Amnesty International calls for Biden to free Leonard Peltier, longest-serving U.S. 'political prisoner'

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Amnesty International on Monday renewed calls for President Joe Biden to grant clemency to jailed Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who many say is America's longest-serving political prisoner.

The call by Amnesty arrived on Indigenous Peoples' Day with the international human rights watchdog once more urging the outgoing Democratic president to commute the sentence of the decades-long jailed Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who turned 80 last month on Sept. 12, and release him.

Peltier, who was a member of the indigenous American Indian Movement, had been convicted in 1975 of allegedly murdering two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a territory of the Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota, in a trial many say was riddled with fraud. Peltier has since maintained his innocence.

Peltier has been jailed for nearly 50 years despite legitimate and ongoing concern over the fairness of his trial decades ago, Amnesty and many others have long since argued.

Joining with Amnesty in its plea for Biden to show mercy has been American tribal nations and its leaders, members of both chambers of Congress including the Senate's Indian Affairs Committee chairman, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, ex-FBI agents, noted Nobel Peace Prize winners and former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds , the very same federal prosecutor who handled Peltier's conviction and later appeals.

In early July, Peltier was denied his most recent parole request after a previous rejection in 2009.

But on Saturday in an open letter to Biden, liberal activist Michael Moore wrote that among 13 actions he feels Biden should take in the few remaining months of his "lame duck" presidency through Jan. 20 is to give Peltier his freedom.

"Mr. President, Leonard Peltier is two years younger than you," Moore opened his letter.

Moore's letter went on to state how Peltier was allegedly "pursued and surveilled by the FBI because of his political engagement. The evidence at his trial included conveniently altered details and a key witness who was coerced into testifying," Moore says. And many agree with his sentiments.

Currently housed in a Florida maximum security prison in regular lockdown, Peltier reportedly requires a walker to move and is blind in one eye from a previous stroke.

But Moore's is only one in a long line of other influential names, which he pointed out included the Rev. Jesse Jackson , members of Congress such as Sens. Bernie Sanders , I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren , D-Mass., as well as actor Robert Redford , the Dali Lama and the late leaders Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela .

Amnesty International has long been part of the Peltier case. Officials observers to Peltier's 1977 trial were sent by Amnesty and, "along with its millions of members and supporters around the globe," has been campaigning on Peltier's behalf for his release.

Peltier in 2004 asked a judge to release certain files that he believed would grant a new trial, contending that he was framed by the U.S. government and would be exonerated if those documents could be publicly released.

In September, an official with Amnesty's U.S. arm went so far as to say the possible grant of presidential clemency for Peltier "could be one step to help mend the fractured relationship" and deep-seated generational mistrust the Native American population has for the U.S. government and "would forever be part of Biden's legacy," among other historical achievements.

"No one should be imprisoned after a trial riddled with uncertainty about its fairness," Justin Mazzola, a researcher with Amnesty International USA, said last month.

"Keeping an 80-year-old man with various health issues locked behind bars for the rest of his life doesn't serve justice," Mazzola wrote. "We hope that President Biden finds it in his heart to release Leonard Peltier as a matter of humanity, mercy, and human rights."

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee's Resolutions Committee in 2022 had unanimously approved a resolution imploring Biden to consider clemency for Peltier.

According to Amnesty, following a review of requests by the White House Counsel's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice, the president had committed to grant clemency and commutation of sentences on a rolling basis rather than do so at the end of Biden's term in January as historically had been the case by prior Oval Office occupants.

But pushback to Biden on that may come from within. The FBI Agents Association "strongly opposed" Peltier's release as Peltier has since maintained his innocence.

In July when Peltier was last denied parole, FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared to write-off any suggestion that Peltier should be granted his freedom despite widespread calls to do so and evidence suggesting alleged FBI impropriety.

Peltier "has been afforded his rights and due process time and again, and repeatedly, the weight of the evidence has supported his conviction and his life sentence," Wray said at the time praising the Parole Commission's decision to deny Peltier's freedom.

Because of Peltier's age and the next parole hearing not until 2039, July's recent parole denial means its likely Peltier will remain incarcerated until his death unless Biden acts before his White House exit following November's presidential election.