Filipino priest release plea by Leeds committee

Leeds Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission are participating in a campaign to release Philippine prisoners of conscience. The campaign has been mounted by Philippine support groups throughout the world. Pope John Paul's forthcoming visit to the Philippines is serving to highlight their efforts.
Prisoners of conscience are languishing in 60 detention centres and military camps throughout the country. Many of them have been detained without trial and according to the International Commission of Jurists, over 60,000 have been detained at one time or another since martial law was introduced in 1972.
The Leeds Justice and Peace Commission have contacted members of the hierarchy, religious orders and justice and peace groups throughout the country asking them to write urging the release of these prisoners.
Special mention is given to Fr Edicio de la Torre, a Divine Word Father who has been imprisoned without trial since December 1974. Er de la Torre is seen as a symbol of all those who are detained. The world wide campaign is gaining momentum and already 32 US Senators have appealed to the US Secretary of State. Mr Cyrus Vance, to seek the release of Fr de la Torre and his fellow prisoners. Leeds Justice and Peace Commission say the particular irony of his case lies in the fact that he has been in prison for so long that even if he had been brought to trial and convicted in 1975 he would now be due for release. He has never been tried and all those arrested with him have since been released.
Fr Jim O'Keeffe, Director of Pastoral Studies at Ushaw College, met Fr de le Torre last year. In his account of the meeting he says: "Ed has been in prison since December 13, 1974. He is still in Camp Diwa, and his trial has been postponed indefinitely. It is unlikely that he will ever come to trial, the one and only trial of a political detainee was so obviously rigged that it was a fiasco."
Leeds Justice and Peace Commission urge as many people as possible to write to the Philippine authorities urging the release of prisoners, especially to President Ferdinand Marcos, Malacanang Palace, Manila, Philippines.