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prisoners in other countries, it forcefully denies the INTRODUCTIONt existence of over 100 Political Prisoners and Prisoners of The Special International Tribunal on the Human War within its own by claiming they are Rights Violations of Political Prisoners and Prisoners "terrorists". of War in the United States was held in New York City The panel of judges established parallels between the from the 7th to the 10th of December, 1990. The Tribunal struggles and the conditions of Political Prisoners and examined the situation of the national liberation move- Prisoners of War jailed in the US with those that suffer ments of the New African, Native American and Puerto under despotic regimes such as that of Rican sectors. Sponsored by a wide coalition of over 88 , jailed for their activism against . organizations from the civic, religious, anti-imperialist, This successful event held at Hunter College includ- jurists and renowned labor and national liberation sectors, the Tribunal consid- ed the active participation of various ered the US government's conduct ironic: as the U.S. international figures: Frank Badohu, Barrister and Solicitor government proclaims itself to be a defender of human of the Supreme Court of and member of the rights in the world, demanding the freedom of political association of African Jurists in Ghana; Jawad Boulus, Palestinian lawyer; Lord Anthony Gifford, British Barrister and Member of the House of Lords; Norman Paech, Professor of Public International Law and Constitutional * Reprinted with permission. Original title "Verdict of the Law at the University of Hamburg, Germany; Jose R. Special International Tribunal on the Violation of Human Rend6n, Solicitor and Professor of Law and Political Rights of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in United Science at the University of San Marcos, Perti; Celina States Prisons and Jails." Hunter College, New York City, Romany, Professor of Jurisprudence and at December 7-10, 1990. City University of New York Law School; Toshi Yuki t Reprinted with permission from La Patria Radical, Janu- ary 1991, with minor modifications. Tanaka, Professor of Political Science at University of Melbourne, Australia; George Wald, Professor Emeritus of

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Biology at Harvard University, and winner of the Nobel Janet Holloway Africa, Janine Phillips Africa, Merle Aus- Prize in biology. The event was coordinated by Dr. Luis tin Africa, Michael Hill Africa, Ramona Johnson Africa, Nieves Falc6n, renowned sociologist, lawyer, writer, and Sue Leon Africa, William Phillips Africa, Alberto Aranda, member of the Pen Club. Abdul Aziz, , Herman Bell, Hayde6 At the start of the Tribunal, attended by more than Beltrin, , Hanif Shabazz Bey, Timothy 1200 persons from 10 countries of every continent and 15 Blunk, , , Antonio Camacho states of the US, the above-mentioned jurists stated that Negr6n, Judy Clark, Mark Cook, Edwin Cortts, Barbara the Tribunal claimed jurisdiction under international law Curzi-Laaman, Standing Deer, Joseph Doherty, Dorothy approved by international organs, specifically Resolution Eber, Jerry Ebner, Malik E1-Amin, , Linda 1503 (XLVIII) approved by the Economic and Social Evans, Herman Ferguson, Ana Maria Gelabert, Larry Council of the United Nations. It should be noted that the Giddings, , Jennifer Haines, Basheer necessary steps were taken to address the petitioners as Hameed, Abdul Haqq, Eddie Hatcher, Robert Seth Hayes, well as to inform the government of the United States and Teddy (Jah) Heath, Alvaro Luna Hernindez, Mumia Abu its political subdivisions in question that they could pres- Jamal, Ricardo Jimtnez, Raphael Kwesi Joseph, Fr. Carl ent testimony on their behalf. Kabat, Sekou Kambui, Yu Kikumura, Mohaman Koti, Following the presentation and review of the numer- Jaan Laaman, Richard Mafundi Lake, Mondo Langa, ous documents provided to the jurists, and after hearing Malike Shakur Latine, Raymond Luc Levasseur, Oscar testimony of various representatives of the national L6pez-Rivera, Ruchell Cinque Magee, Adbul Majid, Carol liberation struggles, including the Puerto Rican National Manning, Thomas Manning, , Ed Mead, Jalil Hero, , the Tribunal declared that A. Muntaqin, Sekou Odinga, Dylcia Pagin, Leonard the US government must follow the same international Peltier, Richard Picarello, Hugo Pinell, Geronimo ji-Jaga laws and principles that it demands from other nations of Pratt, Ahmad Abdur Rahman, Alberto Rodriguez, Alicia the world; that the US government's denial of the Rodriquez, Lucy Rodriquez, , , existence of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in its Mutulu Shakur, Yvonne Small, Robert Taylor, Carlos jails, and its consequent deprivation of the protection Alberto Torres, , Kazi Toure, Gary internationally offered by these laws constitutes an outright Tyler, Sababu Na Uhuru, Carmen Valentin, Albert Nuh violation of the prisoners' human rights. Therefore, this Washington, , Richard Williams honorable body of jurists recommended the "rectification POLITICAL PRISONERS AND PRISONERS OF WAR by the government of the US on this matter and IN THE UNITED STATES recommended the international community draw attention PETITIONERS, and make statements on this point." -against- The verdict put forward by the jurists describes the THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF legal and social situation of the groups that made AMERICA, accusations against the US government regarding viola- GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT, tions of their human rights. Regarding Puerto Rico, the RICHARD THORNBURGH, ATTORNEY GENERAL, tribunal adopted the verdict of the Permanent People's WILLIAM SESSIONS, DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL Tribunal in Barcelona, Spain during 1989. The Tribunal BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, also extended recognition of Prisoners of War status to WILLIAM WEBSTER, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL those members of the FALN (Armed Forces for National INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, Liberation) jailed in the US. MICHAEL QUINLAN, DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU The Tribunal ruled that they are anti-colonial com- OF PRISONS, batants captured in the course of their struggle for nation- THE DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BOARD, al liberation, as stipulated in Article I, Paragraph 4 of the THE GOVERNORS, DIRECTORS OF THE PRISONS Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention of 1949. AND DIRECTORS OF THE PAROLE BOARDS OF The Tribunal also indicated that the US government re- EACH STATE WHEREIN POLITICAL PRISONERS OR fuses to recognize this status based on the claim that it is PRISONERS OF WAR ARE INCARCERATED: not a signatory to the Additional Protocol. The Tribunal demanded and advocated the immediate Defendants. excarceration of the Puerto Rican POWs and demanded their transfer to a neutral country. PETITIONERS DO HEREBY CHARGE THE With the verdict and the spirit of solidarity with the ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS AS FOLLOWS: more than 100 political prisoners in US prisons that char- SUMMARY OF CHARGES acterized this event, the struggle for their unconditional 1. The above named defendants and their predecessors' amnesty enters a new internationalized stage. The judg- are charged with the denial of self-determination, failure ment will soon be presented in Geneva, at the Human to comply with fundamental laws and principles of inter- Rights Commission of the United Nations. national law and human rights, and using their criminal justice system to imprison and repress those who seek THE COMPLAINT , Alberta Wicker Africa, Carlos Perez Afri- ca, Charles Sims Africa, Consuella Dotson Africa, Delbert 1. Hereinafter defendants means defendants' and their prede- Orr Africa, Debbi Sims Africa, Edward Goodman Africa, cessors.

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national liberation and/or oppose US foreign and domestic policies. The indictment also charges the defendants with illegal and arbitrary arrests and detentions, denial of fair trials, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners and conspiracy to commit the above acts.

JURISDICTION 2. Jurisdiction is conferred on this Tribunal pursuant to accepted principles of international law approved and adopted by the world community in the charter of the United Nations and utilized by the world community in convening such extraordinary tribunals as that convened in Nuremburg in 1949. Jurisdiction to hear the al- leged herein is also inherent in those provisions of Inter- national Law set forth in paragraphs 16-18 herein. 3. Petitioners are presently incarcerated because they oppose the colonial, imperialist, racist, repressive, authoritarian, militaristic, sexist or homophobic conduct of the United States government or are involved in a national liberation struggle. 4. Petitioners have been denied or deprived of all avail- able remedies within the US judicial system and therefore Credit-Raid Herndndez Mercado. appeal to the International Community pursuant to accept- ed principles of international law and fundamental human rights. b. have engaged in a systematic pattern of infiltrating, subverting, repressing and criminalizing the THE PARTIES activities of organizations which fight for the liberation of 5. The petitioners are political prisoners and prisoners Blacks in the US/New Afrikans including, among others, of war. the , the , the a. A "political " is a person who is Revolutionary Action Movement, MOVE, the Nation of the Southern Christian incarcerated as a result of her/his activity in opposition to Islam, the Republic of New Afrika, Leadership Conference and the Student Non-violent injustices perpetrated by the United States government and its political subdivisions. Coordinating Committee; people of b. A "" is a person incarcerated c. have suppressed all attempts by because of her/his actions as combatants in a movement African descent to establish a sovereign nation within the seeking liberation from the United States. geographic borders of the United States; d. have instituted and engaged in unconstitutional as COINTELPRO, COUNT I and illegal programs and actions, such which were designed to disrupt or neutralize the activities DENIAL OF THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION of organizations involved in the liberation struggle of 6. The defendants have engaged in the following acts Blacks in the US/New Afrikans i.e. the murder of Black against the legitimate national liberation movements of Panther leaders and ; the bomb- Blacks in the US/New Afrikans, Mexicano, Native Amer- ing of the MOVE headquarters and killings of MOVE ican, and Puerto Rican peoples: members; a. the refusal to recognize the legitimacy under es- e. have illegally imprisoned members of organiza- tablished principles of international law, of the national tions dedicated to the liberation of Blacks in the US/New liberation movements; Afrikans like Dhoruba Bin Wahad (who spent nearly 20 b. the refusal to apply the principles of the years in jail) and continue to imprison members of organi- Geneva Convention to persons involved in these national zations dedicated to the liberation of Blacks in the US; liberation movements; there are more than'fifty (50) incarcerated today; c. the use of US criminal laws to imprison f. have refused and continue to refuse to persons involved in these national liberation movements recognize the status of these people as political prisoners for acts which are political in nature and in furtherance of or prisoners of war. the self-determination of their respective peoples; 8. With respect to Mexicano people, the defendants d. The targetting and repression of persons who have engaged in the following acts: support these movements for national liberation. a. have taken, expropriated and annexed fifty 7. With respect to Blacks in the US/New Afrikans the percent of the Mexicano national territory through an defendants have engaged in the following acts: illegal and unjust war leading to the division of the a. have since the earliest days of US history, en- Mexicano nation and United States occupation of the slaved and colonized people of African descent;

