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20-Feb-2005

US Conscientious Objector released from prison

by: PN

USA/Iraq: Camilo Mejia was released from prison. After seven years in the military and eight months in Iraq Camilo decided that he could not—in good conscience return. He applied for Conscientious Objector status, and was declared a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International. But the US military convicted him of desertion, and sent him to serve a one-year prison sentence in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. This happened the same day that Spc Jeremy Sivits was court-martialed and sentenced to a year in prison for abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, an order Camilo had refused to obey. (CodePink.org) On 18 February he published a moving, personal text with which he ends "To those who are still quiet, to those who continue to betray their conscience, to those who are not calling evil more clearly by its name, to those of us who are still not doing enough to refuse and resist, I say 'come forward.' I say 'free your minds."' Let us, collectively, free our minds, soften our hearts, comfort the wounded, put down our weapons, and reassert ourselves as human beings by putting an end to war." Use the link below to read his text in full.

Source: Free Camilo