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Committee
for the Immediate Release
of
Congressman Crispin Beltran - Canada
Statement
Free
the People's Law Maker
February 25, 2007
One year ago today, veteran labour leader and twice-elected Congressman
Crispin Beltran (“Ka Bel”) was falsely imprisoned by the Macapagal-Arroyo
regime in the Philippines. The 74 year old law maker remains imprisoned
despite false charges, a court-ordered release, and international
condemnation of the Arroyo government’s practice of using incarceration to
silence political opposition.
The arrest took place within a broader context of massive human rights
violations and political repression by the US-backed Arroyo regime. To
date, there have been over 800 extra-judicial killings, almost 200 forced
disappearances, and other arbitrary arrests and threatened arrests. Police
and prosecutors have failed to solve any of these crimes and their
lackluster attempts to do so have been criticized by the UN Development
Program, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International,
and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial killings.
We condemn the illegal and unjust imprisonment of Ka Bel. The
Congressman’s health has deteriorated over the past year and he is now
being held under police guard in a hospital in Manila. To add to the
injustice of this detention, Ka Bel must pay personally for his hospital
bills. Ka Bel has also spent his 74th birthday and his 50th wedding
anniversary under police guard.
At the same time, Ka Bel’s constituents – workers, peasants and urban poor
– are being deprived of representation in Congress. Ka Bel is running for
a third term in office as a member of the state-harassed Anakpawis
(Toiling Masses) Party. He has been unable to consult with his
constituents or campaign on their long-standing issues of concern.
Today as we pass the one-year mark of Ka Bel’s unjust imprisonment, we
stand with individuals and organizations in the Philippines and around the
world in demanding the immediate release of Ka Bel.
In particular, we call on the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter
MacKay to do more than express concern over the obvious injustice of Ka
Bel’s imprisonment. It is time to act decisively to pressure the
Philippine government to immediately release Ka Bel and to end rampant
human rights violations and political repression.
Free Ka Bel!
Stop the Killings!
End the Political Repression!
Never Again to Martial Law!
Long Live International Solidarity!
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