Amnesty International asks Biden to issue commutations and pardons, including one for Leonard Peltier
Amnesty International is urging President Biden to change course and take specific steps to respect, protect and fulfill human rights in the United States and beyond before the end of his term. In a letter sent to the President today, Amnesty International laid out five issues that President Biden must address during the last weeks of his presidency.
Specifically, Amnesty International is asking President Biden to:
Commute the death sentences of Billie Allen and all others currently on federal and military death rows,
Transfer cleared detainees out of Guantanamo and close the detention facilities,
Free Indigenous elder and activist Leonard Peltier,
Restore access to asylum at the border and protect communities from mass deportations, and
Stop arms transfers to the Israeli government and use all possible leverage to move towards an immediate and permanent ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, and the safe return of all remaining hostages.
In the letter, Amnesty International reminds President Biden of the pledges he made when he took office. Time is running out for him to act on these human rights concerns.
Editor’s note: Peltier (his 1975 image on a wanted poster is seen above) turned 80 in September and his heart is failing. He has been in prison since 1977, convicted in the murders of two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, after a standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on June 26, 1975.
Peltier, a North Dakota native and enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, spent time in South Dakota when he was younger. He later became an active member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), which was fighting — at times literally — for better conditions and fair treatment for Native Americans.
Peltier has insisted, including in an extended 2023 interview with Tom Lawrence of the South Dakota Standard, that he did not shoot the agents. He has gained support from many prominent people over the decades, while the FBI has led the opposition to his release from custody.
“No, I’m not the shooter,” Peltier said during an exclusive phone interview from a Florida federal prison. “I’m not the killer. I did not kill those FBI agents.”
On July 2, the U.S. Parole Commission announced Peltier had been denied parole, and would not have another hearing for two years.
“With only weeks left in your term as president of the United States, we implore you to keep your word on pledges you have made,” said Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “This is a question of simple moral decency, Mr. President. The world is watching you and holding out hope that you will take bold action to protect and fulfill human rights while you and your administration still have the power to do so.”
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, Amnesty International has noted that Donald Trump’s first term as president was marked by bigotry, xenophobia, and white supremacist rhetoric, and led to extensive human rights violations. The organization has promised that its members, supporters and activists in the United States and across the world will work to defend human rights and hold the Trump administration and all newly elected U.S. officials accountable.
“President Biden can, and must, help people right now who are enduring human rights abuses,” said O’Brien. “This is his final chance as president to take a concrete stand for human rights.”
Amnesty International USA has fought to protect human rights since 1961 as the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
Amnesty International logo used with permission
