24460: Blanchet: (news) Fw: Rep. Waters Travels to Haiti; Visits Former Prime Minister Neptune in Prison (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

>
> --- Erzilidanto@aol.com wrote:
>
> >
> > PRESS RELEASE
> >
> > For Immediate Release
> > (323) 757-8900
> >
> > March 7, 2005
> >
> >
> >
> > CONGRESSWOMAN WATERS TRAVELS TO HAITI;
> >
> > VISITS FORMER PRIME MINISTER NEPTUNE IN PRISON; AND
> >
> > DEMANDS THAT THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT RELEASE HIM
> >
> > AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
> >
> >
> >
> > Washington, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Maxine
> > Waters (CA-35) traveled
> > to Haiti to visit Haiti's former Prime Minister Yvon
> > Neptune, who is being
> > detained illegally in prison.
> > She was met at the airport in Port-au-Prince by U.S.
> > Embassy officials early
> > this morning and immediately traveled to the
> > National Penitentiary, where she
> > met with Prime Minister Neptune, as well as former
> > Interior Minister Jocelerme
> > Privert and former delegate Jacques Mathelier. The
> > Congresswoman spent an
> > hour with Prime Minister Neptune, discussing his
> > health and the treatment he has
> > received in prison, after which she returned to the
> > airport and held a press
> > conference.
> >
> > "I urge the interim government of Haiti
> > to set Prime Minister
> > Neptune free and release all political prisoners in
> > Haitian prisons," said the
> > Congresswoman.   "The interim government's
> > repression of dissenters like Prime
> > Minister Neptune must end immediately. The whole
> > world is watching."
> >
> > Prime Minister Neptune has languished in
> > prison in Haiti since J
> > une 27, 2004. His life has been endangered
> > throughout his confinement. There
> > were reports of a plot to assassinate him last
> > November, a massacre in the
> > National Penitentiary on December 1, and a revolt in
> > the National
> > Penitentiary on February 19. Prime Minister Neptune
> > recently began a hunger
> > strike and has vowed not to eat until the unjust,
> > unsafe circumstances of his
> > confinement are addressed.
> >
> > "The conditions that I observed in the
> > prison where Prime Minister
> > Neptune is being held were deplorable," reported the
> > Congresswoman. "Prime
> > Minister Neptune was weak and could only speak in a
> > whispering voice. He
> > insisted that he had been jailed without
> > justification and that he had committed no
> > crime. He has not been allowed to go before a judge
> > to challenge his
> > confinement as required under the constitution of
> > Haiti, and he believes he has been
> > targeted to be killed."
> >
> > "I tried to convince Prime Minister
> > Neptune to give up his hunger
> > strike or at least accept temporary asylum from the
> > United States, so that he
> > could be examined by an American physician tasked
> > with ensuring that his
> > hunger strike has not caused him bodily harm,"
> > explained the
> > Congresswoman. "However, Prime Minister Neptune
> > refused to end his hunger
> > strike, which protests his unjust imprisonment by
> > the interim government of
> > Haiti. He said he will not leave Haiti, and he will
> > not accept political
> > asylum in another country. The only condition under
> > which he would be willing to
> > end his hunger strike is if the interim government
> > of Haiti releases him and
> > allows him to live as a free man in Haiti."
> >
> >
> > Congresswoman Waters was accompanied to
> > the prison by a delegation
> > of Americans who are concerned about human rights in
> > Haiti. The delegation
> > included Marguerite Laurent, the Haitian Lawyers
> > Leadership Network; Mario
> > Joseph, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in
> > Haiti;
> > Margaret Prescod, Global Women Strike; Lucie
> > Tondreau, Veye Yo and the Haiti
> > Action Committee; Dr. Serge Louis, Fanmi Lavalas;
> > and Dr. Jean-Paul Bennet, a
> > physician;
> >
> > Congresswoman Waters was joined on her
> > flight to Port-au-Prince
> > by Ira Kurzban, a prominent Florida attorney who
> > served as the attorney for
> > President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the
> > democratically-elected President of Haiti
> > who was forced to leave Haiti in a coup d'etat on
> > February 29, 2004.
> >
> > Upon arrival, Mr. Kurzban was told that the interim
> > government of Haiti would
> > not allow him to enter the country. Employees of
> > American Airlines informed
> > Mr. Kurzban that should he deplane, he would be
> > immediately arrested.
> > Nevertheless, Mr. Kurzban left the plane and
> > demanded to know why he was not being
> > allowed to enter Haiti, but was stopped by officials
> > of the interim government,
> > who forced him to get back on a plane and return to
> > the United States.
