Back row from left: Kevin Sharpe, Kalonji Jama Changa, Atty. Jenipher Jones, Giselle Dias and Nick Tilsen. Front row from left, Holly Cook Macarro, Leonard Peltier, and Atty. Moira Meltzer-Cohen. Photos courtesy of Leonard Peltier’s legal team and assistants

Activists, attorneys, and supporters of Leonard Peltier, 80, expressed a collective sense of relief as President Joseph Biden granted clemency to the long-imprisoned Indigenous rights activist. It was one of Mr. Biden’s last official acts from the White House on January 20.

Lawyers believe Mr. Peltier’s release date is most likely to take place around February 18 and said that his health has drastically deteriorated over his 50 years behind bars.  Family, friends, and proper medical care await him when he returns home.

“Leonard’s case has long symbolized the systemic injustices faced by Indigenous people within the U.S. legal system,” said Morning Star Gali, the founder and executive director of the Sacramento, California-based organization, Indigenous Justice, in a statement she shared with The Final Call after President Biden signed the order of clemency.

“His resilience in the face of wrongful imprisonment has inspired generations to continue the struggle for sovereignty, self-determination, and the recognition of Indigenous rights,” the statement said in part.

“As we celebrate his long-awaited freedom, we also reaffirm our commitment to the work that remains,” Ms. Gali’s statement continued. “Leonard’s release is a powerful reminder that the pursuit of justice is relentless, and we will continue to fight for those who have been silenced and marginalized.

His freedom is a testament to the power of collective action and the enduring hope for justice and dignity for all Indigenous peoples,” she said.

Mr. Peltier has consistently maintained his innocence regarding an armed confrontation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1973. While granted presidential clemency after multiple denials and appeals for parole through the parole commission, attorneys and advocates said they will continue working to clear his name. (See The Final Call Vol. 43 No. 38).

“In June, we went down to prepare Leonard for a full parole hearing which he had not had in some time and there was so much information and so many supporters who wrote in, as well as Leonard’s doctor who gave testimony about his medical condition and his treatment in the Bureau of Prisons, so in terms of scope, it was very broad,”  said Attorney Jenipher Jones, Mr. Peltier’s lead counsel, in a January 21 news conference webcast live through BlackPowerMedia.org.

“But the United States Parole Commission really sought to narrow that scope in terms of what they considered, in my opinion, to manipulate a result concomitant with applying the wrong law in terms of sentencing application for Leonard’s parole consideration,”  Atty. Jones said. 

Co-counsel Attorney Moira Meltzer-Cohen said that the standards under which Mr. Peltier was convicted were not properly applied regarding his eligibility for parole and that it reflected what could be considered external pressure to keep him confined indefinitely.

“That assessment about whether somebody ought to be released on parole under that standard is based on who they are as a person now and not the offense that they were convicted of,”

Atty. Meltzer-Cohen adding, “and the U.S. Parole Commission made every effort and was very plain about their intention to apply that backward-looking standard, not to say we’ll look at who Leonard is now.

“They focused almost exclusively on the details of the offense which in any case Leonard has always maintained his innocence,” the attorney continued.

“There were a lot of things that happened during that very protracted parole hearing that made (it) abundantly clear under no circumstances was the United States Parole Commission taking seriously the possibility of releasing Leonard.” 


American Indian Leonard Peltier, who is serving two life sentences for the 1975 murder of two FBI agents, is shown in prison, in Feb. 1986. (AP Photo/Cliff Schiappa)

Clemency, pardons, and politics

Noting the difference between commutations and pardons through the executive powers of government, Chase Iron Eyes of the Sacred Defense Fund told the audience viewing the news conference that while a pardon is desired, a commutation or clemency is a welcomed step in the right direction regarding Mr. Peltier because of his age and health condition.

Clemency is a form of mercy where the impact and severity of a sentence is commuted or reduced to something lesser. A pardon is to essentially wipe the slate or record clean of any given offense.

“A commutation of a sentence to house arrest, essentially, it’s like parole or probation or ‘being on paper,’ Leonard is probably going to have to have a residence approved and he may have to be at that residence for certain times,” Mr. Iron Eyes explained. “He might have to wear an ankle monitor, that’s the primary difference.

He’s not really free, but we have no words, Leonard is going to be able to be in his own home, Leonard will be able to have us build a sweat lodge behind his house if he wants, and this summer, when we do the Sun Dance ceremony, Leonard will be able to go to those,” he said speaking on Indigenous American spirituality and the legacy of resistance to settler colonialism. 

“We fully understand that they were able to pull this off for almost 50 years, almost twice as long as those same forces did (to) Nelson Mandela,” Mr.Iron Eyes said of the anti-Apartheid activist and freedom fighter who was falsely labeled by Western nations as a terrorist and who was imprisoned and later released to become president of South Africa.

 “They caused generational trauma and they actually committed crimes to illegally imprison Leonard Peltier. They committed crimes, those agencies, whether you call them the Deep State, the feds or those human actors that are susceptible to corruption within those agencies, they lied to the Canadian government to extradite him.

Or if you just read what they did to Myrtle Poor Bear or even the ballistics report, by not divulging exculpatory evidence, they committed crimes,” he said.

“Those actors within the FBI have attempted to rewrite history over the years to disadvantage and destabilize Indigenous sovereignty because Indigenous sovereignty is probably one of the strongest vehicles that is standing in the path of corporate fascism,” [C.Q.] Mr. Iron Eyes stated flatly.

“That is what Leonard’s story is, yes, COINTELPRO attacked us, and everyone that was standing up and becoming conscious of their rights. And on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the FBI admits to 69—they killed almost 100—yet today, the story is whatever the mainstream media is putting out and telling us to focus on trying to dirty up Leonard’s name,” he said.


A copy of the clemency order granted to Mr. Peltier signed by President Joe Biden.

Navajo elder, Lenny Foster, spiritual advisor to Mr. Peltier, told audience members that he was happy to receive news of Mr. Peltier’s pending release and said it was through years of hard work and unity that people were successful in getting the president to grant him clemency.

“It’s been a long, long 50 years, a long haul. I personally feel that I did time with him, so it’s been very extensive, exhausting (and) I’m glad he was granted clemency,” Mr. Foster said of his long-time relationship with Mr. Peltier and the struggle for Indigenous rights. 

“I’ve always said that the FBI is on a personal vendetta against Leonard Peltier and the American Indian Movement (AIM) because he represents the resistance that dates back to Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Sitting Bull and we all know what happened at the Little Big Horn and the 7th Cavalry,” Mr. Foster said.

He drew a comparison to the 1973 incident with federal authorities on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the 1876 battle in which Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry was overwhelmed and defeated by the combined forces of Lakota Sioux, the Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes in Southern Montana.

“He (Peltier) was a young man when all that happened and there was many flaws in the trial itself, witnesses recanted their testimonies, false affidavits were prepared, etcetera, etcetera,” Mr. Foster said. “I don’t think they would try to reverse that decision that’s my feeling.”

Panel participant, Dawn Lawson, personal assistant to Leonard Peltier and a member of the Leonard Peltier Ad Hoc Committee, told viewers that she was pleased that Mr. Peltier would finally receive the medical care long denied him while locked down in prison.

“He needs so many things, but his eyes need (to be) addressed immediately,” Ms. Lawson said. “It’s a simple surgery, but if he does not have the surgery, he’s going blind and that could be permanent. The eyes, the aortic aneurysm, his shoulder (and) I’m really hoping they get him to a hospital immediately,” she said.

“The work has just begun; Indigenous genocide is still very much alive and well