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Northern territory of Mexico; Cordero, Irving Flores, Lolita Lebr6n, each of whom spent b. have, since the US aggression against Mexico, more than twenty-five (25) years in US jails; and enslaved and colonized Mexicano people; seventeen (17) political prisoners and prisoners of war c. have suppressed all attempts by Mexicano currently incarcerated; people to obtain self-determination in their ancestral g. have refused and continue to refuse to homeland; recognize their prisoner of war status. d. have maintained a border dividing the Mexicano nation and people; COUNT II e. have created and maintained a special federal CRIMINALIZATION OF EURO-AMERICANS FOR police force, the United States Border Patrol, who con- BEHAVIOR PROTECTED UNDER INTERNATIONAL trol/stop/contain the migration of Mexicanos in their LAW homeland; 11. There are Euro-American people in the U.S.A. who f. have allowed, permitted and condoned the exis- have acted in solidarity with the national liberation strug- tence of white supremacist groups which have carried out gles described in Count I as well as national liberation terrorist acts against the Mexican people within their occu- struggles throughout the world. They and other Euro- pied homeland; Americans have struggled for peace, against racism, equal g. have engaged in a systematic pattern of human rights for women and lesbian and gay people and infiltrating, subverting, repressing and criminalizing the against the massive military and nuclear build-up of the activities of organizations which fight for the liberation of United States government. They base their actions on their the Mexicano homeland; duty under international law, including the 1949 findings 9. With respect to Native American people, the of the Nuremberg Tribunal and/or religious beliefs. defendants have engaged in the following acts: 12. With respect to the foregoing individuals, the defen- a. have, since the earliest days of European dants have engaged in the following acts. colonization, stolen and expropriated their land and have a. have criminally prosecuted and repressed the enslaved and colonized the people of Native American de- activity of persons and/or organizations which acted in scent; solidarity with national liberation struggles and/or for b. have refused to honor and recognize the sover- human rights and peace; eignty of Native American peoples and have suppressed b. have instituted unconstitutional and illegal pro- all their attempts to preserve their sovereign nations; grams and actions, such as COINTELPRO, which were c. have engaged in a systematic pattern of designed to disrupt or neutralize organizations such as infiltrating, subverting, repressing and criminalizing the Students for a Democratic Society, Vietnam Veterans activities of organizations which fight for the liberation of Against the War, the , the Native American people including, among others, the Plowshares Movement and the women's movement; (AIM); c. have imprisoned members of these and other d. have instituted and engaged in unconstitutional organizations; and illegal programs and actions, such as COINTELPRO, d. have refused to recognize the status of these designed to disrupt or neutralize organizations involved in persons as political prisoners. the liberation struggle of Native American people, i.e., the continued false imprisonment of Leonard Peltier and the COUNT III US military siege of Wounded Knee. 10. With respect to Puerto Rican people, the defendants GENOCIDE have engaged in the following acts: 13. The defendants have engaged in a pattern of conduct a. have, since 1898, enslaved and colonized the against African American, Mexicano, Native American, people of Puerto Rico; and Puerto Rican people which constitute genocide against b. have refused to recognize the right of Puerto these peoples. Included in the defendants' conduct is: Rico to self-determination and independence; a. the killing and causing of serious bodily harm c. have suppressed all attempts by the Puerto to members of these ; Rican people to reclaim their sovereignty; b. the deliberate infliction on these nationalities of d. have engaged in a systematic pattern of conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical infiltrating, subverting, repressing and criminalizing the destruction in whole or in part; activities of organizations which fight for the liberation of c. the imposition of measures intended to prevent Puerto Rican people including, among others, the Fuerzas births within these nationalities; Armadas de Liberaci6n Nacional (FALN) and El Ej6rcito d. the suppression of the languages, cultures, and Popular Boricua (Los Macheteros); true histories of these nationalities. e. have instituted unconstitutional and illegal pro- grams and actions such as COINTELPRO, which were COUNT IV designed to disrupt or neutralize organizations involved in DEPRIVATION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS the movement for the liberation of Puerto Rico; 14. The defendants have falsely accused, arrested and f. have imprisoned members of organizations convicted petitioners because of their opposition to colo- dedicated to the liberation of Puerto Rican people i.e., nialism and US foreign and domestic policies and have Rafael Cancel Miranda, , Andres Figueroa

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committed the following acts: h. denial of religious worship, and diet, a. have denied reasonable ; particularly for Muslim and Native American prisoners; b. have labeled people who oppose colonialism i. denial of access to programs and privileges and US policies as a "danger to the community" and available to social prisoners; therefore eligible for preventive ; j. denial of access to and censorship of literature c. have imprisoned people who refuse to cooperate related to their movements and political beliefs; with secret grand juries convened to investigate people k. for speaking out and organizing and movements who oppose colonialism and US policies; against racist, sexist, and homophobic policies and d. have employed overbroad conspiracy and in support of prisoners with AIDS; seditious conspiracy statutes to unfairly prosecute people 1. arbitrary use of the prison disciplinary system. who oppose US colonialism and other US policies; e. have employed anonymous petit juries, where VIOLATIONS OF LAW names and addresses are withheld from the accused, to 16. On Violations of Law with respect to political prejudicially imply that the accused is dangerous and prisoners and those claiming status as prisoners of war, guilty; the defendants, acting individually and severally have f. have used prejudicial court security measures to illegally denied the petitioners' rights protected by give the impression the accused is dangerous and guilty; International Law under United Nations Charter, Articles g. have denied the accused effective access to 1(2) 55, 56; Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Arti- counsel or counsel of their choice and have used illegal cles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26 surveillance of attorney-client communications; and 28; International Convention on the Elimination of All h. have limited and/or denied the right of the ac- Forms of Racial Discrimination, Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and cused to present a full defense, including the use of inter- 6; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, national law; Part I, Article 1.1, Part II, Article 2.3(a)(b)(c), Article 3, i. have allowed the prosecution to submit secret Article 5.1, 5.2; Part Ill, Article 6.1, 6.2, Article 7, government evidence in camera; Article 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, Article 9.1, 9.2, 9.3., 9.4, 9.5, Article j. have denied people involved in national 10.1, 10.2(a), 10.2(b), 10.3; Article 14.1, 14.2, 14.3(a), liberation movements the right to be tried in the venue of 14.3(b), 14.3(c), 14.3(d), 14.3(e), 14.3(0, 14.3(g), 14.6; their struggle; Article 16, 17, 18, 19.1, 19.2, 26 and 27; International k. have meted out grossly disproportionate Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Part I, sentences to people who oppose colonialism and US Article 1.1, Part II, Article 2.1, 2.2, Part 1, Article 6, policies; Article 7(a), Article 11, Article 12.1, 12.2 (d) and Article 1. have employed the threat of a death sentence 13.1; Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the and imposed death sentence on people who oppose US of Genocide; Standard Minimum Rules for the policies to suppress political opposition; Treatment of Prisoners; Declaration on the Protection of m. have denied parole or other discretionary release All Persons from being Subjected to Torture and other because of people's affiliation, activities and beliefs. Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or COUNT V Degrading Treatment or Punishment. CRUEL, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT 17. As to the petitioners claiming status as prisoners of 15. The defendants have subjected political prisoners and war, the defendants, acting individually and severally, prisoners of war to a variety of conditions in prison de- have illegally denied the petitioners' rights protected by signed to break their will to resist, intimidate them from International law including, among others: the right of or punish them for persisting in their political beliefs and self-determination under United Nations Charter, Article affiliations with movements and/or organizations which 1.2 and General assembly Resolutions 1514(XV) and 2625 resulted in their incarceration, including, among other (XXV); Resolution 2621 (XXV) reaffirming "the inherent things: right of colonial people to struggle by all necessary means a. physical assault; at their disposal against colonial powers which suppress b. long term isolation in , their aspiration for freedom and independence;" Resolution administrative segregation, sensory deprivation, and 3103 (XXVIII) stating basic principles of the legal status specialized control units; of combatants struggling against colonialism; the Geneva c. denial and restriction of visitation, harassment Convention; the International Bill of Rights; the Interna- of families, and detention and 'interrogation of prisoners' tional Convention Covenant on Economic, Social and children; Cultural Rights, Article I; the International Covenant on d. arbitrary and unwarranted cavity probes and Civil and Political Rights, Article I; the Geneva Conven- strip searches, including such searches of women prisoners tions of 1949 and the Protocols thereto. by male staff; 18. With respect to the political prisoners who have not e. arbitrary transfers from one prison to another, claimed prisoner of war status, the defendants, acting and to prisons far from family and community; individually and severally as set forth above, have illegally f. denial of adequate medical care; including violated the petitioners' constitutional and statutory rights denial of adequate diet; enumerated below: the rights of the petitioners to funda- g. overt racist threats, epithets and discrimination; mental due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth

