Free all political prisoners forum

On Nov. 6, the International Action Center and New York Committee to Free the Cuban Five will hold a special forum in New York City highlighting the struggle of political prisoners, especially the international political prisoners held by the U.S. government and its allies.

Featured speakers include Charlotte Kates, organizer for New Jersey Solidarity Activists for the Liberation of Palestine and co-chair of the Middle East Subcommittee of the National Lawyers Guild. Kates recently participated in a delegation to occupied Palestine and met with former political prisoners. She was one of the three U.S.-based attorneys able to attend a session of the Israeli military trial of Ahmad Sa’adat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Also speaking at the forum will be Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, who recently called on the United Nations Human Rights Commission and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture to launch a formal investigation of the U.S. government’s violations of the human rights of the Cuban Five.

They will be joined by Teresa Gutierrez, an IAC leader and founder of the NY Committee to Free the Cuban Five, who will report on plans for the Nov. 9 “Breaking the Silence on the Cuban Five” conference in Toronto.

There will also be updates on the cases of Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the San Francisco 8 and the Puerto Rican political prisoners.

The forum begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Solidarity Center, 55 W. 17 St., 5th Floor, between 5th and 6th Avenues in Manhattan. For more information, call 212-633-6646.