> >
> > "The interim government's refusal to
> > allow Ira Kurzban to join me
> > in visiting Prime Minister Neptune is just another
> > example of its systematic
> > repression of everyone who is associated with
> > President Aristide or his
> > political party," said Congresswoman Waters. "This
> > repression has got to stop.
> >
> > "I raveled to Haiti to determine the
> > conditions of Prime Minister
> > Neptune's imprisonment, assess his well-being, and
> > work with the U.S. Embassy
> > to obtain his immediate release from prison. I
> > believe that our efforts will
> > help to save Prime Minister Neptune's life, and I
> > hope that they will lead to
> > his immediate release from prison."
> >
> > ###
> > *******
> > Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers' Leadership Network
> > ******
> >
> > "Men anpil chay pa lou" is Kreyol for - "Many hands
> > make light a heavy
> > load."
> >
> > See, The Haitian Leadership Networks' 7 "Men Anpil
> > Chay Pa Lou" campaigns to
> > help restore Haiti's independence, the will of the
> > mass electorate and the
> > rule of law.
> > http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/lawpress.html
> > *******************
> > Here is what you can do to help us help the people
> > of Haiti:
> > ***************
> > Action Requested from Haiti solidarity groups and
> > activists for justice and
> > democracy
> > **********************
> >
> > Please circulate our mailings and posts to your
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> > Read, adopt and circulate the Haiti Resolution (see
> > below) from the Haitian
> > Lawyers Leadership Network and/or the Porto Alegre
> > Declarations on Haiti
> > adopted at the World Social Forum in 2005:
> >
> http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/declaration.html
> >
> > Circulate the human rights reports, especially the
> > latest Miami Law Center
> > report:
> > http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campai
> >
> gns/campaignone/human_rights_reports/c1humanrightsreports.html
> >
> > Do Press Work: Join our letter writing campaigns to
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> > prisoners in Haiti, stop the persecution of Haiti's
> > most popular political
> > party and restore Constitutional rule. Write a
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> > information:
> >
>
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/pressreleases
> > _hll.html
> >
> > HLLN Networkers are urged, in addition to the
> > general writing campaigns and
> > e-mail circulations, to also consider volunteering
> > as primary
> > coordinators/contributors to one of our seven
> > campaigns:
> >
> http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaigns.html
> >
> > Support our lawyers in Haiti and HLLN projects, such
> > as, our partnership with
> > AUMOHD, the young human rights lawyers in Haiti who
> > are defending the
> > defenseless poor whose only crime is that they voted
> > for Lavalas, supported
> > Constitutional rule or are resisting a return of the
> > bloody U.S.-trained Haitian army
> > and US-sponsored dictatorship. For information on
> > AUMOHD, go to:
> > http://www.april6vt.org/
> > *********
> >
> > Suppport the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Haiti
> > Resolution:
> >
> > 1. Demand the return of constitutional rule to Haiti
> > by restoring all elected
> > officials of all parties to their offices throughout
> > the country until the
> > end of their mandates and another election is held,
> > as mandated by Haiti's
> > Constitution;
> >
> > 2. Condemn the killings, illegal imprisonment and
> > confiscation of the
> > property of supporters of Haiti's constitutional
> > government and insist that Haiti's
> > illegitimate "interim government" immediately cease
> > its persecution and put a
> > stop to persecution by the thugs and murderers from
> > sectors in their police
> > force, from the paramilitaries, gangs and former
> > soldiers;
> >
> > 3. Insist on the immediate release of all political
> > prisoners in Haitian
> > jails, including Prime Minister Yvon Neptune,
> > Interior Minister Privert and other
> > constitutional government officials and
> > folksinger-activist Sò Ann;
> >
> > 4. Insist on the disarmament of the thugs, death
> > squad leaders and convicted
> > human rights violators and their prosecution for all
> > crimes committed during
> > the attack on Haiti's elected government and support
> > the rebuilding of Haiti's
> > police force, ensuring that it excludes anyone who
> > helped to overthrow the
> > democratically elected government or who
> > participated in other human rights
> > violations;
> >
> > 5. Stop the indefinite detention and automatic
> > repatriation of Haitian
> > refugees and immediately grant Temporary Protected
> > Status to all Haitian refugees
> > presently in the United States until democracy is
> > restored to Haiti; and
> >
> > 6. Support the calls by the OAS, CARICOM and the
> > African Union for an
> > investigation into the circumstances of President
> > Aristide's removal. Support the
> > enactment of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's T.R.U.T.H
> > Act which calls for U.S.
> > Congressional investigation of the forcible removal
> > of the democratically elected
> > President and government of Haiti.
> > ***************
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