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Amendments to the of the United States and prisoners and prisoners of war are incarcerated have vio- the equivalent provisions in State , equal lated international law in that they have engaged in a protection of the laws under the Fifth and Fourteenth pattern of conduct constituting genocide against African Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and American, Mexicano, Native American and Puerto Rican the equivalent provisions in State Constitutions, the right peoples; to be free from illegal civil rights deprivations under 42 23. the United States and those states wherein political U.S.C. 1983, 1985 and 1986, and as- prisoners and prisoners of war are incarcerated have vio- sembly under the First Amendment to the Constitution of lated international law by failing to recognize fundamen- the United States and the equivalent provision in State tally accepted international principles of due process, fair Constitutions, freedom from illegal search and seizure trial and humane treatment; under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the A declaration that: United States and the equivalent provision in State Con- 24. the convictions of the petitioners are null and void stitutions, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment and the US government and its political subdivisions must under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the release them and/or permit them to go to any country United States and the equivalent provision in State Con- willing to accept them. stitutions. 25. the Petitioners are entitled to full compensation for WHEREFORE, petitioners request that this Tribunal make: their wrongful imprisonment. A statement of findings declaring the following: 19. there exists within the United States people who are Dated: New York, New York political prisoners and prisoners of war incarcerated for November 28, 1990 their opposition to the policies of the US government and/or their involvement in movements for national libera- LENNOX S. HINDS, ESQUIRE tion; JAN SUSLER, ESQUIRE a. As to the petitioners claiming status as SPECIAL PROSECUTORS prisoners of war, the defendants have illegally denied such petitioners the Prisoner of War Status guaranteed by the The following organizations and individuals join the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of POW's petitioners: and the Additional Protocols; United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) and 2625 (XXV); National Petitioners Resolution 2621 (XXV); Resolution 3103 (XXVIII); Black and Puerto Rican Studies Department, Hunter Col- b. Further, with respect to those petitioners who lege Brehon Irish Law Society of New York avail themselves of the protection of United States law, the defendants have illegally violated the Petitioners' Con- Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Church Action for stitutional and Statutory rights including the right of Due Safe and Just Communities Process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to Clergy and Laity Concerned the Constitution of the United States; Equal Protection of Comit6 Unitario Contra La Represirn-CUCRE the Laws under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Community Self Defense Program Right to be Free from Illegal Civil Rights Deprivations December 12th Movement under 42 U.S.C. 1983, 1985 and 1986, Freedom of Emergency Committee on Political Prisoners Rights Speech and Assembly under the First Amendment, Free- Evening Session Student Government, Hunter College dom from Illegal Search and Seizure under the Fourth Freedom Now! Amendment, Freedom from Cruel and Unusual Punish- Free Puerto Rico Committee ment under the Eighth Amendment, and all the equivalent Friends of the Ohio 7 provisions in the respective State Constitutions. General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist 20. the United States and its political subdivisions where Church political prisoners and prisoners of war are incarcerated Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project of the Prophetic have violated international law in criminalizing political Justice Unit/NCC opposition to government policies and refusing to recog- International League for the Rights and Liberation of nize the legitimacy of the national liberation movements Peoples of African American, Mexicano, Native American, and Movimiento de Liberacirn Nacional (MLN-PR) Puerto Rican peoples; and in refusing to recognize the le- National Lawyers Guild gitimacy of the solidarity of Euro-American persons with New Afrikan People's Organization-NAPO national liberation movements and/or for human rights and Prairie Fire Organizing Committee-PFOC peace. Racial Justice Working Group of the National Council of 21. the United Sates and its political subdivisions Churches wherein political prisoners and prisoners of war are Research Committee on International Law and Black Free- incarcerated have violated international law by dom Fighters continuously refusing to allow the exercise of the right to United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, UCC self-determination by African American, Mexicano, Native United Church Board for World Ministries, World Issues American and Puerto Rican peoples; Office, UCC 22. the United States and those states wherein political War Resisters League

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Local Petitioners Resurrection Roman Catholic Church Action for Community Empowerment (ACE) Robeson Defense Committee African and Caribbean People's Resource Center The Catholic Worker-Olive Branch All African People's Revolutionary Party The Fourth Wall Theater American Indian Movement-AIM Third World Newsreel Association of Legal Aid Lawyers of New York Venceremos Brigade-NY Regional Brooldyn Political/POW Prisoner Committee Washington Area Committee for Political Prisoners Rights Chicago Committee in Solidarity with the People of El West Coast Eddie Hatcher Defense Committee Salvador-CISPES West Town Community Law Office Central American Solidarity Committee-Hunter College Women Against Imperialism Evening Session Women in Support of Political Prisoners Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence Committee on Freedom for Political Prisoners in the US Individual Petitioners Committee to End the Marion Lockdown Diana MTK Autin Comit6 en Defensa de Derechos Ciudadanos, Inc. CDDC Eleanor J. Bader Concerned Japanese Americans Fernando Bendfeldt, M.D. Consortium on Peace Research, Education Develop- James R. Bennett ment/COPRED Robert Bensing Eighth Day Center for Peace and Justice Peter Berkowitz Freedom and Justice Legal Defense Fund: Sangeeta M. Bernardi Mondo/Poindexter Committee Leonard B. Bjorkman Freedom Socialist Party Robert Bloom, Esq. Friends and Family of Grand Jury Resisters Gladys Blum Haiti Progrrs Dwight L. Bolinger Immobilize Apartheid Coalition Laura Booth International Association of Democratic Lawyers Jason Brody International Campaign to Free Geronimo ji Jaga Pratt Rita Bo Brown International Indian Treaty Council Naomi Burns John Brown Anti-Klan Committee Jeanne A. Butterfield, Esq. Korea Working Group Joyce Cadoo Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Elizabeth R. Campbell Michigan Faith and Resistance Pete Carter Midwest Committee in Solidarity with the People of El- Donald Cavellini Salvador-CISPES Shirley Cereseto, M.D. Metodistas Asociados Representando la Causa Hispano- Barbara H. Chasin Americana (MARCHA) Ward Churchill Movimiento de Liberaci6n Nacional Mexicano Clay Colt National Alliance against Racist and Andres Thomas National Black United Front Conteris National Chicano Human Rights Council Lee Cranberg, M.D. National Coalition against Censorship Richard Csontos National Committee To Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of George F. Davis War Emily Deh Ferrari National Committee for Independent Political Action Hope Derogatis (NCIPA) Cynthia G. Domingo National Conference of Black Lawyers-NCBL Kate Donnelly National Religious Task Force on Criminal Justice June Drury Native American Support Network Jeffrey Lee Edison, Esq. New York Circus Pamela D. Emerson New York 3 Freedom Campaign Mary Etter Nicaragua Solidarity Network John Etter Out of Control M.C. Fahey Palestine Solidarity Committee Irving Fierstein Patrice Lumumba Coalition Fred Foiler Pensamiento Critico Albert V. Freeman, Ph.D. People's Law Office Evelyn L. Freeman, Ph.D. Plowshares Defense Fund Ellen Friedland Progressive Union of Columbia Students Robert J. Gibson Provisional Government, Republic of New Afrika-RNA Judith Glaubman Queens 2 Defense Committee Leon Golub Radical Women Leon M. Goodman

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Brian Guerre Blanche Scheman Faith Hansen Rosemarie Scherman Cheryl Harris Rudolph Schware Marjorie Henderson Joel Schwartz Mauricio Hernandez Richard Sentner, Jr. Guerry Hoddersen Mark Shafer Harold Hodes Elaine Silverstrim Janine L. Hoft Lee Silverstrim Frank C. Hollister, IV Robert L. Sims, Jr. Judith Holmes, Esq. Franklyn Smith Faith S. Holsaert Michael Steven Smith, Esq. Madeline M. Hurd Regina Sneed Harvey Isaak Roy R. Snelling Nolan Iwontell Nancy Spero Harriette C. Johnson Sox Sperry Helen Kamen Robby Stovitz Saul Kamen, M.D. Anne L. Strong Diane M. Keefe Paul S. Strong Gillam Kerley Jeff P. Strottman Lynn Kersey Nadine Hope Taub Marketa Kimbrell, Esq. Shih Ming-Teh Noah Kimerling Edith Tiger Nelson Kitsuse Piri Thomas Taka Kitsuse Suzanne D. Thomas Alfred Knobler Coosje Van Bruggen Bill Kochiyama James Vander Wall Yuri Kochiyama Jennifer Vander Wall Merle Kraus Vilhelmo Vanlenho Michael Kreisberg Germaine Wasserman Miriam Laskin Leonard Wasserman Virginia Lerner, Esq. John P. Weber Michael Z. Letwin Gloria Weinberg Stuart Lichten Joel Weisberg Betty Liveright Eileen Witzman Herman Liveright Margot White Chokwe Lumumba, Esq. Laura Winick Kim Malcheski, Esq. Evelyn Wolfe Jonathan March Irving Wolfe Wende Marshall Michael S. Wyman Ruth L. MacGuire Eileen D. Yacknin, Esq. Don J. McCrery Steve Zrucky Daniel Meyers, Esq. Ann Morris, Ph.D. THE VERDICT David Nanasi I. CONSTITUTION OF THE TRIBUNAL Mariel Nanasi Loti Ocasio The Special Tribunal on Violations of Human Rights Claes Oldenburg of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in United Anthony Olivari States Prisons and Jails was convened by 88 sponsoring Joshua Pechthalt and endorsing organizations from all parts*of the United Carol Pittman States. The members of the Special Tribunal assumed Leonard Polletta jurisdiction pursuant to accepted principles of international Neil Price, Esq. law approved and adopted by the world community under Michael Ratner, Esq. the United Nations Charter, in accordance with the prece- Maurice Rauch dents of the Nuremburg and Tokyo Tribunals and follow- Gerda W. Ray ing procedures approved by the Economic and Social George Rose Council of the United Nations (Resolution 1503 William Rose (XLVIII)). Bella Rosenberg The Tribunal received extensive written and oral Emanuel Rosenberg evidence from political activists and experts testifying in Dadisi Sanyika support of a detailed indictment of the United States gov- Mark Schaffer ernment, alleging, inter alia, the denial of the right of

