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Petition: Man's life at risk in Chicago<br>
Joseph Pannell faces extradition to U.S.<br><br>
Accused of shooting police officer in 1969<br>
Dec. 29, 2005. 01:00 AM<br>
HAROLD LEVY<br>
STAFF REPORTER<br><br>
Chicago prison guards could take revenge on Joseph Pannell if the<br>
Mississauga man is returned to the U.S. to face charges in the shooting
of<br>
a police officer 36 years ago, an online petition claims.<br><br>
The petition, launched by Pannell's family this week, asks federal
Justice<br>
Minister Irwin Cotler to deny a U.S. extradition request on the basis
that<br>
"there is a real possibility of retaliatory punishment due to the
nature<br>
of the allegations, in particular by guards at Cook County Jail where
a<br>
recent grand jury has found severe mistreatment of detainees."
The<br>
statement refers to a September 2004 report accusing the Cook County<br>
sheriff's office of covering up a 1999 beating of 49 inmates.<br><br>
The petition also expresses concern for Pannell "at the hands of the
Chicago<br>
police, whose patterns of abuse, including torture, of suspects in
custody<br>
have been documented by the respected organization Human Rights Watch
and<br>
others." U.S. authorities have said that Pannell belonged to
the<br>
revolutionary Black Panthers — which Pannell denies — and that he shot
a<br>
white police officer, Terrence Knox, in the arm near a Chicago school
on<br>
March 7, 1969. Pannell's lawyer has said Pannell acted in self-defence
to<br>
save his own life. If Pannell is returned to Chicago he would face<br>
attempted murder charges and it is very likely he would await trial
in<br>
Cook County Jail.<br><br>
The petition says the allegations against Pannell "relate to an
incident which<br>
occurred over 35 years ago in the highly charged atmosphere of racial
tension<br>
and police repression then present in the African American community
of<br>
Chicago."<br><br>
Pannell lived in Mississauga for 13 years under the name Gary Douglas
Freeman.<br>
He was arrested at gunpoint on July 27, 2004, outside the Metropolitan
Toronto<br>
Reference Library where he worked as a researcher. Justice David Watt
paved<br>
the way for Pannell's extradition on Nov. 25. Pannell remains in jail
while<br>
Cotler decides whether to extradite him. He has appealed Watt's
decision.<br>
Natercia Coelho, Pannell's wife, said she launched the petition Monday
at<br>
<a href="http://www.freemandrum.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.freemandrum.org</a>. to show Cotler that supporters believe
the<br>
extradition would be wrong. Coelho said about 50 people from North
America<br>
signed the petition in the first 48 hours.<br><br>
Bill Cunningham, a spokesman for the Chicago Sheriff's Department,
which<br>
runs the Cook County Jail, said yesterday he didn't wish to comment on
the<br>
petition's allegations. Justice Canada spokesman Chris
Girouard told<br>
the Star it would be inappropriate for Cotler to comment because
"the<br>
minister has to decide whether to surrender Mr. Pannell to the
United<br>
States."<br><br>
<br>
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