To: Charles E. Samuels, Jr., Director Federal Bureau of Prisons, The Honorable Loretta Lynch, United States Attorney General, President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
THE PEOPLE DEMAND SAFETY, HUMANE TREATMENT AND RELEASE FOR LEONARD PELTIER NOW!
We, the undersigned, hereby petition the United States Bureau of Prisons, The United States Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, and the President of the United States, the Honorable Barack Obama, for immediate medical attention for US political prisoner #89637-132, Leonard Peltier.
We demand that Mr. Peltier be treated with dignity and respect, and be transferred to a medical facility where he can have life-saving surgery and released into the custody of the sovereign nation of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa.
The public will hold you all accountable for the safety and well being of Mr. Peltier.
Internationally known indigenous political prisoner, Leonard Peltier has been diagnosed with an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. This is a very dangerous condition, and if it should burst, Mr. Peltier will bleed to death.
Due to frequent lockdowns at the maximum security facility, Mr. Peltier has been limited to restricted meals, endangering his diabetic condition. This situation has contributed to his many health problems. We wish to express our deep concern about his lack of adequate medical treatment. Mr. Peltier is a human being and entitled to the medical care that will prevent him from being unjustly and unlawfully executed though medical neglect.
We hold the warden and the prison system responsible for Leonard Peltier's safety, well being and humane treatment. Leonard Peltier is an internationally known Indigenous activist and has become a global symbol of US injustice and prison abuse. Imprisoned in the late 1970s for allegedly murdering two FBI agents, Peltier has never been given a fair trial. Federal authorities have quashed or destroyed thousands of pages of evidence that might have freed Peltier decades ago.
The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee points out that "Amnesty International considers Leonard Peltier to be a political prisoner whose avenues of redress have long been exhausted.... Amnesty International recognizes that a retrial is no longer a feasible option and believes that Leonard Peltier should be immediately and unconditionally released."
The LPDOC adds that "Documents show that although the prosecution and government pointed the finger at Peltier for shooting FBI agents at close range during the trial in 1976, for three years the prosecution withheld critical ballistic test results proving that the fatal bullets could not have come from the gun tied to Leonard Peltier. This trial also denied evidence of self defense."
The LPDOC further notes that "The U.S. Prosecutor, during subsequent oral arguments, stated: 'We can't prove who shot those agents' and the Eighth Circuit found that "There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government's case."
Judge Heaney, who authored the denial, now supports Mr. Peltier's release, stating that the FBI used improper tactics to gain Mr. Peltier's conviction.
Now 71 years old, Leonard Peltier is also suffering from diabetes and a series of other serious ailments brought on by his decades of unjust imprisonment. He has great-grandchildren he has never seen.
The gross miscarriage of justice in the case of Leonard Peltier has gone on long enough.
Furthermore, Mr. Peltier has been a model prisoner for decades. He is long overdue for parole, but the FBI is improperly intervening to prevent his release.
At a time when the international community is calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo, Leonard Peltier has been languishing unjustly in the U.S. prison system for decades longer than the Guantanamo prison has existed.
Before it’s too late, we demand that Leonard Peltier be transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN where he can obtain needed live-saving surgery. Because he is a member of a sovereign Native nation, we ask that President Obama work "nation to nation" with the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and bring Mr. Peltier home to his Native North Dakota.
Sincerely,
We demand that Mr. Peltier be treated with dignity and respect, and be transferred to a medical facility where he can have life-saving surgery and released into the custody of the sovereign nation of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa.
The public will hold you all accountable for the safety and well being of Mr. Peltier.
Internationally known indigenous political prisoner, Leonard Peltier has been diagnosed with an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. This is a very dangerous condition, and if it should burst, Mr. Peltier will bleed to death.
Due to frequent lockdowns at the maximum security facility, Mr. Peltier has been limited to restricted meals, endangering his diabetic condition. This situation has contributed to his many health problems. We wish to express our deep concern about his lack of adequate medical treatment. Mr. Peltier is a human being and entitled to the medical care that will prevent him from being unjustly and unlawfully executed though medical neglect.
We hold the warden and the prison system responsible for Leonard Peltier's safety, well being and humane treatment. Leonard Peltier is an internationally known Indigenous activist and has become a global symbol of US injustice and prison abuse. Imprisoned in the late 1970s for allegedly murdering two FBI agents, Peltier has never been given a fair trial. Federal authorities have quashed or destroyed thousands of pages of evidence that might have freed Peltier decades ago.
The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee points out that "Amnesty International considers Leonard Peltier to be a political prisoner whose avenues of redress have long been exhausted.... Amnesty International recognizes that a retrial is no longer a feasible option and believes that Leonard Peltier should be immediately and unconditionally released."
The LPDOC adds that "Documents show that although the prosecution and government pointed the finger at Peltier for shooting FBI agents at close range during the trial in 1976, for three years the prosecution withheld critical ballistic test results proving that the fatal bullets could not have come from the gun tied to Leonard Peltier. This trial also denied evidence of self defense."
The LPDOC further notes that "The U.S. Prosecutor, during subsequent oral arguments, stated: 'We can't prove who shot those agents' and the Eighth Circuit found that "There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government's case."
Judge Heaney, who authored the denial, now supports Mr. Peltier's release, stating that the FBI used improper tactics to gain Mr. Peltier's conviction.
Now 71 years old, Leonard Peltier is also suffering from diabetes and a series of other serious ailments brought on by his decades of unjust imprisonment. He has great-grandchildren he has never seen.
The gross miscarriage of justice in the case of Leonard Peltier has gone on long enough.
Furthermore, Mr. Peltier has been a model prisoner for decades. He is long overdue for parole, but the FBI is improperly intervening to prevent his release.
At a time when the international community is calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo, Leonard Peltier has been languishing unjustly in the U.S. prison system for decades longer than the Guantanamo prison has existed.
Before it’s too late, we demand that Leonard Peltier be transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN where he can obtain needed live-saving surgery. Because he is a member of a sovereign Native nation, we ask that President Obama work "nation to nation" with the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and bring Mr. Peltier home to his Native North Dakota.
Sincerely,
Why is this important?
WE WON'T LET LEONARD PELTIER DIE IN PRISON!