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peoples in the United States and Puerto Rico to self-deter- Resolution 3103 (XXVflI)). mination; the criminalization of the legitimate struggle "Genocide": any of the following acts committed against illegal acts committed by the government of the with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation- United States; the denial of the rule of law to those en- al, ethnic, racial or religious group as such: gaged in such struggles and the use against them of tor- (a) Killing members of the group; ture, inhuman and degrading treatment. (b) Causing serious bodily or mental group; The Special Tribunal does not sit as a court of law harm to members of the (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group but, like the Tribunals on the US war of life calculated to bring about its people, this Tribunal applies prin- conditions against the Vietnamese physical destruction in whole or in part; international human rights law. Article ciples of customary (d) Imposing measures intended to pre- 38 of the Statutes of the International Court of Justice vent births within the group; recognizes the authoritative effect of the findings of such (e) Forcibly transferring children of the tribunals on contemporary standards of international law. group to another group. (International Conven- The Defendant government and its agencies are tion on the Prevention and Punishment of the bound to respect international human rights law, not least Crime of Genocide, 1948 (Article 2)). because Article VI of the Constitution of the United "Political Prisoner": a person incarcerated for ac- States provides that treaties and other international agree- tions carried out in support of legitimate struggles ments are "the supreme law of the land." for self-determination or for opposing the illegal Although customary principles of law require Peti- policies of the United States government and/or its tioners to exhaust their domestic remedies before having political sub-divisions. recourse to international fora, the overwhelming weight of testimony presented to the Tribunal showed that the courts and judicial officers of the United States routinely refuse II. OVERVIEW to allow Petitioners to raise defenses based on 1990 has been a landmark year in the world-wide international law and that relief under the law is routinely campaign for the recognition and freedom of political denied. Therefore we find that Petitioners have in fact prisoners. The release of , Walter Sisulu exhausted all domestic remedies and that the Special Tri- and other anti-apartheid fighters, and the negotiations for bunal is entitled to review all of the cases presented for the release of all South African political prisoners, have its consideration. most repressive and intransigent re- The Tribunal is satisfied that all appropriate steps shown that even the at some point acknowledge the existence of were taken by Petitioners to inform the Defendant govern- gimes must political prisoners and account for their treatment and ment and its agencies of the nature and purposes of the continuing imprisonment. For decades the South African Tribunal hearings, including the service of the indictment government denied the existence of political prisoners, on President George Bush and other appropriate federal imprisoned anti-apartheid fighters as criminals and state officials, and that every opportunity was given branding and terrorists. However, the growing liberation struggle of to Defendants to attend and present testimony. Although the people of South Africa and world-wide solidarity Defendants failed to avail themselves of the opportunity to forced the government of South Africa to abandon this testify, many of the documents and expert witnesses indi- farcical denial of political prisoners. Similarly, the triumph cated fairly the basis of the government's opposition to of the liberation struggle of the Namibian people led by Petitioners' claims, and the Tribunal has duly noted SWAPO resulted in the independence and self-determina- Defendants' views in reaching its findings. constituting a resounding affirmation of In examining the evidence and reaching its conclu- tion of Namibia, of international human rights law. sions, the Tribunal has taken and employed the following customary principles has expressed strong definitions: Ironically, the US government prison- "Self-Determination": the right by virtue of which support, albeit selective, for the freeing of political all peoples are entitled freely to determine their ers throughout the world. At the same time, however, the political status and to pursue their economic, social US government vociferously denies the existence of po- and cultural development. All peoples may, for their litical prisoners at home and resolutely echoes a familiar own ends, freely dispose, of their natural wealth and refrain that those who claim to be political prisoners and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising prisoners of war are simply terrorists and criminals. out of international economic co-operation, based This Tribunal presents a unique and important oppor- upon the principle of mutual benefit and internation- tunity to review carefully Petitioners' contention that the al law. In no case may a people be deprived of its US does indeed hold political prisoners and prisoners of own means of subsistence'. (Common Article 1(1) of war. the International Human Rights Covenants, 1966) The Tribunal members have approached this respon- "Prisoner of War": those 'combatants struggling sibility with the utmost of seriousness and careful scruti- against colonial and alien 'domination and racist ny. The US government must be held to the same regimes captured as prisoners are to be accorded the standard of international law and human rights safeguards status of prisoners of war and their treatment should that it subscribes for the other nations of the world. The be in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva denial of the existence of political prisoners and the Conventions Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners consequent failure to afford such prisoners the fundamen- of War, of 1-2 August 1949. (General Assembly

Published by Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository, 1991 9 Yale Journal of Law and Liberation, Vol. 2 [1991], Iss. 1, Art. 7 Law and Liberation IIL THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION tal protections of humanitarian international law constitute serious violations of human rights which, if found to be Over the last 30 years, since the passage in 1960 of true, would require the immediate attention of world pub- the historic United Nations General Assembly Declaration lic opinion and rectification by the US government. on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries Numerous supporting documents which are delineated and Peoples (Resolution 1514 (XV)) which called for the in the appendix were also submitted. Of particular interest .speedy and unconditional end to colonialism in all its were documents of the Counter-Intelligence Program forms and manifestations," the right to self-determination (COINTELPRO) of the US Federal Bureau of Investiga- *has evolved to a peremptory norm of International Law - tion (FBI) showing its program to disrupt and neutralize a norm accepted and recognized by the international com- leaders and organizations of the Black, Puerto Rican, munity of states as a whole from which no derogation is Mexicano-Chicano and Native American self-determination permitted. struggles. Of particular, importance to the codification of this As we will spell out in more detail in the body of fundamental right is the Universal Declaration of the this document, the Tribunal finds that the US judicial Rights of People ("Algiers Declaration") which affirms system (state and federal) has been used in a harsh and that the peoples of the world "have an equal right to discriminatory manner against people struggling for self- liberty, the right to free themselves from any foreign in- determination within its borders and Puerto Rico, as well terference and to choose their own government, (and) the as against other political opponents of the US government. right, if they are under subjection, to fight for their libera- Some have been falsely accused and had evidence favor- tion" This assurance is specified in Article 1, "Every able to their defense destroyed or suppressed, others have people has the right to existence," and Article 6: "Every been tried on overbroad conspiracy charges which rely on people has the right to break free from any colonial or associations and beliefs as an essential element, and many foreign domination, whether direct or indirect, and from have been tried in an armed camp atmosphere saturated any racist regime." with prejudicial publicity designed to intimidate and preju- In addition, U.N. Resolution 2625 (XXV) known as dice the juries before whom they were tried. Most of the "The Declaration on the Principles of International Law Petitioners have also received draconian disproportionate Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-Operation Among sentences and have been subjected to torture, cruel, dis- States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Na- criminatory and degrading punishment. tions" adopted by consensus in 1970, provides authorita- We also find that the Black and Mexican people tive clarity to the character and importance of the right to living within the borders of the United States, and Native self-determination. Its preamble affirms that "the principle American and Puerto Rican people have the fundamental of equal rights and self-determination of peoples consti- right to exercise self-determination and to seek and re- tutes a significant contribution to contemporary law, and ceive support from other opponents of repression, and that its effective application is of paramount importance for the the US government has carried out a consistent pattern promotion of friendly relations among States." and policy of repression against these peoples, their lead- The Declaration mandates that every state has a duty ers and supporters. to promote the principle of self-determination and to assist We further find that captured combatants in a legiti- the- United Nations in its realization so as to improve mate national liberation movement are entitled to the spe- relations among states and "to bring a speedy end to colo- cial protected status of Prisoner of War and should not be nialism, having due regard to the freely expressed will of tried and imprisoned by the US government as criminals. the peoples concerned." The right of self-determination as Rather, these captured national liberation fighters must be a peremptory norm of international law has been con- held separately under conditions in accordance with the firmed by the International Court of Justice in its Adviso- Geneva Convention and immediate steps taken to transfer ry Opinion on Namibia (ICJ Reports 1971) and in its these combatants to neutral countries until all hostilities decision in the Western Sahara case (ICJ Reports 1975). cease between their movements and the US government. As the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties pro- We are mindful that the US judicial system is pro- vides, a peremptory norm of international law (Jus moted by many here and throughout the world as one of Cogens) cannot be abridged or superseded by any act of the most progressive and protective of individual rights. sovereign will, including a treaty. The claim that the US does not have political prisoners Finally the two international covenants on human has gone generally unchallenged. We believe that the rights (International Covenant on Economic, Social, and evidence presented at the Tribunal overwhelmingly, estab- Cultural Rights and International Covenant on Civil and lished the opposite case. The US government uses its Political Rights (which the United States has refused to judicial system to repress the legitimate political move- endorse) are initiated by a common Article 1 (1) indicat- ments opposing the government. ing a place of primacy for self-determination: "All peoples It is of critical importance for the international hu- have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right man rights community as well as all freedom-loving peo- they freely determine their political status and freely pur- ple to bring to world attention the plight of US political sue their economic, social and cultural development". prisoners. The Tribunal heard evidence by Puerto Rican, Native American, Black and Mexicano witnesses of their peoples' national development, characteristics, and continuing histo- ry of oppression. Witnesses also testified to the long

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Credit-Rail Herndndez Mercado.

