IMMEDIATE RELEASE - PLEASE  DISTRIBUTE  WIDELY
February  3, 2011

CALL TO ACTION:

Demand Obama Administration Respect UPR Process,

Adopt UN UPR Recommendation to Release U.S. Political Prisoners 
 

Atlanta, GA, - The U.S. Human Rights Network Political Prisoner/State
Repression Working Group (USHRN PP/SR Wkg Grp) today demands the Obama
Administration adopt the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic
Review (UPR) recommendations to release COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era
political activists held in U.S. prisons, some more than 40 years.  
 

"The UPR shed global light on the United States' dirty little open
secret and propelled to the forefront the unfinished business of the
modern U.S. Civil/Human Rights movement.   “We are working with
activists across the country to put  America’s political prisoners on
the global human rights priority list alongside other atrocities like
the death penalty, racial discrimination, the absence of treaty
ratification  and the lack of a national institution monitoring domestic
human rights practices” Efia Nwangaza said. 

Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Adviser to the United States Department of
State dismissed the significance of  the recommendations made by the
Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review in
generally and, specifically, the call for the release of long imprisoned
political activists.  Harold Koh, put the more than 230 recommendations
into "3 categories: 

1) Some in line with US policies

2) Some political provocation not to be taken seriously

3) Some to be considered.

Koh promised "all recommendations will be considered and taken back
to branches for consideration before March, 2011. Further Koh remarked,
“A small set of comments do not make bona fide recommendations for the
UPR. These statements, those styled as “recommendations,” are actually
political criticisms of U.S. policies or polemical comments about
judicial cases, based on unsubstantiated or false allegations, which
refer to individual matters that are either ongoing or already completed
under court proceedings conducted under due process of law."

1. We call on President Obama to use his presidential powers to grant
clemency and commute the sentences to time served and release all
COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era political activists criminalized and held in
federal custody.

2. We call on President Obama to direct U.S.  Attorney General Eric
Holder and the U.S. Department of Justice to review the convictions of
all COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era activists in federal or state custody to
identify and address civil and human rights violations perpetrated.

3. We call on the Obama Administration to create a national Truth and
Reconciliation Commission for the release and compensation of all
COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era activists in federal or state custody.
 

Demand the Obama Administration Respect the UPR Process and Adopt UN
UPR Recommendation to Release U.S. Political Prisoners
(Recommendations  Numbers 92.153 and 92.154). Please call, fax, write,
e-mail, the U.S. UPR Delegation and the Obama Administration to  Invite
family, friends, neighbors, faith communities, social and professional
organizations and elected and appointed officials to join this emergency
campaign.
 
Contact information: 
Michael H. Posner, Asst. Secretary of State (Democracy, Human Rights and Labor) T: 202-647-2126/F:202-647-5283/E: PosnerMH@state.gov

Esther Brimmer, Asst. Secretary of State (T:202-647-4000/F: /E: )

Harold Koh, Legal Adviser to State Department (T:202-647-4000   /F:/E:)

Samuel Bagenstos, Principal Deputy Asst. Attorney General (Civil Rights Division) T:202-353-9065/F:202-3072572/E: samuel.bagenstos@usdoj.gov 

Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General (T: 202-514-2001/F:E:AskDOJ@usdoj.gov)

President Barack Obama (T:202-456-1414/ 202-456-1111     /F: 202-456-2461/E: )
 

The US Human Rights Network formed to promote US accountability to
universal human rights standards by building linkages between
organizations and individuals. We strive to build a human rights culture
in the United States that puts those directly affected by such
violations, with a special emphasis on grassroots organizations and
social movements, in central leadership roles. The Network is further
committed to uniting the US human rights movement with the broader
social justice movements both in the U.S. and globally. See U.S. Human
Rights Network Reports to the UPR Working Group of the UN Human Rights
Council: http://www.ushrnetwork.org/upr_reports.

Contact ushrnpp@gmail.com and firestormpp@gmail.com to report the number of e-mails and letters mailed/faxed.  Many thanks.  FREE ALL U.S. POLITICAL PRISONERS, NOW!

Visit Black Unity at: http://blackunity.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network