Haiti's leading human rights attorney, Mario Joseph, to visit San Francisco Bay Area for events with Brian Concannon and Ira Kurzban

Mario Joseph is Haiti’s most prominent human rights attorney. His clients include political prisoner Yvon Neptune, Haiti’s last constitutional Prime Minister, and Father Jean Juste, a Catholic priest and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience.

Brian Concannon spent nine years in Haiti, with the UN and the BAI, helping to construct a democratic justice system grounded on the rule of law. Along with Mario, he spearheaded the prosecution of the Raboteau massacre, Haiti’s best complex criminal case, hailed as a landmark in the global fight against impunity. Under his direction, IJDH has developed the most comprehensive documentation of human rights violations in Haiti, and its reports are a reference for lawyers, members of Congress, activists and journalists.

Ira Kurzban is one of America’s top immigration lawyers, recognized for his work with both large corporate clients and penniless refugees. He has argued major political asylum cases to the Supreme Court and his Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook is the definitive resource for immigration practitioners. Ira represented Haiti’s constitutional governments from 1991 to 2004, and is the ChaIRMAn of IJDH’s Board of Directors. A graduate of UC Berkeley Law School, he teaches at the University of Miami School of Law and Nova University School of Law.

This week the Haiti Action Committee will be hosting attorneys Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon as they speak at several events in the San Francisco Bay Area. These are opportunities to examine the justice system in Haiti and support the work of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux.

In March 2004, an unelected interim government replaced Haiti’s elected, constitutional authorities, and started waging a war against political opponents. Thousands have been killed, dozens of political prisoners fill the jails. Honest judges and prosecutors have been purged, replaced by political appointees willing to harass and jail dissidents with no justification.

Despite death threats, bullets shot through his office and carjackings, Haitian lawyer Mario Joseph continues to stand up for the rule of law in Haitian courts. He and his colleagues at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) represent political prisoners and victims of police violence- they are the only lawyers willing to take most human rights cases. The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), a US-based non-profit founded by attorneys Brian Concannon and Ira Kurzban, provides financial and legal support to the BAI, helps litigate cases in US and international courts, and disseminates information on human rights in Haiti.

Sunday, October 30 - 5:30 PM

U.S. Empire: the Case of Haiti with human rights attorneys
Brian Concannon and Mario Joseph

Dinner and Program to benefit Haitian human rights work of:

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Haiti Action Committee
Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC

Trinity United Methodist Church Berkeley

Click here for map : Click here for PDF flyer

Monday, October 31 - 5:OO PM (PST)

Flashpoints Radio < click here for info to stream broadcast over Internet
Mario Joseph, Brian Concannon and Ira Kurzban live broadcast. On for full hour of this broadcast. Get archive of this show on above link after the broadcast.

Tuesday, November 1 - 5:30-7:30 PM

Reception to honor and support three attorneys spearheading the fight for justice in Haiti
A fundraiser for Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.

Heller Ehrman LLP, 333 Bush Street, San Francisco,
Click here for map : Click here for the PDF Flyer

Wednesday, November 2

University of San Francisco Law School, 12:00-1:00

Hastings College of Law, San Francisco, 3:40-5:00

Thursday, November 3

Stanford University, 12:00 - 1:00

Haiti: the International Community's Dictatorship - 7:30 PM
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
Unitarian Universalist Church, Palo Alto
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