history of repression against the organizations and leaders determination. Moreover, this Tribunal takes notice that, with of their people. Each of these peoples satisfy the objective despite all the treaties signed by the US government US has consistently and subjective criteria for self-determination. Each the Native American peoples, the decisions of perceive themselves as separate people and each suffers denied those treaty rights to these peoples. In US Supreme Court such as Cherokee Nation v. special targeting and oppression by the US government. the Georgia, 30 U.S. 5 Pet. 1 [1831] and Worcester v. Geor- gia, 31 U.S. 6 Pet. 515 [1832], the Court established the M.1 NATIVE AMERICANS principle that Native American people are domestic and This Tribunal received ample evidence on the history dependent on the US government, thus denying their right of the Native American People's struggle for their right to to self-determination. After these two Supreme Court deci- self-determination and on the genocide. committed against sions, the so-called "plenary power" doctrine was initiated this people by the United States government. by the US government which denied the right of the Na- The history of European and Native American rela- tive American people to organize and govern themselves* tions reveals theft of 99% of the land base and genocidal This, for example, is the pattern followed by the enact- practices of war, disease, alcohol, starvation and ment in 1924 of the US Congress' Indian Act deculturalization which reduced the indigenous population (8 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1401). Through this Act US citizenship from approximately 12.5 million to less than 227,000 by was imposed upon the Native American people. In addi- 1890. tion, in 1934 the US Congress enacted the Indian Reor- Meeting substantial resistance, if not outright defeat, ganization Act (25 U.S.C.A. Sec. 461) by which the US at times seeking alliances against others, what became the government decided to organize "tribal" councils to resem- United States government entered into some 371 treaties ble corporate boards. The intention behind this was to with the indigenous people of North America during the reduce the autonomy of the Native American peoples to 18th and 19th centuries. The importance of these treaties govern their own affairs. was embodied in Article VI of the US Constitution as the Thus, this Tribunal after carefully hearing various "supreme law of the land." By this principle, the United witnesses and taking judicial notice of mahy historical States government has incorporated into its domestic law aspects of US government policies towards the Native the content of the treaties signed with the Native Ameri- American peoples, considers that the practices of the US can people. However, as was pointed out consistently in government are in breach of Common Article 1 of the the evidence presented to the Tribunal, the US govern- United Nations International Covenants of 1966 (on Eco- ment has systematically violated or refused to respect the nomic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Politi- terms of the agreements reached with the Native American cal Rights) guaranteeing amongst other things, the right of people. the people to self-determination. Therefore, this Tribunal recognizes that, first, the Second, this Tribunal considers that the US govern- Native Americans constitute a people within international ment, has also conducted a policy of genocide against law definitions wlo are carrying out a struggle for self- these people. The Tribunal follows the definition of Geno-

Published by Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository, 1991 11 Yale Journal of Law and Liberation, Vol. 2 [1991], Iss. 1, Art. 7 Law and Liberation cide as established by Article 2 of the Convention on the of Puerto Rico from being considered by the entire Gener- Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, al Assembly. 1948. This Tribunal recognizes that the most cruel policies The Decolonization Committee resolutions, plus pro- occurred in the early years of the US republic, when a nouncements from the non-aligned countries and the Inter- plan of physical extermination was conducted against the national Association of Democratic Lawyers, provide au- Native American people. After failing to completely exter- thoritative support for Puerto Rico's right to self-determi- minate them, a new policy was designed to impose com- nation. Even the President of the United States, George pulsory assimilation, so as to destroy the history and cul- Bush, in his recent call for a referendum on the island's ture of the Native American people. status, has acknowledged that the Puerto Rican people Tactics employed to achieve this- end include the have not chosen freely their present relationship with the criminalization of Native religious practices, forced trans- Us. fer of children through mandatory indoctrination at board- This Tribunal also adopts the findings and verdict of ing schools for extended periods, adoption by non-Indians, the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Puerto Rico (Barcelo- enactment of laws designed to destroy traditional culture, na, January 27-29, 1989), which declared in part: e.g. by prohibiting the holding of land in common. Imple- 1. That Puerto Rico and its people have the right mentation of policies such as "termination" (where the to freely determine their political, economic, social federal government literally dissolved selected indigenous and cultural condition in accordance with the Alge- populations) and "relocation" (systematic dispersal of Na- rian Declaration and the principles of International tive populations) were combined by the US government Law. with declarations that certain groups of living peoples 2. That the Constitution of the Commonwealth of were "extinct". Systematic, involuntary and uninformed Puerto Rico is not the proper way for the Puerto Ri- sterilization of Native American women has compounded can people to exercise their self-determination right, these genocidal policies, as has the use of the "blood whereas in the referenda which have been carried out on the Island, quantum" method of identification to statistically manipu- the required guarantees which govern the true exercise of said right, in accordance late out of existence certain groups of Native Americans. with the Resolutions of the U.N., have not been Native Americans are the poorest population group in observed. North America with the highest incidence of infant mor- 3. That the US has an international duty to tality, death by exposure, tuberculosis, plague disease, respect the Right of Puerto Rico to its self-deter- malnutrition and teen suicide. The average life expectancy mination, in accordance with the obligations it has of an American Indian male is 44.6 years and for females conventionally and customarily assumed. it is less than three years longer. For white males the figure is 74 years. Regrettably, the United States government refused to The policy of genocide has been legitimized by dif- participate in the Barcelona Tribunal and has ignored its ferent laws approved by the US Congress, for example, findings. the General Allotment Act (25 U.S.C.A. Sec. 331 [1887]) As clear as the Puerto Rican people's right to self- used to deprive the Native American people of the land determination is the historical record that such right has that they consider common and sacred. been denied to that people. Testimony established a mili- In addition, this Tribunal has taken notice of docu- tary, political, psychological, economic, ideological, cul- ments that proved the collaboration by the Bureau of tural and linguistic domination by US colonial power over Indian Affairs during the 1970's, together with the Indian Puerto Rico since the beginning of the US invasion and Health Service, in the systematic performance of involun- occupation. The evidence also was compelling as to the tary sterilization on Native women. This particular prac- use of repression against the national movement for inde- tice, in conjunction with other practices of the US gov- pendence, its leaders and organizations. The Nationalist ernment, clearly manifests a pattern of committing Party and its supporters were fiercely repressed in the genocide against the Native American people. 1930's and again in the 1950's when a mass resistance to US attempts to eliminate the independence movement 111.2 PUERTO RICANS resulted in the killing and arrest of hundreds of people. Of the four peoples represented before the Tribunal, Today that repression continues. Seventeen prisoners the right to self-determination for the people of Puerto of war or political prisoners are serving draconian Rico is the clearest and most recognized by the interna- sentences, exiled from their homeland to jails in the tional community. With a separate territory, language and United States. The FBI and the grand jury system are culture, the plight of Puerto Rico constitutes one of the used to investigate, intimidate and intern independence last remaining classic colonial cases in the world. activities and supporters. Thousands of others have been Beginning in 1973 and 1976 and then in each suc- placed under surveillance and on "subversive lists" for ceeding year, the United Nations Special Committee on their pro-independence sentiments. Presently nine more Decolonization has reviewed the case of Puerto Rico, independence activists 'and leaders face conspiracy charges reaffirmed the right of the Puerto Rican people to self- in Hartford, , hundreds of miles from their determination and called upon the United States to stop all homeland. interference with the free and full exercise of that right. It should also be noted that some of the colonial The US has refused to follow these mandates and has conditions imposed on the people of Puerto Rico have consistently used all its coercive powers to block the case genocidal characteristics. These include the forced

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"the establishment of a sovereign and independent the verdict of the Barcelona We again quote from state, the free association or integration with an Tribunal as to the obligation of the US government to: independent state or the emergency of any other status of a) acknowledge the political prisoner political status freely determined by a people, con- those Puerto Ricans incarcerated due to their work stitute modes of implementing the right of self-deter- and militancy in favor of Puerto Rico's inde- mination by that people." pendence and to grant a general amnesty to all Puerto Ricans currently incarcerated because of their strategy prevails which brings about genuine the struggle against colonialism. Whichever involvement in States b) relinquish the current powers the US Congress self-determination is for Black people in the United has to amend and approve the decisions made by to decide. However, it is clear that the Black people of the representative bodies and government of Puerto the US have not been allowed to freely exercise their Rico. right to self-determination. The evidence overwhelmingly c) completely transfer any power the US Congress established an unbroken pattern of repression against or the US government may have over Puerto Rico, Black organizations and activists fighting for their human, to a deliberative body with constitutional character, political, economic and civil rights. made up of representatives from all the political and While the Tribunal recognizes that the right of self- social forces of Puerto Rico chosen on an equal determination for Black people in the US has not previ- elective basis. ously been established by international bodies or tribunals, d) negotiate such measures, as a transitional status we do not feel that this lack of precedent is determinative of the juridical and political condition of Puerto of the issue. Rather, this Tribunal believes that the evi- Rico, until the self-determination right is effectively dence presented before us strongly supports the claim that exercised. Black people living within the borders of the United States are a distinct people entitled to self-determination. We further call upon the United States government to Equally compelling is the evidence that Black people accord prisoner of war status to those Puerto Rican pris- in the US have been forcibly denied the freedom to exer- oners captured as anti-colonial combatants. cise that right. From the inhuman outrage of up to the present circumstance of attacks on community and 111.3 BLACK PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES political organizations, Black people in the United States to choose their It is an uncontested historical fact that Africans, have never been given the opportunity documents submitted which establish this forcibly brought to the area which would become the destiny. The conclusion are the FBI Counter-Intelligence Program and United States, came from various tribes and regions of the testimony on the targeting and repression of the Black Africa. In addition, these kidnapped Africans spoke many of New Afrika (RNA), tongues and were forged into a new and distinct people, Panther Party (BPP), Republic Committee (SNCC), with distinct problems, requiring unique solutions, during Student Nonviolent Coordinating Conference (SCLC), the the three century ordeal of chattel slavery. It is also Southern Christian Leadership the Black Men's Movement historically documented that these Africans and their MOVE organization and also established that the Ku descendants were considered "three-fifths" of a human against Crack. The evidence func- being, thereby necessitating an elaborate system of laws, Klux Klan and other white supremacist hate groups of the cultural norms and religious canons to deprive people of tioned with impunity and often with the complicity acts of violence and intimida- African descent of their rights as human beings and, by government in committing extension, to deprive them of their right to self- tion against the Black community. of Black people in the determination. The history and treatment a claim that the US In 1865 at the end of the US Civil War, the US United States also supports is guilty of the crime of genocide against the government abolished slavery (13th Amendment) freeing government during the the kidnapped African slaves. Rather than allowing this Black people. There is no question that of Africans in the slave trade, and in the freed people to choose or reject citizenship and to freely kidnapping Middle Passage to North America, millions of exercise the right to self-determination, the 14th Amend- barbaric during the more than 200 ment imposed citizenship upon them, as the Jones Act of Blacks were killed. In addition, people were wantonly 1917 would later do to Puerto Ricans and as the Indian years of chattel slavery, Black human Citizenship Act did to the Native Americans in 1924. murdered, savagely brutalized and denied all basic rights. There have been various strategies, necessitated by a system of white supremacy, pursued by Black organiza- The condition of Black people living in the United today strongly suggests that policies of the US gov- tions in the United States in their efforts to obtain free- States of Black dom and justice for their people. The main strategies at ernment are designed to lead to the elimination with evidence that: work today within the Black movement are the struggle people. The Tribunal was presented

