URGENT! Leonard Peltier's Safety in Jeopardy!--Take Action Today and Tomorrow and the Next . . .

Below find an email from Leonard Peltier's sister regarding an assault perpetrated against her brother at the federal prison in Canaan, Pennsylvania. Please take action immediately and join me in calling all the numbers below, spread the word, and continue to monitor the situation. We have each other's backs, whether its our loved ones or those loved by others, let's pull together.

 

Leonard Peltier is an indigenous political prisoner who has spent 33 years held captive by the state for the killing of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975, while the agents were engaging in a murderous counterinsurgency campaign to destroy the American Indian Movement.   During an appeal of his conviction in the 1980s, the state admitted that they have no idea who killed the FBI agents. Despite this admission on the part of the government, Leonard continues to be held as a reminder to the first peoples of this land so as to terrorize them into submission to state and corporate plans to steal the rest of their land and resources, including and especially water, incarcerate the indigenous at the highest rate in the country, and perpetuate policy-drive conditions of dire poverty and disease. 

 

Leonard's life must be protected and his freedom must be fought for with a renewed urgency.  The fate of the people of this land is bound up with the fate of the first peoples, and we have to make any and every effort to understand and resist the endgame of a centuries long process of genocide.  This cannot be allowed to pass. 

 

Let's work  together and push a little harder than we have in order to make the ERN a powerful tool for mobilizing awareness and taking action in defense of the hundreds of political prisoners inside the U.S. in 2009.

 

for more information on Leonard Peltier visit: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/index.htm

for an important study on the government's war against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement track down a copy of: Agents of Reprssion: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement (local libraries usually have a copy)

 

 

Forwarded on behalf of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee

URGENT! Leonard Peltier's Safety in Jeopardy!
Call Canaan Federal Prison
570-488-8000

Dear LP Supporters,

I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after his transfer, some inmates assaulted him. The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his head and body, receiving a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion, and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from his injuries.

We feel that prison authorities at the prompting of the FBI orchestrated this attack and thus, we are greatly concerned about his safety. It may be that the attackers, whom Leonard did not even know, were offered reduced sentences for carrying out this heinous assault. Since Leonard is up for parole soon, this could be a conspiracy to discredit a model prisoner. He was placed in solitary confinement and only given one meal, this is generally done when you won't name your attackers; incidentally being only given one meal seriously jeopardizes his health because of his diabetes. Prison officials refuse to release any info to the family, but they need to hear from his supporters to protect his safety, as does President Obama. His attorneys are trying to get calls into him now.

This attack on LP comes on the heels of the FBI's recent letter, prompting this attack by FBI supporters as an attempt to discredit LP as a model prisoner. Anyone who has been in the prison system knows well that if you refuse to name your attackers or file charges against them, then you lose your status as a victim and/or given points against your possible parole and labeled as a perpetrator. It is not uncommon, in fact is quite common for the government to use Indian against Indian and they still operate under the old adage "it takes an Indian to catch an Indian". In 1978, they made an attempt to assassinate him through another Indian man who was also at Marion prison with LP. But Standing Deer chose to reveal the plot to him instead of taking his life in exchange FOR A CHANCE AT FREEDOM. When Standing Deer was released in 2001, he joined the former Leonard Peltier Defense Committee as a board member. He also began to speak on Leonard's behalf until his murder six years ago today. Prior to his murder, Standing Deer confided with close friends and associates that the same man who visited him in Marion to assassinate Peltier, had came to Houston, TX and told him that he had better stay away from Peltier and anything to do with him.

We are aware that currently, the FBI is actively seeking support for his continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier and also also seeking support from Native People. So please be aware, and keep Leonard in your prayers. The FBI is apparently afraid of the impact we are having. If they will set him up to blemish his record just before a parole hearing, what will they do when it looks like his freedom will become a reality? We need to make sure that nothing happens to him again!

Please write the President, send it priority or registered mail. Email to Change.gov or email President Obama. Call your congressional representatives and write letters, not email, to them. Do what you can to get the word out to insure that LP is receiving adequate medical attention for his injuries.

I am asking you, supporters of Leonard and advocates of justice at this time to help. I don't know what else to do. Please Help!

Thank you Betty Peltier-Solano Executive Coordinator Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee

Also call and request Leonard be treated with dignity and respect.
Canaan Federal Prison
570-488-8000

Leonard's prisoner number is 89637-132.


Warden Ronnie R. Holt, Warden
USP-Canaan
U.S. Penitentiary
3057 Easton Turnpike
Waymart, PA 18472
Phone: 570-488-8000
Fax: 570-488-8130
E-mail address: CAA/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
 
D. Scott Dodrill, Director
Northeast Regional Office
Federal Bureau of Prisons
2nd & Chesnut Streets., 7th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: 215-521-7301
E-mail: NERO/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
 
Harley G. Lappin, Director
Bureau of Prisons
U.S. Department of Justice
320 First Street, NW, Room 654
Washington, DC 20534
Phone: 202-307-3250
Fax: 202-514-6878
 
Ask President Obama to investigate this incident:

The Honorable Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/


--
Human Rights Coalition - FedUp! Chapter
5125 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15224
412-361-3022 xt.4  hrcfedup@gmail.com
www.thomasmertoncenter.org/fedup/