney of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his previous opinion and joined those asking that Peltier be freed.

Most who support Peltier want his immediate release. Some ask that at very least he finally be granted a fair trial, with all the evidence made public. If the government insists on continuing to hold him in the interim, they ask he at least be moved near his Anishnabe and Dakota/Lakota people.

Leonard Peltier has been in jail so long he has grandchildren and great-grandchildren he has never seen.

..more..

[niyad]

1. k and r

[raging moderate]

2. Now, please.

Free Leonard Peltier.

[SomethingFishy]

3. One of the main reasons I can't stand Clinton...

He promised to Pardon Peltier and then reneged..

[Wait Wut]

4. I thought I was the only one that remembered.

It was Clinton's last chance to redeem himself in my eyes.

[sharp_stick]

5. When did he promise to pardon him?

I was very disappointed that he never did issue a pardon but I don't remember him ever promising to do it. There were rumors that he was considering it but I never heard anything more concrete than that.

[SomethingFishy]

7. Yeah you are right, it was not a "promise to pardon"

It was a "promise to consider"... time has warped my view Doesn't change the fact that he could have and refused to do it.

[sharp_stick]

8. I wish he had of done it n/t

[arikara]

42. Me too

I was so disappointed in Clinton.

I was so disappointed in Canada for extraditing him too when there wasn't the grounds to do so. That poor man, he's lived through hell and back.

[G_j]

9. that they let be known it was being considered

something previous presidents had not done. This raised the hopes of the Native American community. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see the sorrow and the hurt felt by the community, and to realize Peltier would likely die on prison.

[msanthrope]

18. Not only did President Clinton NOT promise to pardon Peltier, the march on 12/15/2000 in front of

the White House of several hundred FBI agents pretty much sealed the deal.

Mr. Peltier will die in prison, unless he comes clean about his role in the killings of Agents Williams and Coler.

[SomethingFishy]

20. Peltier was railroaded...

The evidence against him circumstantial at best... Falsified at worst. Plenty of material out there for anyone who doesn't exactly believe the FBI's story.

[msanthrope]

22. No--Peltier was not 'railroaded.' He made the fatal mistake of contesting extradition and therefore

his trial was severed--he stood an excellent chance of acquittal had he allowed himself to be tried with Robideau and Butler. (Remember, they were acquitted.)

Further, when you claim there was only 'circumstantial' evidence against him, well, so what? Plenty of people have been rightfully convicted on murder charges based only on circumstantial evidence. The fact is, that's not unconstitutional. Ballistics, however, is not generally considered 'circumstantial' evidence.

Peltier's choice to run affected his ability to mount an effective defense. He could have mounted an effective defense, had he chose to participate in the first trial.

[G_j]

25. I refuse to go there

your arguments are worn out. Take it up with Amnesty International, the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Parliaments of Europe, Italy and Belgium, the Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, etc.

you can argue FBI talking points all you like.
I'm not biting, I suggest others don't either.

[msanthrope]

26. Not FBI talking points---the actual appeal. You might find the most substantive one

pretty interesting:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2761884445838029212&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr

[G_j]

27. none of this is relative to an appeal to pardon

a man in poor health, who has been imprisoned for over 37 years.
I'm not here to endlessly argue the case.

[msanthrope]

30. He can ask a judge to release him for health reasons. But a presidential pardon is

something very different. I do not think it would be seriously considered unless and until he came clean about what happened that day.

[G_j]

35. I should have used other wording

"talking points" is not really fair. My apologies. That is a loaded phrase.
I just meant to say you seem to be essentially arguing the FBI's case.

[msanthrope]

39. What I am arguing is the case currently accepted under law. That doesn't mean

I agree with it, or that it's correct. The thing is, Peltier has a difficult argument, due to circumstances and his own choices.

[UtahLib]

6. Justice for Peltier! Shame on Clinton. n/t

[2banon]

10. k&r

[mahannah]

11. Free Leonard Peltier.

[Terra Alta]

12. Obama do the right thing

And pardon Leonard Peltier. This is an injustice.

[Mc Mike]

16. +1, nt.

[Ace Acme]

19. Couldn't do that. That would be looking backward, not forward.

And the FBI would revolt.

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2011/09/10/obama-ally-says-torture-probe-could-have-prompted-cia-revolt/

[heaven05]

13. part and parcel

of the ongoing native-American genocide.

[malthaussen]

14. No, we can't.

We'd rather forget him.

We can enshrine other people's freedom fighters, but our own we confine.