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(1) the infant mortality rate for Black people is double the Mexicano/Chicano . Beginning in late 1930's, the FBI has consistently investigated and that for whites; the (2) Black women, are twice as likely to bear low weight monitored Mexicano/Chicano organizations such as babies than white women; LULAC, the GI Forum, the Associacion Nacional Mexico- (3) The gap in life-expectancy rates between Blacks and Americano. In the 1950's the FBI created the Border whites has recently widened from 5.6 to 6.2 years, and Coverage Program (BOCOV) as part of COINTELPRO. It "Blacks today have a life expectancy already reached by maintained offices both in the occupied territories and whites in the 1950's or a lag of about 30 years"; Mexico. Additionally, the Border Patrol and the Immigra- are special police agencies (4) The rate of survival for Black males over 40 years tion and Service old in , New York City, is lower than for men in created primarily to be used against the Mexicano people. the Bangladesh; All these repressive actions are supplemented by Klux Klan against (5) Dangerously high blood pressure is a hidden cost of terrorist activities of the Ku racial prejudice at least for some Blacks; Mexicanos/Chicanos. The homes of Mexicano/Chicano resistance fighters (6) In New York City "increasingly large numbers of been killed. Among women of child bearing age are dying ... combined with have been bombed and many have the deaths of men in the same age group, the result is the the latter are Ricardo Falcon, Rito Canales, Antonio Los destruction of families and the orphaning of tens of thou- Cordova and Seis de Boulder. sands of children, most in low-income African-American The Tribunal heard that a United States border sepa- neighborhoods"; rates the Mexicano/Chicano people and that since the (7) AIDS is "more and more becoming a disease of 1850's "Los Rinches" (the Rangers), a police terror force, poor, Black and Hispanic heterosexuals in the inner city." have killed 20,000 Mexicano/Chicanos. There have also It is the leading killer of Black women in the 15-44 year been countless lynchings by North Americans. There is a age group in New York and New Jersey. high incidence of , malnutrition and a proliferation (8) Unemployment for Blacks is double the rate for of drugs (50% of incarcerated Mexicano/Chicanos are held Not whites and nearly 50% of Black teenagers are unable to for drug offenses). only is there a high rate of prema- ture births but although Mexicano/Chicanos comprise 8% find work; of the US population, 25% of all pediatric AIDS cases are (9) White families earn 45.5% more than Black families. found among Mexicano/Chicano children. Overall, there is a grossly disproportionate incidence of AIDS infection II.4 MEXICAN PEOPLE (CHICANOS) LIVING IN compared with the general population. THE UNITED STATES Mexicano/Chicanos have also been subjected to a Mexican people living in the North of their country policy of cultural assimilation, principally directed towards came under the authority of the US government after the their Spanish language. The issue has become more acute Mexican-American War of 1841, a war generally recog- with the newly imposed legislation compelling the use of nized as expansionist and unjust and which deprived Mex- the English language only and forbidding the use of Span- ico of 50% of its territory. ish in all official activities including schooling of After the conquest and occupation, there was a Mexicano children. continuing policy of brutal repression and exploitation of The Tribunal recognizes the claim that the Mexican people throughout the occupied territories, includ- Mexicano/Chicano people living within the borders of the ing numerous lynchings and other killings. United States are a people entitled to exercise their right Mexicano people organized resistance to, and have to self-determination. fought against, this occupation. Among the most famous Mexicano resistance fighters are Tiburcio Vazquez, IV. PUERTO RICAN PRISONERS OF WAR Joaquin Murietta and the Cortez and Espinoza brothers. Rican women Also, Juan Nepomucemo Cortina from Texas who, for Among the Petitioners are 13 Puerto fifteen years waged against the US gov- and men (Carlos Torres, Adolfo Matos, Dylcia Pagan, Ida eminent. Armed clandestine organizations also emerged Luz Rodriguez, Carmen Valentin, Elizam Escobar, like La Mano Negra and Las Gorras Blancas. In 1915, the Alejandrina Torres, Ricardo Jim6nez, Alicia Rodriguez, Plan de San Diego was another armed uprising calling for Luis Rosa, Edwin Cort6s, Alberto Rodriguez and Oscar self-determination and independence of the occupied terri- L6pez Rivera), most of whom have been held in US pris- tories. It was violently repressed. ons since 1980. They are serving literal life sentences for Armed Rangers and other law enforcement agencies their involvement with a clandestine Puerto Rican indepen- formed in California, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona dence liberation group, Fuerzas Armadas de Liberaci6n were essentially private vigilantes organized to repress Nacional (FALN). They are combatants in a struggle Mexicanos with the consent of the US government. Be- against colonialism and for national liberation in accor- tween 1915 and 1920 about 5,000 Mexicanos were killed dance with Article I, Paragraph 4 of Additional Protocol I along the border by the Texas Rangers, who have also to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, extending POW been used to police migratory labor, striking unions, civil protections to "include armed conflicts in which peoples alien occupa- rights activists and organizations, and to beat up are fighting against colonial domination and in the exercise of their Mexicano-Chicano candidates running for elected posi- tion and against racial regimes, tions. right of self-determination." Pursuant to the Resolutions of The FBI and grand jury have been used to repress the United Nations General Assembly on the Rights of

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Colonial People and the Legal Status of Combatants sabotage of weapons of war by the Plowshares group, to Struggling Against Colonial and Alien Domination of armed actions against US military or corporate targets Racist Regimes, which provides that combatants struggling supporting apartheid and intervention in Central America. against colonialism "are to be accorded the status of pris- The Petitioners involved in these activities share a oners of war and their treatment should be in accordance common belief that it is their responsibility as citizens of with the Geneva Convention" (Resolution 3103 (XXVIII), the United States to engage in acts of resistance intended 12 December 1973), these Puerto Rican combatants are to prevent or impede ongoing criminal activity in the con- entitled to be treated as Prisoners of War. duct of the policies of the US government. The US has refused POW status to these anti- At the trials of these petitioners, United States courts colonial fighters, claiming that it is not a signatory to the have routinely denied them the opportunity to present a Additional Protocols. This refusal to accept universally defense based upon a citizen's right to resist illegal state recognized humanitarian protections for peoples fighting conduct and based upon their religious and/or political colonialism, apartheid and alien domination, should not motivations. The Tribunal heard from an expert witness and does not preclude the according of these protections. on international law that these defenses are well grounded Colonialism has been identified as a crime for over in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution three decades. The U.N. General Assembly has consistent- as well as the Tokyo and Nuremburg War Crimes Tri- ly asserted that colonized and dependent people have the bunals. right to use all means available including armed struggle We conclude that the United States government has to resist colonialism. And, since the General Assembly criminalized and imprisoned white North Americans who Resolution 3103 was passed in 1973, captured anti-colo- have struggled in solidarity with national liberation move- nial combatants have been entitled to POW status. This ments and other peoples struggling for self-determination, protected status for people fighting colonialism is specifi- for peace and against nuclear armaments and against rac- cally designed to assist the customary international law ism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. right to self-determination and to deter the colonial power from perpetuating the crime of colonialism. VI. CRIMINALIZATION AND DENIAL OF THE The expansion of the definition of international con- RULE OF LAW flicts in the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conven- "Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled tion, to include those struggling for national liberation, to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against also constituted recognition by the international community tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be that the protection of anti-colonial fighters was to be ele- protected by the rule of law ..." vated to a customary norm of international law. Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Clearly today, if not in 1977 when the Additional December 10, 1948. Protocols were first enacted, now that colonialism has been universally condemned and almost eradicated from It is a violation of international law for a state to the world, those who fight against colonialism are entitled attempt to criminalize the struggle of peoples to achieve to special protection and should not be criminalized by the self-determination. According to the authoritative United colonial power. Nations Resolution 2625 (XXV) of 1970: "Every State has We find, therefore, that Puerto Rican combatants the duty to refrain from any forcible action which de- who have asserted their right to POW status are entitled prives peoples . . .of their right to self-determination and not to be tried in the US courts but to be protected under freedom and independence", and Resolutions 33/22 and the Geneva Convention. We believe that these prisoners 33/24 (1978) which condemn the imprisonment and deten- who have been illegally incarcerated and criminalized for tion of people fighting colonialism. over 10 years should be unconditionally released or, at the We have heard testimony of the development of a very least, transferred to a neutral country. system of repression in the United States, which uses the Certain other Petitioners who are people struggling courts and judicial system as a key element to deny for self-determination for Black people in the United peoples' rights to self-determination and to disrupt people States and Native American people have also asserted the organizing to oppose illegal US government policies. right to be considered as prisoners of war. We believe The evidence shows that the US government is using that these claims have merit as these are peoples fighting a strategy which parallels certain other states (e.g. South against alien occupation or racist regimes. However, the Africa, Israel and British administration in the North of evidence before the Tribunal does not allow us to reach a Ireland) confronting insurgent movements, through the cre- definitive conclusion at this time, and we recommend that ation of repressive and anti-democratic modifications to there be further investigation into these claims. the legal system aimed at the suppression of radical politi- cal opposition. This counter-insurgency strategy allows for V. WHITE NORTH AMERICAN OPPONENTS OF the enhancement of the power of law enforcement to UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT POLICIES surveil and infiltrate political groups as well as to coerce Testimony was presented on behalf of white'North cooperation with police investigations and to criminalize Americans who have been imprisoned for protesting US political association. foreign and domestic policies and against militarism, war The testimony showed that federal agents are autho- and nuclear armaments. The actions of these Petitioners rized to spy on and infiltrate political, community and have taken a variety of forms, from symbolic acts of religious groups, and substantial evidence was received of

