Five members of the U.S. House of Representatives have protested the prolonged and unjust detention of Jacobo Timmerman, an Argentine newspaper editor of international fame. Timmerman, editor of La Opinion, was arrested April 14, 1977, because of alleged links to subversives and a major financial swindle. Although a military tribunal cleared him of the allegations, he is still being detained.
In an address before the House last week, Rep. Silvio Conte (R. Mass.) called upon his colleagues to speak out against the Argentine government’s treatment of Timmerman and other such injustices. Conte urged the government of Argentina to allow Timmerman and his family to emigrate to Israel.
Joining Conte in his analysis of the Timmerman case as “a demonstration of human injustice that must be righted” were Reps. Benjamin Gilman (R. N.Y.), Frank Thompson (D.N.J.), Elizabeth Holtzman (D.N.Y.) and Theodore Weiss (D.N.Y.).
Rabbi Morton M. Rosenthal, director of the Latin American affairs department of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said that the appeal for Timmerman’s release by members of Congress reflects the American people’s concern about the denial of human rights anywhere in the world. “The appeal is particularly significant,” Rosenthal said, “because it suggests that Congressional supporters of the Videla government are reevaluating their positions.” He added that the prompt release of Timmerman “could do much to stop the deterioration of the image of the Videla government abroad.”
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