{"id":16929,"date":"2022-01-31T09:56:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T14:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/covid19\/?p=16929"},"modified":"2022-01-31T10:03:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T15:03:16","slug":"leonard-peltier-defense-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/2022\/01\/31\/leonard-peltier-defense-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonard Peltier Defense Committee Press Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Leonard

Leonard Peltier is seen in a cell at the U.S. penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, in June 1992. Photo by Jeffry Scott<\/p><\/div>\n

Int’l Leonard Peltier Defense Committee<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

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www.WhoIsLeonardPeltier.info<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For Immediate Release <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Press Conference to Demand Immediate Hospitalization and<\/strong> 
\nCOVID Release from Prison for Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier<\/strong> <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, 1:00 pm<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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U.S. Federal Courthouse, 801 N. Florida Ave., Tampa FL<\/strong> (live feed info below)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee: facebook.com\/PeltierHQ<\/a><\/p>\n

Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier, who has been in U.S. federal prison for 46 years despite worldwide calls for his freedom, tested positive for COVID on Friday, Jan. 28. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Carol Gokee and Jean Roach, co-directors of the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (ILPDC) are hosting a press conference on Monday, Jan. 31 at 1:00 pm in Tampa to expose the failure of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to follow CDC guidelines and COVID guidelines issued by former Attorney General William Barr. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At 77 years old with severe health problems, Leonard Peltier is at great risk. Supporters are demanding his immediate transfer to a hospital to prevent complications that could endanger his life. He has diabetes, an aortic aneurysm, untreated kidney disease and high blood pressure. He also had open heart surgery recently. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite the extremely high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, the BOP had not provided booster shots to the prisoners at the Coleman I penitentiary, particularly to the Elders Unit, where Mr. Peltier is imprisoned.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe are calling for Leonard to be transferred to a hospital immediately. He waited all day from 8:00 am on Friday when he told the authorities he was sick. He was not tested for hours. It was only at 7:00 pm that he was told the test result was positive,\u201d says Gokee. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Roach says, \u201cIt is unconscionable that Leonard Peltier and the other prisoners were not given the booster shot. We demand that he be provided hospitalization to assure a higher chance of survival and recovery. Despite his eligibility for COVID release due to the pandemic, we are alarmed that he could face a death sentence by the BOP\u2019s negligence. Leonard Peltier needs to be hospitalized, not just isolated in the prison.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There is a growing chorus of voices calling on President Biden to free Mr. Peltier. On January 26, Brian Schatz, (D-Hawaii) Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, wrote to President Biden, saying in part, \u201cI write to urge you to grant a commutation of Leonard Peltier\u2019s sentence.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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James H. Reynolds, who was the prosecutor at Mr. Peltier\u2019s trial, wrote Biden on July 9, 2021, \u201cI write today from a position rare for a former prosecutor: to beseech you to commute the sentence of a man who I helped put behind bars. \u2026 I have realized that the prosecution and continued incarceration of Mr. Peltier was and is unjust.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A national Change.org petition is calling for Leonard Peltier\u2019s hospitalization and freedom: Chng.it\/xChWLc5vT6<\/a>   <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The press conference will be livestreamed on the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee Facebook page. Please join us at 1pm on January 31st at the link below:<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/1525759891020315\/posts\/3055748038021485\/<\/a><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PeltierHQ\/posts\/3057275771202045<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leonard Peltier, who has been in U.S. federal prison for 46 years amid worldwide calls for his freedom, tested positive for COVID-19 on January 28, 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[21,866],"class_list":["post-16929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-organizations","tag-florida","tag-leonard-peltier"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/31\/leonardpeltier.jpeg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16929"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16935,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16929\/revisions\/16935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}