Support the Open Letter Campaign to Stop the SF8 Prosecution

From:    "SF-8 case" <cdhrsupport@freedomarchives.org>
Date:    Thu, June 26, 2008

Attached please find a copy of an Open Letter to Attorney General
Jerry Brown, the person who has the power to stop the prosecution of
the SF 8.

The Open Letter references the International Call, initiated by
Desmond Tutu, and I am attaching a copy of the International Call, as
well.  You will also find this on the SF 8 website.

This is what we are asking:

1.   Please ask influential or leaders you may have access to or
other progressive people that you know to sign on to the letter.
2.   Please do NOT send the letter to Jerry Brown.
3.   Please DO send  the names of the people who wish to sign to me to
compile for the committee.  (jsiff@sbcglobal.net)
4.   Please include the name and title or descriptive phrase by which
the person wishes to be identified.

July and August are the critical months for this project.  We want to
be prepared to deliver and publicize the results of this support for
the onset of the Preliminary Hearing in the beginning of September.

Open Letter to Attorney General Jerry Brown:
Drop the Charges Against the SF 8!

I am writing to join with the Nobel Peace Laureates Desmond Tutu and
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, as well as Cynthia McKinney, Danny Glover,
Cindy Sheehan and others in an international call to drop the charges
against the SF 8.

The eight are elders and activists formerly associated with the Black
Panther Party who have devoted their lives to serving their
communities. Four are local to California.   Richard Brown and
Richard O'Neal are from San Francisco and have been known and deeply
respected in social service circles for over 20 years. Hank Jones and
Ray Boudreaux are well known and loved community activists in the Los
Angeles area.

Prosecution of the case against these men is now over 37 years old.
Although this is a California state and not a county prosecution, the
cost of the case, which is in the millions, is being borne by the
City of San Francisco at the precise moment when vital services are
in jeopardy due to lack of funds.

Previous attempts to prosecute these men in the 1970's were dismissed
when it was revealed that so-called "confessions" were the product of
torture by the New Orleans police department.

The SF Board of Supervisors has already gone on record as opposing
torture.  I call on all officials to do so as well, to reject
prosecution based on the results of torture, and to do everything in
your power to re-establish the priority of serving the needs of the
communities of San Francisco and the State of California.

People in the Bay Area have a proud history of defending human rights
and social justice. I urge Attorney General Jerry Brown to drop the
case against the SF 8 now.

_______________________________________________
Please support these brothers by sending a donation. Make checks payable
to CDHR/Agape and mail to the address below or donate on line:

www.freethesf8.org/donate.html

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR)
PO Box 90221
Pasadena, CA 91109
(415) 226-1120
FreetheSF8@riseup.net

www.freethesf8.org