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Congresswoman Maxine Waters travels to Haiti; visits former Prime
Minister<br>
Neptune in prison; and demands that the interim government release him
and<br>
all political prisoners. - <br><br>
March 07, 2005<br>
Congresswoman Maxine Waters travels to Haiti; visits former<br>
Prime Minister Neptune in prison; and demands that the interim
government<br>
release him and all political prisoners.<br>
March
07, 2005 News HaitiAction.net<br><br>
<br>
Congresswoman Maxine Waters travels to Haiti;
visits former Prime<br>
Minister Neptune in prison; and demands that the interim government
release<br>
him and all political prisoners.<br><br>
Washington, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Maxine
Waters (CA-35) traveled to<br>
Haiti to visit Haiti's former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, who is
being<br>
detained illegally in prison. She was met at the airport in
Port-au-Prince<br>
by U.S. Embassy officials early this morning and immediately traveled to
the<br>
National Penitentiary, where she met with Prime Minister Neptune, as well
as<br>
former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert and former delegate
Jacques<br>
Mathelier. The Congresswoman spent an hour with Prime Minister
Neptune,<br>
discussing his health and the treatment he has received in prison,
after<br>
which she returned to the airport and held a press conference.<br><br>
"I urge the interim government of
Haiti to set Prime Minister Neptune<br>
free and release all political prisoners in Haitian prisons," said
the<br>
Congresswoman. "The interim government's repression of dissenters
like Prime<br>
Minister Neptune must end immediately. The whole world is
watching."<br><br>
Prime Minister Neptune has languished in
prison in Haiti since June<br>
27, 2004. His life has been endangered throughout his confinement.
There<br>
were reports of a plot to assassinate him last November, a massacre in
the<br>
National Penitentiary on December 1, and a revolt in the National<br>
Penitentiary on February 19. Prime Minister Neptune recently began a
hunger<br>
strike and has vowed not to eat until the unjust, unsafe circumstances
of<br>
his confinement are addressed.<br><br>
"The conditions that I observed in
the prison where Prime Minister<br>
Neptune is being held were deplorable," reported the Congresswoman.
"Prime<br>
Minister Neptune was weak and could only speak in a whispering voice.
He<br>
insisted that he had been jailed without justification and that he
had<br>
committed no crime. He has not been allowed to go before a judge to<br>
challenge his confinement as required under the constitution of Haiti,
and<br>
he believes he has been targeted to be killed."<br><br>
"I tried to convince Prime Minister
Neptune to give up his hunger<br>
strike or at least accept temporary asylum from the United States, so
that<br>
he could be examined by an American physician tasked with ensuring that
his<br>
hunger strike has not caused him bodily harm," explained the
Congresswoman.<br>
"However, Prime Minister Neptune refused to end his hunger strike,
which<br>
protests his unjust imprisonment by the interim government of Haiti. He
said<br>
he will not leave Haiti, and he will not accept political asylum in
another<br>
country. The only condition under which he would be willing to end
his<br>
hunger strike is if the interim government of Haiti releases him and
allows<br>
him to live as a free man in Haiti."<br><br>
Congresswoman Waters was accompanied to
the prison by a delegation of<br>
Americans who are concerned about human rights in Haiti. The
delegation<br>
included Marguerite Laurent, the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network;
Mario<br>
Joseph, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti; Margaret
Prescod,<br>
Global Women Strike; Lucie Tondreau, Veye Yo and the Haiti Action
Committee;<br>
Dr. Serge Louis, Fanmi Lavalas; and Dr. Jean-Paul Bennet, a
physician;<br><br>
Congresswoman Waters was joined on her
flight to Port-au-Prince by Ira<br>
Kurzban, a prominent Florida attorney who served as the attorney
for<br>
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically-elected President
of<br>
Haiti who was forced to leave Haiti in a coup d'etat on February 29,
2004.<br>
Upon arrival, Mr. Kurzban was told that the interim government of
Haiti<br>
would not allow him to enter the country. Employees of American
Airlines<br>
informed Mr. Kurzban that should he deplane, he would be
immediately<br>
arrested. Nevertheless, Mr. Kurzban left the plane and demanded to know
why<br>
he was not being allowed to enter Haiti, but was stopped by officials of
the<br>
interim government, who forced him to get back on a plane and return to
the<br>
United States.<br><br>
"The interim government's refusal to
allow Ira Kurzban to join me in<br>
visiting Prime Minister Neptune is just another example of its
systematic<br>
repression of everyone who is associated with President Aristide or
his<br>
political party," said Congresswoman Waters. "This repression
has got to<br>
stop."<br><br>
"I traveled to Haiti to determine the
conditions of Prime Minister<br>
Neptune's imprisonment, assess his well-being, and work with the
U.S.<br>
Embassy to obtain his immediate release from prison. I believe that
our<br>
efforts will help to save Prime Minister Neptune's life, and I hope
that<br>
they will lead to his immediate release from prison."<br><br>
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