{"id":116911,"date":"2021-04-11T19:56:58","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T19:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humanrightsdefenders.blog\/?p=20069"},"modified":"2021-04-11T19:56:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T19:56:58","slug":"ramsey-clark-us-attorney-general-and-civil-rights-activist-dies-at-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/11\/ramsey-clark-us-attorney-general-and-civil-rights-activist-dies-at-93\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramsey Clark, US attorney general and civil rights activist dies at 93"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ramsey Clark,<\/strong><\/span> who was attorney general in the Johnson administration before becoming an outspoken activist for unpopular causes and a harsh critic of US<\/strong> policy, has died. He was 93. see: https:\/\/www.trueheroesfilms.org\/thedigest\/laureates\/6790030F-0B3B-2518-90DF-DD16787FCA9F<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After serving in President Lyndon B Johnson\u2019s cabinet in 1967 and 1968, Clark set up a private law practice in New York in which he championed civil rights, fought racism and the death penalty and represented declared foes of the US including former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. He also defended former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe progressive legal community has lost its elder dean and statesman,<\/em>\u201d civil rights attorney Ron Kuby said. \u201cOver many generations, Ramsey Clark was a principled voice, conscience and a fighter for civil and human rights<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark defended antiwar activists. In the court of public opinion, he charged the US with militarism and arrogance, starting with the Vietnam war and continuing with Grenada, Libya, Panama and the Gulf war. When Clark visited Iraq after Operation Desert Storm and returned to accuse the US of war crimes, Newsweek dubbed him the Jane Fonda of the Gulf <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark said he only wanted the US to live up to its ideals. \u201cIf you don\u2019t insist on your government obeying the law, then what right do you have to demand it of others?<\/em>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dallas-born Clark, who was in the US Marine corps in 1945 and 1946, moved his family to New York in 1970 and set up a pro bono-oriented practice. He said he and his partners were limiting their annual personal incomes to $50,000, a figure he did not always achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark\u2019s client list included such peace and disarmament activists as the Harrisburg seven and the Plowshares eight. Abroad, he represented dissidents in Iran, Chile, the Philippines and Taiwan, and skyjackers in the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was an advocate for Soviet and Syrian Jews but outraged many Jews over other clients. He defended a Nazi prison camp guard fighting extradition and the Palestine Liberation Organization in a lawsuit over the killing of a cruise ship passenger by hijackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe talk about civil liberties,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have the largest prison population per capita on Earth. The world\u2019s greatest jailer is the freest country on Earth?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2021\/apr\/11\/ramsey-clark-attorney-general-critic-us-policy-saddam-hussein-dies-aged-93<\/a><\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ramsey Clark, who was attorney general in the Johnson administration before becoming an outspoken activist for unpopular causes and a harsh critic of US policy, has died. He was 93. see: https:\/\/www.trueheroesfilms.org\/thedigest\/laureates\/6790030F-0B3B-2518-90DF-DD16787FCA9F After serving in President Lyndon B Johnson\u2019s cabinet in 1967 and 1968, Clark set up a private law practice in New York in [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":487,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1472,3117,1424,2753,1485,122,18021,18022,1435,631],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116912,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116911\/revisions\/116912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}