UN Special Rapporteur meets with American Indian political prisoner Leonard Peltier.
http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/un-special-rapporteur-meets-leonard-peltier-prison/
UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MEETS WITH LEONARD PELTIER IN PRISON
BY LEVI RICKERT / CURRENTS / 24 JAN 2014
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Professor Anaya was accompanied by Leonard Lenny Foster, member of the Board of Directors of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), Supervisor of the Navajo Nations Correction Project, and Spiritual Advisor to Mr. Peltier for nearly 30 years. The historic, nearly four hour meeting began around 9 am. While the discussion Friday morning was meant to focus on executive clemency for Leonard Peltier, the conversation touched on many subjects, as Mr. Peltier was eager to hear the Special Rapporteurs perspective on the worldwide condition of indigenous peoples.
In a trial that is widely recognized as a miscarriage of justice, Leonard Peltier was convicted in 1977, in connection with a shootout with US Government forces, where two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and one young Indian man lost their lives. Every piece of evidence to convict Mr. Peltier has been since proven false.
Professor Anaya is currently serving his second term as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People. In September 2012, following a series of consultation sessions with Indigenous Peoples throughout the United States, the Special Rapporteur produced a Country Report on the Situation of Indigenous Peoples In the United States of America (A/HRC/21/47/Ad)].
In the report, Professor Anaya called for freedom for Leonard Peltier, and stated: Pleas for presidential consideration of clemency
have not borne fruit. This further depletes the already diminished faith in the criminal justice system felt by many indigenous peoples
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