Toronto Sun on Leonard Peltier Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit April 18, 1999 A NORTH AMERICAN MANDELA Wrongly imprisoned for murder, Leonard Peltier is now perhaps gravely ill By PETER WORTHINGTON -- Toronto Sun After 23 years in prison and the refusal of authorities to even consider they may have made a mistake, Leonard Peltier, a Sioux-Ojibwa Indian, qualifies as the Nelson Mandela of North America. Just as journalists were thwarted in attempts to visit Mandela in his latter years of imprisonment in South Africa, so has an iron curtain or, rather, a wall of silence, descended around Peltier in the U.S. federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan. Peltier, now in his mid-50s, is serving a double life sentence for the shooting deaths of two FBI agents - Jack Coler and Ron Williams - during a range war at South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation near Wounded Knee in 1975. Several times in the 1980s I tried to visit Mandela in South Africa. He'd then been in prison for over 20 years. There was always an "official" reason why this was impossible. Pretoria's Afrikaner government wanted no publicity for Mandela who was becoming a symbol of the struggle against apartheid. It's similar with Peltier. He represents the aspirations and frustrations of North American Indians. I've twice visited him at Leavenworth but now, apparently, no one gets to see him. CNN's request for an interview was turned down, as was one from Britain's Guardian newspaper. A telephone interview was the best I could hope for, and that was unacceptable. I wanted to see Peltier. Is his health deteriorating, as has been reported? Are harassments increasing? Is he persecuted - or eglected? - particularly Bob Bennett, executive assistant to Warden J.W. Booker - that I felt it important to have personal contact, like the last two times. He echoed the warden's theme: "A more suitable means for conducting this interview would be via the telephone." "Why the change of policy?" I asked. "It's the warden's decision. You can reapply if you want." Leonard Peltier Defence Committees (LPDC) have sprung up around the world (Toronto's is at 416-439-1893). The LPDC headquarters at Lawrence, Kan., says only Peltier's lawyers, blood relatives and friends dating back five years before his incarceration are eligible to visit. Like many of his close supporters, I think Peltier is in considerable danger - that he maywell die if he doesn't get proper medical attention. He avoids trouble, but is often punished for being who he is, and what he represents. Or so it seems. His lawyer, Bob Ellison, says bluntly that he thinks authorities "hope" Peltier will die, thereby letting them, the U.S. justice department and the FBI off the hook. It's become widely accepted that Peltier's trial was a farce. Indians and others know who executed the two FBI agents, but the FBI doesn't care. They've got their man. The last time I saw Peltier, he could barely move his jaw. An untreated injury led to atrophication, fusing jaw bone and muscle - sort of permanent lockjaw. He's had two operations - both botched. One operation put him in a coma. He required a total blood transfusion. His recovery room was the hole. He now has only half-an-inch movement in his jaw. He eats by shoving food through the gap of a missing front tooth, and mashes food with his tongue before swallowing. Wires from his damaged jaw jut into his mouth and make eating excruciating. He has abscessed teeth that can't be treated, recurring headaches and lives in pain. Mayo Clinic doctors have offered to come to Peltier and operate for free. The prison says no. Peltier's sight is also deteriorating - inhibiting reading and his art work which the defence committee sells to raise money for the continuing campaign to win his freedom. Like Mandela, Peltier has become an international cause. On April 30, Danielle Mitterand, former first lady of France and president of the human rights organization France Libertes Assoc., hopes to visit Peltier. She has appealed for clemency. CANADA MAY HOLD KEY Ironically, Canada could hold a key to Peltier's freedom. When the two FBI agents were killed that turbulent summer of 1975, The American Indian Movement (AIM), reservation police,administrators, rival Indians, the FBI, etc., were all embroiled in feuds and shootings - some 300 people were shot during that time. Four Indians were originally charged in the deaths of the agents, but Peltier escaped to Canada. The others were acquitted. Had Peltier stood trial with them, he would in all probability have been acquitted as well. In 1976, Peltier was arrested in Canada and extradited 10 months later on the basis of an affidavit by one Myrtle Poor Bear who claimed to be his girlfriend and said she had seen him shoot the FBI agents. At the time, as editor of the Toronto Sun, I wrote editorials supporting the FBI and criticizing Amnesty International, which questioned the extradition. It subsequently turned out Poor Bear was a mental patient and the FBI had written the affidavits for her, coached her, pressured her. She didn't even know Peltier, had never met him, was nowhere near Pine Ridge at the time of the shooting. But the phony affidavits got Peltier extradited. Peltier later told author Peter Matthiessen, as he told me: "I have no bad thoughts for Myrtle Poor Bear. She is a poor, sick woman ... a pawn for them to use as they've used so many Indian people." The Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau refused to protest the fraud perpetrated on our justice system. Neither did the Tory government of Brian Mulroney care. Mostly it was NDP MPs who protested on behalf of Peltier. Today, the Reform party seems willing to raise hell. We shall see. Reform justice critic John Reynolds says his party will try to convince the government to protest Peltier's fraudulent extradition. He's written both President Bill Clinton and Justice Minister Anne McLellan, urging they act on the case. ALLMAND OFFENDED Warren Allmand was federal solicitor general when Peltier was arrested in Canada and Indian affairs minister when he was extradited. He was the lone Liberal who was offended at the abuse of justice. Over the years he's sought to right the wrong and have the Canadian government protest the extradition. A couple of years ago, before he quit politics to head the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, Allmand was asked by then-justice minister Allan Rock to re-examine the Peltier extradition proceedings. Allmand's report has gathered dust. Although his oath of office prevents him from making his report public, Allmand has no hesitation saying that the "only" cause for extradition was Poor Bear's perjured affidavit: "Otherwise, there were no grounds for extradition." Allmand even wrote Mandela, who, before he became president of South Africa, urged clemency for Peltier, asking him to renew his support. No response - a sad irony. If Canada were to react, Peltier's supporters feel it could give impetus to get him freed and encourage the U.S. government to do the right thing. Even assuming guilt, 23 years is enough. Pine Ridge was a mini-war, not a criminal act. The appeal courts in the U.S. over the years have been disappointing, even though it was proved (and admitted) that evidence was fabricated and misused. One appeal judge, Gerald Heaney, has since said that if Peltier's appeal had been better handled (by the late William Kunstler) he'd have freed Peltier. As it was, Heaney rebuked the FBI and filed an official complaint. He also wrote president George Bush, urging clemency. When I spoke to him, Heaney said he thought he knew who had shot the two agents. Leonard Peltier is a good man, a proud man, almost serene. He relishes news of his kids, and grandkids, who he hears about but never sees. Peltier's letters are gentle, sad. I suspect he's dying. The spirit and flesh can take only so much. If Clinton won't exercise his prerogative of executive clemency or pardon - as he promised prior to being elected - America may soon have yet another martyr on its conscience. Evidence is overwhelming that Peltier did not kill those FBI agents. Even though he knows who did, it's a measure of the man that he won't tell. The sorrow is that the Indian who did the deed won't come forward. Maybe some day ... Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774 To subscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-on@mail-list.com > To unsubscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-off@mail-list.com > To change your email address, send a message to < lpdc-change@mail-list.com with your old address in the Subject line ___________________________________________________ NUEVO AMANECER PRESS-N.A.P.To know about us visit: http://www.nap.cuhm.mx/nap0.htm (spanish) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-04.24.99-11:20:57-29031