This international call was issued at a press conference in New York City on November 30, 2007

International Call for the San Francisco 8

Given our commitment to and history in the global justice and human rights movements,

Given our commitment to reconciliation between peoples and governments,

Given that the U.S. government and Federal Bureau of Investigation has been shown, through past U.S. Congressional hearings and legal proceedings, to have been involved in illegal policing activities against civil and human rights organizations;

Given that these illegal activities, epitomized by the FBI Counter Intelligence Programs (COINTELPRO), targeted the Black Panther Party, and appears to have an ongoing presence;

Given that eight former Black Panthers – men now all in their fifties, sixties, and seventies – were arrested on January 23, 2007;

Given that these arrests were based on charges related to a 1971 murder, a murder investigated and brought to court in 1975 with the charges dismissed;

Given that no new evidence has been uncovered, and that the alleged evidence in the 1973 investigation was thrown out of court due to a judicial finding that statements were made under conditions of extreme torture, including: electric shock, cattle prods, beatings, sensory deprivation, plastic bags and hot, wet blankets for asphyxiation; and

Given that these new charges amount to little more than continued governmental harassment, violating basic principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention against Torture;

We call on all appropriate legal and governmental authorities to:

• investigate and end all incidents of torture within the U.S. criminal justice system;
• drop all current charges for all eight men in question, namely: Herman Bell, Ray Boudreaux, Richard Brown, Henry W. (Hank) Jones, Jalil Muntaqim (Anthony Bottom), Richard O'Neal, Harold Taylor, and Francisco Torres;
• convene official investigations into the ongoing legacy and possible continued operation of COINTELPRO and similar programs, with an eye towards true reconciliation and human rights based on internationally recognized standards and principles; and
• release immediately, on humanitarian grounds, Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim (Anthony Bottom)-each of whom have served over thirty years of disproportionately long sentences based on the COINTELPRO criminalization of the Black Panther Party and the U.S. civil rights movement.

The Most Reverend Dr. Desmond Mpilo Tutu,
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town,
Primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa;
Nobel Peace Laureate 1984

Mairead Corrigan Maguire,
Community of Peace People, Northern Ireland;
Nobel Peace Laureate 1976

Betty Williams,
Community of Peace People, Northern Ireland;
Nobel Peace Laureate 1976

Darryl Jordan,
Director-American Friends Service Committee* Third World Coalition
(AFSC received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947)

William Wardlaw,
Executive Director's Leadership Council, Amnesty International/USA*
(Amnesty International received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977)

Marie Dennis, Co-President, Pax Christi International; Director-Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Lois M. Dauway, Women's Division, Global Ministries, United Methodist Chuch; Central Committee member, World Council of Churches

*Organizations listed for identification purposes only

For more information on the International Call, contact the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, address below.

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights
P.O. Box 90221
Pasadena, CA 91109
(415) 226-1120
E-mail: freethesf8 [at] riseup [dot] net