Imprisoned for 50 Years: Amnesty Calls for Leonard Peltier’s Freedom as He Turns 80 Behind Bars
Imprisoned for 50 Years: Amnesty Calls for Leonard Peltier’s Freedom as He Turns 80 Behind Bars
Supporters of Leonard Peltier are calling on President Biden to grant clemency to the Indigenous leader and activist, who marked his 80th birthday behind bars on Thursday after nearly a half-century in prison for a crime he says he did not commit. The ailing Peltier, who uses a walker and has seriou...
Watch this riveting documentary to become permanently disgusted with the US's handling of Peltier's case.
Robert Redford narrates this documentary about the Pine Ridge Shootout on an Oglala Sioux reservation in South Dakota. On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents are searching for tribesman Leonard Peltier, wanted in connection with an assault. They are killed after coming under heavy fire, presumably from Peltier and his accomplices. However, proponents claim that the FBI botched the investigation by tampering with and suppressing evidence, and that Peltier's imprisonment is a miscarriage of justice.
"miscarriage of justice" is an understatement.
But it’s uncharacteristic right now, because I’ve not heard from him in over seven days. And that is concerning. Obviously, it is heartbreaking, because he is sitting in lockdown on his 80th birthday — or, was sitting in lockdown on his 80th birthday. And really, this is a form of solitary confinement and a means of hastening death by incarceration. All of these different characteristics of Leonard’s incarceration are, in fact, means of death by incarceration. So, we wholly object to the lockdowns. We believe that Leonard — and we have requested a medical transfer. It is wholly inappropriate for him, for many reasons, notwithstanding his medical reasons, for him to be at USP Coleman I sitting in lockdown, reliant on a walker, at 80 years old.