Published by Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository, 1991 15 Yale Journal of Law and Liberation, Vol. 2 [1991], Iss. 1, Art. 7 Law and Liberation such activity. In addition, the Tribunal was informed of designating as "dangerous to the community" persons who the use of highly sophisticated electronic technology to struggle for self-determination. This statute enables the carry out video- and audio surveillance at the homes and government to jail its opponents for years without trial by workplaces of members and supporters of the Puerto Ri- means of indefinite preventive detention, thus denying the can liberation movement. right to speedy trial or to release pending trial. When the Additionally, we were informed of litigation in FBI arrested fifteen Puerto Rican independentists on Au- Puerto Rico that has recently revealed the existence of gust 30, 1985, the government invoked this law to detain more than 100,000 dossiers collected by the police on every accused. In spite of the community's clamor for activists and supporters of the cause of independence who these activists to be released, the courts found almost all have been labelled "subversives" by the police because of of those arrested to be a "danger" to the community and their legitimate desire and work to end colonization. held them under punitive isolation for periods between 18 The FBI also uses an power through the months to almost four years without trial. The last to be federal grand jury to force cooperation with investigations released, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, who had triple by-pass into political activities under pain of imprisonment for open heart surgery, was released only because the US refusal. The grand jury, a secret proceeding under the di- courts held that his lengthy pretrial custody had become rection and control of the government, is used as a tool to an embarrassment to US democracy. Ojeda was redetained intern political people. The government issues subpoenas for another year within three months of his release, as a to a secret hearing where there is no judge and where result of a three year old charge arising out of his original defense counsel is barred from attending. The coerced wit- arrest. ness can be stripped of his/her fundamental right to re- -Excessive pretrial detention violates international law main silent and forced to answer all questions about polit- provisions Article II (1) of the Universal Declaration of ical associations and activities. A refusal to appear or Human Rights and Article 9 (3) of the International Cove- answer results in civil contempt penalties of up to 18 nant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as Article 8 (1) months or criminal contempt, which has no maximum of the American Convention of Human Rights, 1969. limit of sentence. The Tribunal also received evidence of a series of Scores of activists in political movements have been repressive measures employed in political trials. Of imprisoned over the last fifteen years through this process. particular concern was the evidence indicating a deliberate The government has even re-subpoenaed activists who attack by the US government on the independence and have already served time in prison for refusing to collab- impartiality of the trial jury. The media have been used to orate with grand juries, in full knowledge that the person poison attitudes in the community from which that jury has not collaborated and will not do so in future. This ef- will be selected. Just as disturbing is the use of "anony- fectively constitutes internment without trial or just cause. mous" trial juries. Under the latter system, by declaring The evidence also showed that political activists are the necessity to keep jurors' identities secret, those same often charged with violations of broad conspiracy laws jurors are inevitably prejudiced into believing that they which rely on evidence of political associations and be- have cause to fear the political defendants. This fear is liefs to prove "criminal" agreements. The Tribunal heard further exacerbated by the intentional and excessive about two special statutes, Seditious Conspiracy and the militarization of courtroom security employed to turn po- Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, litical trial courts into armed encampments. The Tribunal which specifically allow for the criminalization of mem- was informed of the use of multiple metal detectors, con- bership in political organizations and national liberation crete bunkers, armed marshals, sharp-shooters on roofs movements. These statutes have been used to incarcerate adjacent to courthouses and, in one case, the erection of a political activists with lengthy sentences. The Seditious special bullet-proof glass partition to separate the accused Conspiracy law specifically criminalizes opposition to US from the public. governmental authority and has been used particularly The Tribunal also heard that trial venues are manipu- against the Puerto Rican independence movement to lated, particularly in the case of Puerto Rican activists, to criminalize its resistance to colonialism. Under this law a deny them a trial in their homeland by their peers. Also, mere agreement to oppose US authority with force, with- politically accused persons are routinely denied the right out proof of any act taken in furtherance of that agree- to present a full defense, including issues of necessity and ment, is subject to a twenty year sentence. justification under international law. Political prisoners in the US are also victims of false The use of the judicial system to repress political charges and prosecutions in which evidence favorable to activists violates Articles 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the Univer- the accused is deliberately suppressed. The Tribunal was sal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 9 and 14 of presented with evidence of three particularly serious cases: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt, Leonard Peltier and Dhoruba Bin Such conduct further violates Article 5 of the International Wahad, in which the government deliberately destroyed Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial and concealed evidence which would have established Discrimination, 1966. their innocence. We find most disturbing that the US government Those charged with politically motivated offenses are continues to incarcerate certain Petitioners despite frequently held in preventive detention. Specifically, the documentary and other proof, disclosed after conviction, evidence showed that the US government's use of the conclusively establishing that they did not commit the Bail Reform Act of 1984 violates international law by offenses for which they have been tried.

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Excessive and Inhumane Sentences VII. TORTURE AND CRUEL, INHUMAN AND The evidence showed that the United States govern- DEGRADING TREATMENT ment metes out the longest sentences of any country in As part of the system of repression in the United the world to its political prisoners. Such excessive and States, we heard testimony that the government uses the disproportionate sentences imposed on persons active in prisons as a key element in its efforts to deny peoples the self-determination struggles and in support of those strug- right to exercise self-determination and disrupt people gles constitute torture, inhuman and degrading treatment in organizing to oppose US policies. The evidence violation of Article 1 of U.S. Resolution 3452 (XXX), the estab- lished that the defendants use political beliefs Declaration on Protection from Torture, 1975. and associa- tions as a basis for classification and placement in highly Most of the political prisoners and prisoners of war punitive and restrictive isolation units. are serving the equivalent of natural life in prison. The The testimony of Dr. Stuart Grassian, a psychiatric Puerto Rican POWs, many of whom have already spent expert on the serious and harmful effects of long-term more than ten years in prison, have sentences averaging isolation and solitary confinement, made a profound 67 years. The judge who sentenced them stated that he im- pression on the Tribunal. Evidence was also received would have given them the death penalty if it had been which showed that in the early 1960's the US prisons within his power. adopted a policy to put into effect brainwashing practices Mumia Abu Jamal currently sits on Pennsylvania's to "modify" the behavior of political prisoners and resist- under sentence of death. Leonard Peltier has ers. served over 13 years of two consecutive life sentences; Further, with full knowledge that conditions of soli- Sundiata Acoli is serving life plus thirty years; Herman tary confinement, "small group isolation", and restricted Bell, Nuh Washington and Jalil Bottom are each serving sensory stimulation cause adverse psycho-pathological ef- 25 years to life. fects, the evidence also showed that the defendants have Evidence was presented demonstrating that the created and maintained prisons and control units em- political beliefs of Petitioners have been used as a basis to bodying these conditions, such as the US Federal Peniten- impose, in many instances, sentences of life imprisonment. tiary at Marion, Illinois, the Women's High Security Unit Moreover, it is clear that the sentences imposed upon at Lexington, Kentucky, and New Petitioners are grossly disproportionate to sanctions York State's Shawangunk Correctional Facility. imposed upon members of right wing and/or racist The US penitentiary at Marion, condemned by Am- organizations convicted of similar offenses. For example, nesty International as violating virtually every one of the an assassin of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier was United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treat- permitted in a plea agreement, wherein most charges were ment of Prisoners, holds more political prisoners and pris- dropped, to receive a sentence of 12 years. Conversely, oners of war than any other prison in the United States. Petitioner Yu Kikumura, arrested with three pipe bombs in Prison officials place political prisoners at Marion and his car, was charged with twelve separate offenses and retain them there for years although they do not meet received an aggregate sentence of 30 years. the stated criteria for assignment there. A US court which In 1986, a man convicted for planning and carrying found the conditions at Marion to pass constitutional mus- out bombings, without making warning calls, of ten occu- ter was nonetheless forced to describe them as "sordid" pied health clinics where abortions were performed re- and "depressing in the extreme". Locked in their ceived a sentence of ten years and was paroled after 46 cells over 22 hours daily, the prisoners at Marion are denied months. By contrast, Petitioner Raymond Levasseur was meaningful human interaction and essential sensory stimu- convicted of bombing four unoccupied military targets in lation. Their visits are non-contact through glass, and they protest against US foreign policies and received a total are required to submit to a strip-search before sentence of 45 years. and after visits. Their only source of drinking water is contaminated Another acknowledged abortion clinic bomber with carcinogenic chloroform and is reliably suspected of received seven years following his arrest in possession of containing dangerous levels of toxins. over 100 pounds of explosives in a populous The Women's High Security Unit at Lexington, Ky., apartment building. Petitioners Tim Blunk and Susan which was closed in 1988 as the result of a national and Rosenberg, charged with possession of explosives in a international human rights campaign, was also condemned storage facility, each received sentences of 58 years. by , which found that the Federal A Ku Klux Klansman, charged with violations of the Bureau of Prisons deliberately placed political prisoners Neutrality Act and with possessing a boatload of explo- there in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions because sives and weapons to be used in an invasion of Dominica, of their political beliefs. The conditions included two received an eight year sentence. Petitioner years of isolation in subterranean cells, daily strip-search- was convicted of purchasing four weapons with false es, sleep deprivation and denial of privacy to the extent identification and was sentenced to 40 years, the longest that male guards were able to observe the women bathing. sentence ever imposed for this offense in US history. Expert medical testimony demonstrated that the conditions The evidence also established that Petitioners have were calculated to destroy the women psychologically and been denied parole as a penalty for refusing to renounce physically. their political beliefs and associations. We find that the defendants place political prisoners and prisoners of war in such prisons, and under such conditions, as part of their efforts to destroy them and to

