BY JOHN STUDER
DES MOINES, Iowa - "I have the honor of asking you to grant parole to Mr. Mark Curtis," Ahmed Ben Bella, leader of the workers and farmers government formed in Algeria following a revolution in 1962, wrote to the Iowa State Board of Parole September 22.
Ben Bella is 79 years old. He spent 10 years in prison under French colonial rule. When the workers and farmers government was overthrown in 1965, he was thrown back in prison for the next 15 years.
Ben Bella also wrote directly to Curtis offering his continuing solidarity and support and wrote to the Mark Curtis Defense Committee, saying, "Count on my help, even though modest. Be brave, in friendship, Ben Bella."
Ben Bella is one of hundreds of political activists, unionists and supporters of democratic rights who have written to the Iowa Board of Parole in the last two months urging that Mark Curtis be freed on parole.
Curtis was a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union who was beaten by Des Moines police and framed up on charges of rape and burglary in 1988 while participating in a public campaign to defend 17 co-workers from El Salvador and Mexico seized in an immigration raid at his plant. He is a long-time political activist and member of the Socialist Workers Party.
"Speaking as a member of the Canadian working public who has been made familiar with the case of Mark Curtis," wrote Tim Bettger, a miner from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, serving time in a frame-up for his union activity while on strike, "I fail to see the justice or the anticipated rehabilitation by the handling of his or any other case in this manner."
Unionists from many other countries also have written the board. "Curtis is a trade union fighter and a socialist not a rapist," wrote Vasilis Paparis, a member of the Garment, Textile and Leather Workers Union in Athens, Greece. "He has served more than the average prison term for the crimes he has unjustly been convicted of. Keeping him longer in jail only shows the political nature of this case."
Delay is due to political activities
"Our workplace club has followed, for some years now, the
case of Mark Curtis," wrote Bert Jagerby, club chairman of
the Swedish Foodworkers Union at the AB Pripps Brewery in
Bromma, Sweden. "Whatever the discussion about the legality,
or otherwise, of Mark's conviction, the fact is that Mark
Curtis now fills all of Iowa's requirements for conditional
release, on parole.
"The only reason we can now see for any more delay, in Mark's release, is due to his political and union activities, as all other requirements have been met," he added.
"Our Union Federation of Postal and Telecommunications Workers asks you respectfully to grant Mark Curtis the right to freedom on parole," wrote Annick Coupé, secretary general of the French federation. "We have followed the evolution of this case for several years and we are convinced that Mark Curtis is the victim of a judicial frame- up for his political ideas."
A number of political leaders in France have also added their organizations' voices to the call for Curtis's freedom.
"Under the laws of Iowa, he meets, to our knowledge, the conditions to be `free on parole.' This is why in the name of the rights of man, we ask you to grant to Mark Curtis the right to this freedom on parole," wrote Roland Wlos in a letter on behalf of the Committee in Defense of the Freedoms and the Rights of Man in France and in the World.
Patrick Baudouin, president of the International Federation of Human Rights, wrote that the organization has been "particularly attentive to the developments in the international campaign to win freedom on parole for Mark Curtis." He explains that they continue to support the request that Curtis be granted parole as soon as possible.
Political persecution
"I am urging you to grant parole to Mark Curtis without
further delay," wrote Dion Martin, regional organizer of the
National Distribution Union in the Central Region of New
Zealand. "It is becoming obvious to international observes
like myself that this delay amounts to nothing short of
political persecution."
"Having studied the facts of the case I am convinced of the innocence of Mark Curtis and believe that justice demands his immediate release," wrote Maurice Quinlivan, coordinator of London Saoirse, an international organization fighting for the release of Irish political prisoners. "I do hope you will look favourably on my plea and grant Mark Curtis immediate parole."
Activists in Iowa and across the United States also continue to send letters to the board.
"I have followed Mark Curtis' case for over a year now," wrote Juan Estrada, vice-president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1149 in Perry, Iowa, and president of the Perry League of United Latin American Citizens. "I became interested in his case when I saw how he was beaten by the cops and when I learned that he was a union activist in a meat packing plant and had spoken out in defense of the rights of immigrant workers at a meeting in protest of a raid by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
"He has certainly been kept in jail and denied parole as punishment for his political views," Estrada continued. "Any non-political person with a similar record in prison would have been paroled by now. Please! Do the right thing now. Parole Mark Curtis."
Roxanne Gould, an activist in the fight for justice against the police murder of Kimberly Frazier in Sioux City, Iowa, wrote, "Obviously, Mark Curtis has been seen as a threat for some time by those entities who support the status quo, such as the FBI, for his political activities around the civil war in El Salvador, the management at Swift's meatpacking plant, and the Des Moines Police Department for his socialist beliefs and activities, particularly around immigrants' rights."
On September 22 Richard Trujillo, vice-president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 in San Jose, California, forwarded a petition signed by 48 delegates and guests who attended the 51st international convention of the union in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"The case of union brother Mark Curtis has prompted our interest and serious concern. We respectfully submit, brother Curtis should be paroled immediately. He has definitely earned it," the petition stated.
The defense committee is continuing to gather letters to present to the board until October 17, when the parole board is planning to meet and decide whether to grant Curtis a hearing this year.
Letters can be addressed to the Iowa State Board of Parole and sent to the Mark Curtis Defense Committee, P.O. Box 1048, Des Moines, Iowa 50311, for delivery.