As many of you know, Lori Berenson's parents have been trying for over
4 1/2 years to have the government of Peru
announce that Lori did not commit treason, a crime for which she has
been given a life sentence by a Military
Tribunal with a hooded judge. Since Monday's announcement that the
Supreme Military Court of Peru dismissed Lori's
case, awareness is being raised surrounding Lori's case. Friends, family,
and supporters have consistently stated that
Lori has been wrongfully held since November 30, 1995, the UN Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that
Lori is being detained arbitrarily in its December 1998 report, and
a Majority of the House of Representatives and almost
half of the Senate support Lori's release.
Now we need to be working more than ever to bring Lori home.
This is a message for what to do. Don't forget to check the web site
daily for updates and announcements will be going
out on this email list frequently.
BREAK THE SILENCE: IT IS TIME TO ACT!
There are so many emails and messages, words of support and encouragement,
that it is difficult to answer them all.
This message serves not only as a "thanks" for all of your messages
but also as a command from Lori to act.
In January of this year, she stated that, "In the face of injustice,
to be silent is to be an accomplice. We will not be silent,
we will not be quiet, until this changes, until there is justice and
respect for human rights in Peru." So there you have it: we cannot be silent!
CIRCULATE URGENT ACTIONS
It is time to act now. The U.S. government should be actively pursuing
the release of Lori Berenson, a U.S. citizen who
has been wrongfully incarcerated by the government of Peru for over
4 years. Please call the White House hotline at 202-456-1111 demanding
that President Clinton act now. Send this message to everyone you know!
Visit the www.freelori.org website
for constant updates.
OPRAH SHOW
I know many of you watched the Oprah show yesterday. Oprah invites
you to send your thoughts on her website: http://oprah.oxygen.com/. In
the upper right-hand corner there is a picture of the Free Lori poster
that you can
click on and send messages. Please thank Oprah for having the Berenson
parents on her show and indicate your interest
in hearing an update in the future. It would be especially nice to
have Oprah discuss Rhoda's book when it comes out in November: "LORI: My
Daughter, Wrongfully Imprisoned in Perú"
OVER HALF A MILLION HITS ON FREE LORI WEBSITE!
An unprecedented number of hits were received on the Free Lori web
site over the past couple of days. There were
153,000 hits on Wednesday, and over 1/4 million hits yesterday. Just
think how many people are finding out
about Lori's situation and her deep concern for the conditions in Peru.
Remind everyone to go to www.freelori.org. There
is a place to sign up for email alerts- go to "mailing lists". Subscribe
automatically to the announcements-list@freelori.org
KEEP IN TOUCH!
Gail Taylor,
National Organizer
Washington, DC