Published by Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository, 1991 17 Yale Journal of Law and Liberation, Vol. 2 [1991], Iss. 1, Art. 7 Law and Liberation repress the struggles which they represent. afforded the status of Prisoners of War under the The evidence showed that in addition to the use of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention. isolation in control unit prisons, the defendants also use 5) The US government also criminalizes and imprisons. other prison conditions as a means of breaking political white North Americans and others who have worked in prisoners and prisoners of war. These conditions include solidarity with struggles for self-determination as well as assassination; torture; sexual assault; strip and cavity for peace and against nuclear arms, against racism, sexism searches, including such searches by male staff on women, and other forms of discrimination. prisoners; punitive transfers; false accusations of violating 6) The criminal justice system of the US is being used prison rules; censorship; denial of religious worship; ha- in a harsh and discriminatory way against political activ- rassment of families; limitaticn of visits and denial of ists in the U.S. necessary medical care. 7) The use of surveillance, infiltration, grand juries, pre- Several political prisoners with cancer have been ventive detention, politically-motivated criminal conspiracy subjected to lengthy and punitive delays in diagnosis and charges, prejudicial security and anonymous trial juries treatment. Alan Berkman, suffering from Hodgkins Dis- deprive political activists of fair trials guaranteed under ease, has nearly died several times because prison officials domestic and international law. have withheld necessary medical treatment and refused to 8) Political people have been subjected to place him in an appropriate medical facility. Kwasi disproportionately lengthy prison sentences and to torture, Balagoon, suffering with AIDS, was not diagnosed until cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment within the U.S. ten days before his death. Silvia Baraldini's palpable ab- prison system. dominal lumps were ignored for months, only to reveal that she had an aggressive form of uterine cancer. Further the Tribunal calls on the US government to: The evidence also showed that the courts of the US have consistently condoned and sanctioned the application 1) Release all prisoners who have been incarcerated for of such punitive and harmful conditions and their applica- the legitimate exercise of their rights of self-determination tion to political prisoners and prisoners of war. or in opposition to U.S. policies and practices illegal un- We find that the defendants' treatment of political der international law. prisoners and prisoners of war constitutes torture, cruel, 2) Cease all acts of interference and repression against inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Article 6 political movements struggling for self-determination or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and contra- against policies and practices illegal under international venes most of the United Nations Standard Minimum law. Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. The US government is also in breach of the First, Eighth and Fourteenth Members of the Special International Tribunal Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and Frank Badohu their equivalent provisions in the various state constitu- Barrister and solicitor; the Supreme Court of Ghana, rep- tions; the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons resentative of the African Jurists Association in Ghana. from being Subjected to Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman Jawad Boulus or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the Convention Attorney, Palestine Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Lord Anthony Gifford Treatment or Punishment; the International Covenant on Barrister in London and a member of the Northern Ireland Civil and Political Rights; the American Declaration of Bar and Jamaican Bar; Member of the House of Lords, Human Rights and the Geneva Convention and the pro- United Kingdom. tocols thereto. Norman Paech Professor of Public International Law and Constitutional VERDICT Law at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Josi Roberto Rend6n Viisquez stated above, Based on the factual and legal foundations Attorney and Professor, Faculty of Law and Political Sci- the Special Tribunal declares: ence at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Perti. 1) Within the prisons and jails of the United States Celina Romany exist substantial numbers of Political Prisoners and Pris- Professor of Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law and Human oners of War. Rights, City University of New York Law School. 2) These prisoners have been incarcerated for their Toshi Yuki Tanaka opposition to US government policies and actions that are Professor of Political Science at Melbourne University, illegal under domestic and international law, including the Australia. denial of the right to self-determination, genocide, colo- George Wald nialism, racism and militarism. Professor Emeritus of Biology at Harvard University, 3) The US government criminalizes and imprisons per- Nobel Prize for Biology, U.S.A. sons involved in the struggles for self-determination of Coordinator: Dr. Luis Nieves Falc6n Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Black and Special Prosecutors: Mexicano-Chicano activists within the borders of the Unit- Lennox S. Hinds, Esq., ed States. Jan Susler, Esq., 4) Those peoples legitimately struggling for national Robert Boyle, Esq., liberation are not to be treated as criminals, but must be

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Bruce Ellison, Esq., Professor Francis Boyle Expert on International Roger Wareham, Esq. Law. Counsel to the Tribunal: Mr. Jaime Delgado Former Political Prisoner; Daniel Nina member; Puerto Rican Richard Harvey National Liberation Movement. The Special International Tribunal on Political Ms. Jill Soffiyah Elijah Expert on conditions of Prisoners and Prisoners of War in the United States confinement of US polit- received testimony from the following witnesses: ical prisoners and pows. Mr. Guillermo Morales Former Prisoner of War Dr. Imari Obadele Representative of the (videotape deposition) Black Liberation Movement. Documents Submitted by the Movements Ms. Former Political Prisoner. "Brief in Support of New Afrikan Political Prisoners (Videotape deposition) and Prisoners of War," Imari Obadale, Kwame Afah, Ms. Eve Rosahn Representative of the Chokwe Lumumba and Ahmed Obafemi. White North American * Report of the International Indian Treaty Council. anti-imperialists. "We Will Remember", Leonard Peltier Defense Sister Anne Montgomery Former Political Prisoner Committee. and representative of * "Memorandum of Support and Clarification," Plowshares communities. American Indian Movement of Colorado. Ms. Elizabeth Murillo Representative of the * AGENTs OF REPRESSION: THE FBI's SECRET WAR Mexican people living AoAINST THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AND THE within the borders of the AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT (1988). Ward Chur- U.S. chill and Jim VanderWall. Ms. Rita Zengotita Representative of the * THE COINTELPRO PAPERS (1990), Ward Churchill Puerto Rican National Lib- and Jim VanderWall. eration Movement. * FBI COINTELPRO documents on the Puerto Rican Mr. Jorge Farinacci Puerto Rican National independence, Black, Native American, Mexican and Liberation Activist; on Anti-imperialist movements. bond awaiting criminal * "Los Medios de Represi6n Utilizados por el trial. Gobierno de los Estados Unidos en Control del Mr. Bobby Castillo Former Political Prisoner Pueblo de Puerto Rico y Sus Medios de Liberaci6n and representative of Nacional y los Intentos de Criminalizar la Lucha Native Americans. Puertorriquefia por la Independencia," Comit6 Mr. Ward Churchill Representative of Native Unitario Contra la Represi6n y por la Defensa de los Americans. Presos Politicos (CUCRE). Mr. Michael E. Deutsch Expert on US repressive "(Repressive Measures Used by the US government strategy against movements to Control the People of Puerto Rico and their seeking self-determination. Means of National Liberation and the Attempts to Ms. Mary O'Melveny Expert on disparate Criminalize the Struggle for Puerto Rican Indepen- sentencing. dence," the Unitary Committee Against Repression Ms. Patricia Levasseur Former Political Prisoner. and for the Defense of Political Prisoners) (CUCRE). Mr. Majid Bames Representative of the * "Alvaro Hermnndez and Alberto Aranda, Chicano Black Liberation Political Prisoners." Committee to Free Alvaro Movement Hemindez and Alberto Aranda and the Movimiento Ms. Alberta Africa Former Political Prisoner de Liberaci6n Nacional Mexicano. and member of MOVE. • Statement of Eve Rosahn. Dr. Stuart Grassian Expert on the psychopatho- * Statement of Sister Anne Montgomery. logical effects of long-term solitary confinement. Documents Submitted by Former Political Mr. Rafael Cancel Miranda Former Political Prisoner; Prisoners representative; Puerto " Statement of Majid Barnes. Rican National Liberation " "Overview of the Black Struggle in the United States Movement. as it Relates to Political Repression and United Mr. Dhoruba Bin Wahad Former Political Prisoner; States Domestic Policies of Genocide," Dhoruba Bin representative of the Black Wahad. Liberation Movement. *'The Case of Dhoruba Bin Wahad and the Existence Mr. Bob Robideau Former Political Prisoner, of Black Political Prisoners in the United States," representative of Native Dhoruba Bin Wahad & Robert J. Boyle. Americans. " Affidavit of Dhoruba Al-Mujahid Bin Wahad.

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* THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA 1990, The Urban League. * Statement of Alberta Africa. * Statement of Jorge Farinacci. * Writ of Habeas Corpus, Leonard Peltier. * Affidavit of Attorney Bruce Ellison. * Statement of Patricia Helen Levasseur. " Transcript of Interrogation of Jeremy Manning. " Legal Dossiers of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War held in the United States, submitted by Freedom Now! Campaign for Amnesty and Human Rights for Political Prisoners in the United States.

Documents Submitted by Expert Witnesses * "Political Prisoners and the Denial of Fair Trials," Michael E. Deutsch. * The Improper Use of the Federal Grand Jury: An Instrument for the Internment of Political Activists, Michael Deutsch, 75 J. CRim. L. & , 1159 (1984). " New Developments in US Judicial Repression: the Use of Counter-Insurgency Methods Against the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, Michael Deutsch, THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD PRACTITIONER (Winter, 1988). " "Memorandum on Disparate Treatment of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War by United States Au- thorities on Sentencing and Parole Eligibility," Mary O'Melveny. * "Conditions of Confinement," Jill Sofflyah Elijah. * Report of International Jurists' Visit with Human Rights Petitioners in the United States Report and Findings (1979). * Report of Amnesty International, Allegations of Ill- Treatment in Marion Prison, Illinois, U.S.A. (1987). * Report of Amnesty International, on The Women's High Security Unit, Lexington , KY (1988). * THE RIGHT OF CITIZEN RESISTANCE TO STATE CRIMES, Francis Boyle (1990). " Preserving the Rule of Law in the War Against International , Francis Boyle, 8 WHITIER L. R. 735 (1986). " The Hypocrisy and Racism Behind the Formulation of US Human Rights Foreign Policy: in Honor of Clyde Ferguson, Francis Boyle, 16 SOCIAL JUSTICE 71 (1988). * Written statements by individual petitioners

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