Leonard Peltier writes in CounterPunch I Am Barack Obama's Political Prisoner Now.
I just noticed that the Indigenous Women for Justice website is using web bugs which link it to First Nations issues of consequence.
The case of John Graham is considerably more complex than I could have imagined when I wrote my last entry. Check out Indigenous Women for Justice for a completely different point of view. Also check out Peltier pulls the plug by Charlie McKenzie from the Feb 10-16, 2005 edition of NOW.
Sometime around the beginning of 2005, Leonard Peltier signed an affidavit describing how he was promised his freedom in return for providing false testimony against John Graham. From the website of the John Graham Defence Fund:
John Graham, native of the Yukon and father of eight who has been living quietly in Vancouver for several years, was charged in the U.S. on March 30, 2003, along with Arlo Looking Cloud, 49, with the first-degree murder of Anna Mae Aquash twenty-eight years ago.
Further information on the same website clearly points to John's innocence and a sinister FBI plot to frame him for a murder which they themselves attempted to cover up at the time. John is now appealing against a 2005-03-02 Vancouver court extradition order and his next court date is 2005-11-07.
It is Leonard's 60th birthday on Sunday - I should have mentioned it earlier because it is now too late to sign this card.
Have you thought of Leonard Peltier lately? This is both a question and the title of a forthcoming book which documents the last seven years of Harvey Arden's involvement in the quest for Leonard Peltier's freedom.
There has been plenty of activity on this issue since I posted my original page. I have not been doing anything myself due to numerous other commitments but have a look at www.freepeltier.org for all the latest news on the campaign. For stuff about the Pine Ridge Reservation check out www.pineridgerez.net
On 1975-06-26, a firefight on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation between FBI agents and members of the American Indian Movement resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of Leonard Peltier (Ojibwa/Lakota) through fabricated evidence and the suppression of evidence that proved his innocence. Over 23 years later, Leonard Peltier remains in prison despite the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals finding that the suppressed evidence 'cast a strong doubt on the government's case'.
I first heard about Leonard's case in the late eighties, then in 1991 I was staying with friends in California who took me to a meeting where some of his supporters were speaking. I think that his treatment at the hands of the authorities has been outrageous and if the US Government could be forced to acknowledge this it would be a very positive thing, not just for Leonard himself, but for oppressed people and political prisoners everywhere. Search the web if you want to know more, there are plenty of sites out there, then do what you can and help spread the word.
www.zenatode.org.uk Ian Gregory 2010