We hear a lot in the news about the U.S. government’s position on human rights and how it supports the release of political prisoners all around the world, but did you know that there are political prisoners in America?

It is estimated that between 100 and 200 people are in jail in the U.S. for political reasons. Two of the most famous U.S. political prisoners are Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Leonard Peltier was involved in the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the early seventies. The Pine Ridge Indian reservation was one of the poorest in the U.S. and was being run by a tribal government that was abusing its people. This abusive tribal government was also a puppet of the U.S. government. AIM was founded to resist that abuse and represent the people better.

On June 26, 1975 two plain-clothes FBI agents arrived at the home of an AIM member in an unmarked car and were killed in a shoot out. Three AIM members were arrested. No one knows who shot first. Three people were arrested on suspicion of shooting the FBI agents. The first two went to trial and were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The government was desperate to put someone in jail for the crime and Leonard Peltier got to be the one. Evidence was forged and a witness was threatened and coerced into testifying against Peltier.

He has now been in prison for 25 years. The Freedom of Information Act made it possible for his legal defense committee to get a hold of much of this information (although some is still being withheld). It reveals that there is no conclusive evidence connecting Peltier with the shooting and that the one witness who said she heard Peltier confess was coerced, yet he is still in prison. In June 2000 he was again denied a parole hearing. Why?

Mumia Abu-Jamal was an award-winning journalist in Philadelphia in the seventies and president of the Association of Black Journalists of Philadelphia. He was outspoken on race issues and particularly critical of police brutality in the Philadelphia police department. He had no prior criminal record.

In December of 1981 while intervening in a street incident where a policeman was beating Mumia’s own brother, Mumia was shot. The policeman was also shot and killed. Several witnesses saw other people running from the scene. Mumia was beaten and then arrested and convicted of murder. Once again there was a witness who testified against him that later revealed that she was coerced under threat of her own arrest for some prior situation.

He has been on Death Row for 17 years. Journalists are prohibited from filming or recording interviews with him. Why?

Similar stories surround the incarceration of dozens of men and women held in U.S. prisons. Despite inconclusive evidence, coerced and threatened witnesses, and proof of government cover-ups, these people remain in jail. Invariably they are vocal proponents for various groups that are not favored by the U.S. government and thus they stay in prison.

The government is, however, somewhat responsive to public outcry. If the pressure on the government to review these cases objectively is strong enough these political prisoners may go free. Several are released each year due to this kind of public response.

Visit the Zenzibar Alternative Culture Political Prisoners category for more information on Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal and other political prisoners and what you can do to help them.