Former Black Panther Details Brutal Police Torture to Extract Confession in 1971 Murder Case

Nobel Peace Prize laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mairead Maguire are calling for all charges to be dropped against eight former Black Panthers arrested earlier this year for allegedly killing a San Francisco police officer over 35 years ago.

In a statement being released today, Archbishop Tutu and Maguire said the charges against the San Francisco Eight should be dropped because the case is based in part on statements made under torture. They also criticized the FBI’s COINTELPRO operations which targeted the Black Panther Party.

10 months ago, police arrested and detained six former Black Panthers—Richard Brown, Richard O?Neal, Ray Boudreaux, Henry Jones, Francisco Torres and Harold Taylor. Two men already in jail-?Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim?were also charged.

The men were charged with the murder of Sgt. John Young in 1971 and conspiracy to commit murder for a string of attacks on other officers.

Harold Taylor and two other men were first charged with the murder of the police sergeant in 1975. But a judge tossed out the charges. Taylor and his two co-defendants said they made false confessions after police in New Orleans tortured them.

Harold Turner and Ray Boudreaux join us here in the Firehouse studio. They were both released on bail in September. We are also joined by attorney Soffiyah Elijah. She is an attorney for the San Francisco Eight and Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School.