5/5: Update from Brian Concannon

Political prisoner Yvon Neptune, Haiti's last constitutional Prime Minister, lies on the verge of death from a hunger strike, initiated because the de facto Haitian coup government has jailed him for 10 months without formal charges, in violation of Haiti's constitution. The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), a widely discredited, USAID funded anti-Aristide group, has accused Neptune of participation in a massacre in the city of St. Marc in February 2004, but the illegal coup government has never offered any proof the massacre actually took place, and U.N. independent expert on human rights Louis Joinet recently dismissed accounts of the massacre.

Neptune has vowed to continue his hunger strike until he is either charged or released. The illegal "interim" regime of Gerard Latortue could easily meet this demand, but refuses. They should therefore concede they have no real case against Neptune and release him from prison. If Neptune is flown into exile, he wants the world to know, it was a kidnapping.

The Insitute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti is asking that people pressure the Interim Government of Haiti to drop the charges against Neptune.

Read More | Democracy Now Report | Green Left Weekly | Haiti Progres | Letter From Neptune On Hunger Strike | Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti