27060: Hermantin(Editorial)RELEASE REV. JEAN-JUSTE FOR CANCER TREATMENT IN U.S. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Posted on Mon, Jan. 02, 2006
'Prisoner of conscience' faces a deadly illness

OUR OPINION: RELEASE REV. JEAN-JUSTE FOR CANCER TREATMENT IN U.S.


The U.S.-backed transitional government in Haiti should have already released 
the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste from prison. Now that the Catholic priest has 
developed leukemia, Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue should waste no time 
in freeing him. The Rev. Jean-Juste should be allowed to seek medical attention 
in the United States, and not only for humanitarian reasons. His release also 
would be a step toward rehabilitating a judicial system tainted by human-rights 
abuses, corruption and the false imprisonment of political opponents.

Languishing in jail

A prominent priest and vocal supporter of deposed President Jean-Bertand 
Aristide, the Rev. Jean-Juste hasn't been shy about criticizing the 
transitional government in sermons and on radio shows.
Whatever his politics, though, he should have the right to express his opinions 
in a country that is trying to build a democracy. Yet he is only one of many 
government critics languishing in Haitian jails, former Prime Minister Yvon 
Neptune being another. Meanwhile, notorious thugs and violent gangs run free.
Last year the Rev. Jean-Juste spent seven weeks in jail accused of inciting 
violence, only to be released after a judge found that the charges were 
baseless. Now he has been jailed for more than five months in connection with a 
murder in Haiti committed while he was visiting Miami. Amnesty International 
has designated him a prisoner of conscience, ``detained solely because he has 
peacefully exercised his right to freedom of expression.''

Early this month a U.S. doctor examined Rev. Jean-Juste and said he may have 
leukemia. Haitian authorities said their doctors found no cancer. Last week, a 
prominent Harvard Medical School professor visited the Rev. Jean-Juste in 
prison and took blood samples that were analyzed in Miami. Dr. Paul Farmer, who 
runs hospitals in Haiti, confirmed that the Rev. Jean-Juste has developed 
chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a cancer that could develop into a more-virulent 
strain.

Facilitate treatment

If he is to have any chance against this disease, the Rev. Jean-Juste needs 
treatment in the United States, and that treatment needs to start now. He 
cannot hope to live with a compromised immune system in Haiti's National 
Penitentiary, where medical care and hygiene are virtually nonexistent.

U.S. diplomats should use their considerable influence to persuade the Haitian 
government to release the Rev. Jean-Juste and to facilitate his access to 
treatment in the United States. Haiti's fledgling democracy doesn't need its 
best known political prisoner to die in jail.