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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!gatech!ukma!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: Haiti: Dissident Arrested
- Message-ID: <1993Jan26.060137.28655@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: PACH
- Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 06:01:37 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 98
-
- /** reg.carib: 596.0 **/
- ** Topic: IZMERY ARRESTED **
- ** Written 8:16 pm Jan 24, 1993 by hib in cdp:reg.carib **
- From: Jane Regan <hib>
- Subject: IZMERY ARRESTED
-
- Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 20:10:36 PST
- From: Jane Regan <hib>
- Subject: IZMERY ARRESTED
-
- * * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * *
-
- From: HAITIAN INFORMATION BUREAU
- An Alternative News and Information Service
- Tel/Fax: 001-509-574047, e-mail: hib@igc.org
-
- ANTOINE IZMERY IMPRISONED FOR TWO NIGHTS
-
- PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 24 - A prominent businessman known for
- his support of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will spend his
- second night in the National Penitentiary after being arrested for
- driving without a license on Saturday.
- Antoine Izmery was stopped and arrested on Jan. 23, hours after
- a meeting with Rev. Jesse Jackson where Jackson and local human
- rights organizations discussed repression here. Izmery's license was
- taken away by police two weeks ago after he paid a small traffic
- fine. According to Izmery, officers refused to return it because of
- his well-known stands in favor of President Aristide.
- According to a member of Rev. Jackson's delegation, when the
- Reverend learned of Izmery's arrest today, he asked his hosts in
- Haiti, U.S. embassy officials Leslie Alexander and Robin Smith, to
- help free Izmery. Despite their reassurances and promises from
- de facto Prime Minister Marc L. Bazin, Izmery was still being held
- as of 10 p.m. on Sunday night and was expected to spend a second
- night in the prison.
- Rev. Jackson was here for two days to meet with democratic
- leaders, military officials and representatives of both the
- constitutional and de facto governments. Jackson said the purpose
- of the visit was the "keep the pressure on" the illegal regime as the
- United Nations and Organization of American States move into a
- new round of negotiations to bring about the return of democracy
- and President Aristide.
- Many feel the fact that Izmery was arrested during Rev.
- Jackson's visit was intended as a message from the military to
- show their arrogant disdain for the process toward democracy.
- Izmery has frequently been targeted for repression since the
- Sept. 30, 1991, coup d'etat. His brother George was shot and killed
- on May 26. Soldiers viciously beat mourners at the funeral,
- including Antoine Izmery, and arrested many.
- Despite Jackon's visit and the recent visit of U.N. and O.A.S.
- representative Dante Caputo, violations continue to be reported
- here. In one especially outrageous case, Gisele Saint-Firmin, the
- 53-year-old mother of a college student, was arrested on Jan. 8
- and has spent over two weeks in jail because her daughter helped
- organize a commemorative mass for a student beaten to death last
- year.
-
-
- FOR MORE INFORMATION:
-
- Haitian Information Bureau: 509-574047
- Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations: 509-451563
-
- WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
-
- 1. Fax or call de facto officials:
-
- Prime Minister Marc L. Bazin
- National Palace
- Port-au-Prince, Haiti
- Fax: 509-22-1147
-
- Minister of the Interior and of Defense Carl Michel Nicolas
- Palace of the Ministers
- Port-au-Prince, Haiti
- Telex: 20515 Dptindn
- Tel: 509-229198 or 22-1090
-
- General Raoul Cedras
- Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Haiti
- Grand Quartier General of the Armed Forces of Haiti
- Rue Geffrard
- Port-au-Prince, Haiti
- Telex: 20391 GQFADH
- Tel: 509-22-3935
- Fax: 509-23-9007 or 239407
-
- 2. Call your local U.S. government representative and ask them to
- pressure the Clinton administration as well as U.S. representatives
- in Haiti to demand the immediate release of Antoine Izmery,
- Gisele Saint-Firmin, and the hundreds of citizens arrested and held
- illegally in Haitian prisons.
-
-
-
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.carib **
-
-