-- Mal

[douglas9]

15. Leonard Peltier on the passing of Nelson Mandela

Greeting my relatives, friends, and supporters:

It saddens me to hear that a great man like Nelson Mandela has departed from this lifetime. He was a man who was truly inspirational and showed us the possibilities of how a continued struggle by indigenous people could manifest itself in levels of freedom that have been marred by centuries of oppression.

Our Native people suffered the same types of oppression many times. It is not as overt and as easily distinguished as in some places; however, if you are dead because a policeman shot you, or dead because you could not stand the racial and cultural genocide, so you committed suicide-- you are just as dead either away. Nelson Mandela is known for leading the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. America talked about ending apartheid and put sanctions on South Africa. Not being all that adept at the English language, it is my understanding that (apartheid) means to keep someone apart from something; my people have been kept apart purposely from the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota. There was, and still are, measures that keep us apart from our true history, perpetrated by an education system that limits the truth of our being. Right now, here in America, right now in Canada, right now in South America, there is apartheid that seeks to separate us from our sacred places, our lands, and our resources. Right now in Canada Native people are struggling to protect their aboriginal lands from fracking which destroys the water tables and disturbs the natural balance of the Earth. Right now with an apartheid mentality, they seek to build pipelines across Native lands that have the potential of great ecological destruction. Right now there is an apartheid that seeks to separate us from the protection of the constitution of the United States which says treaty law is the supreme law of the land; which also says you have a right to an unbiased fair trial; which also says you have a right to a jury of your peers. Right now our young Native people are tried as adults THREE times more than other groups and kept apartheid from their families and kept apartheid from competent legal representation.


http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2013/12/leonard-peltier-on-passing-of-nelson.html

[G_j]

17. +1000

thank you!

[RC]

47. +1000

[font size="6"][center]Free Leonard Peltier[/center][/font size]

[yellerpup]

21. Let him go! n/t

[catbyte]

23. Amen

[RebelOne]

24. We have Indian Pow Wows here in North Georgia.

There is always a booth with a petition to free Leonard Peitier, and I always sign.

[red dog 1]

28. K&R

Democracy Now has done many programs on Leonard Peltier.

This one is a 43 minute video from last December:
"Exclusive: Native American Activist Leonard Peltier's Jailhouse Plea For Long Denied Clemency"
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/12/13/exclusive_native_american_activist_leonard_peltiers/

[KoKo]

34. +1 I first learned about him from Democracy Now awhile back.

The December Video is a good watch for his current situation. Thanks for posting for those who, like me, didn't know who he was.

[countryjake]

40. This is probably the Democracy Now that you remember...

As Clinton Contemplates Clemency for Leonard Peltier, a Debate Between the FBI and Defense Attorneys
http://www.democracynow.org/2000/12/11/as_clinton_contemplates_clemency_for_leonard

Monday, December 11, 2000

Guests:

•James Burrus, Assistant Special Agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis division.
•John Sennett, President of the FBI Agents Association.
•Jennifer Harbury, attorney for Leonard Peltier.
•Bruce Ellison, Attorney for Leonard Peltier.

[Octafish]

29. Good luck with that one!

Obama didn't lift Rove's finger off Don Siegelman.

[Rex]

32. He never bothered to change the Cheney JD back into something recognizable.

Which says a lot imo.

[Octafish]

36. Absolutely. Ms. Leura Canary continued 5 years as USAAG in Alabama.

Which bothers me a lot to this day. Worse still, the warmonger Judge Mark Fuller remains in a robe and on the bench.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022073759

[sabrina 1]

31. Way past time to do this.

[KoKo]

33. K&R..!

[Utopian Leftist]

37. Longtime Leonard Peltier supporter here.

If you want to hear a non-biased account that includes Peltier's side of the story, watch Robert Redford's excellent documentary, "Incident at Oglala."

Also visit the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee website or on Facebook.

And I can't prove it, but President Clinton DID promise to pardon Peltier, before he was elected President. I remember seeing the video of him saying it.

[hopemountain]

41. yes, go there…

and read his book "my life is a sundance"

and, mr. president, free leonard peltier.

[historylovr]

38. K & R

[countryjake]

43. I thought of him last night, as I saw all the pundits comments...

Mandela knew.


a display of protest on Black Mountain (Belfast, Ireland) for long time activist and Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier


Gael Force Art

[G_j]

46. great photo

Peltier's plight is recognized by people around the world.

[idwiyo]

44. k&r

[Enthusiast]

45. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch.....nt

[countryjake]

48. kickety

for the weekend folk

[DLevine]

49. K&R. nt