19-01-2017, 04:58 AM
Peltier is Innocent and was convicted on false evidence by the racist and unjust FBI and Federal Prosecutors. He is now 72 and in very poor health - not expected to live through four years of Trumpf - who would never even consider releasing him and would consider bringing torture into prisons in the USA. I'm deeply saddened. Our sad Nation was founded on the genocide of the Native Americans and we have never acknowledged the crime - and that the hate and shame of that continues. I have sent so many emails to Obama asking for Peltier to be pardoned. The Pope did two days ago, as did one of his Federal Prosecutors and even one of the senior FBI agents at the incident [FBI armed attack on peaceful Native Americans in their land/homes]. Sad. Sick. Unjust. Typical of the USA, sadly.
Quote:Breaking: Leonard Peltier Denied Clemency by Obama
WEB EXCLUSIVEJANUARY 18, 2017ALL WEB EXCLUSIVE ⟶
[URL="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/18/breaking_leonard_peltier_denied_clemency_by"]
The Office of the Pardon Attorney has announced President Obama has denied clemency to imprisoned Native American activist Leonard Peltier. Peltier is a former member of the American Indian Movement who was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a shootout on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. He has long maintained his innocence.[/URL]
Amnesty International condemned the decision.
"We are deeply saddened by the news that President Obama will not let Leonard go home," said Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "Despite serious concerns about the fairness of legal proceedings that led to his trial and conviction, Peltier was imprisoned for more than 40 years. He has always maintained his innocence. The families of the FBI agents who were killed during the 1975 confrontation between the FBI and American Indian Movement (AIM) members have a right to justice, but justice will not be served by Peltier's continued imprisonment."
Peltier's attorney Martin Garbus appeared on Democracy Now! today.
"I think it's fair to say that if he doesn't get commuted by President Obama, he'll die in jail. He's a very sick man," Garbus said. "So, Obama's not granting him clemency is like a sentence of death. Trump ain't going to do it. And he's very sick, and he's not going to live past that time. I don't want to be negative, but that's the reality. He's very sick, and he's been in prison over 40 years, hard years, six years of solitary."
Garbus was notified of Obama's decision earlier today. In an email, the Office of the Pardon Attorney wrote: "The application for commutation of sentence of your client, Mr. Leonard Peltier, was carefully considered in this Department and the White House, and the decision was reached that favorable action is not warranted. Your client's application was therefore denied by the President on January 18, 2017... Under the Constitution, there is no appeal from this decision."
See our full coverage on Leonard Peltier
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass