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Vol. 75/No. 5      February 7, 2011

 
Haitian acquitted in Miami
‘terrorism’ case is deported
 
BY NAOMI CRAINE  
MIAMI—On January 20 the Department of Homeland Security deported Lygleson Lemorin, a permanent U.S. resident, to Haiti. Lemorin, a 35-year-old construction worker, was acquitted of all charges in the frame-up “terrorism” trial of the Liberty City Seven in 2007. Nevertheless, days after the trial he was thrown in an immigration jail under the USA Patriot Act, which allows authorities to deport permanent U.S. residents accused of terrorism even if they are found not guilty.

Lemorin was among a group of the first 27 Haitians to be deported since the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake devastated the country. The government says it is moving to deport about 350 Haitian nationals who have criminal convictions.

The case against Lemorin and six other Black construction workers, who became known as the Liberty City Seven, was based on the work and testimony of two agent provocateurs. The FBI-paid operatives posed as members of al-Qaeda and offered money to the seven if they would take a loyalty oath to al-Qaeda and join in a terrorist plot.

The defendants said that they had gone along with the FBI’s proposals in order to get the money offered them but that they never intended to take any action. The government had to admit that no weapons, plans for a terrorist act, or literature were found. After three trials, the government finally succeeded in convicting five of the defendants.

Lemorin, who has lived in the United States since childhood, is in the process of appealing his deportation order. His wife and three children remain in North Miami Beach.

“For Lemorin to be deported is totally unacceptable,” said Marleine Bastien, director of Haitian Women of Miami. “I think he should be brought back.”
 
 
Related articles:
A year after earthquake, deep crisis wracks Haiti  
 
 
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