More than 30 lawmakers press Biden to free activist Leonard Peltier after clemency blitz [View all]
Source: The Hill
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, led 33 members of Congress on Friday in a letter calling on President Biden to pardon Leonard Peltier — a Native American activist controversially convicted of murdering two FBI agents.
The letter cites Peltier’s age and health concerns, as well as the U.S. Parole Commission’s denial of his application in July, which likely marked his last chance at parole. In addition to 33 current senators and representatives, it is signed by former Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
“These recent denials mean only you have the unique ability to grant him clemency and rectify this grave injustice that has long troubled human rights advocates and Native Peoples across the globe,” the group wrote.
Peltier was involved in the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1970s, which led him to travel to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota amid tensions between the tribal chairman and a traditionalist faction of the Lakota nation. Agents Ronald Arthur Williams and Jack Ross Coler were killed in a shootout on the reservation, and Peltier was convicted and given two life sentences in 1977.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5039096-joe-biden-democrats-leonard-peltier-clemency-letter/
Please do it.
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