Marie Haydée Beltrán Torres (born 7 June 1955) is a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1977 bombing of the Mobil Oil Building in Manhattan that killed one person and injured several others. Torres was linked by a fingerprint on a job application she filled at the Mobil building just before the bombing. She and her husband, Carlos Torres, were members of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), which claimed responsibility for the Mobil Oil bombing and numerous others. Supporters of Torres considered her a

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

. She was released on April 14, 2009.

Trial

At her trial, Beltrán Torres refused the appointment of counsel, demanded to represent herself and then informed the district court that she would neither present a defense nor participate in the proceedings. Declaring her status as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

, she stated that the court proceedings were "illegal" and that she had "committed no crime", and demanded that her case be tried before an international court. During the trial, she declined to the legal representation she was provided. She was convicted on May 22, 1980, of placing the bomb that killed the 26-year-old Charles Steinberg and injured seven others in the Mobil Oil Building bombing. Torres was one of a few FALN members who was not offered clemency by President Clinton. Clemency was offered only to 16 individuals, who had not been convicted, according to the White House counsel, of ''killing and maiming''. In August 1997, The

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York (state), New York, and Vermont, and it has ap ...

denied her appeal to vacate her sentence. Beltrán Torres claimed she was denied her constitutional rights under the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments.

Imprisonment

Beltrán Torres was one of the first subjects of an experimental prison unit in Alderson,

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. The

High Security Unit High Security Unit (HSU) was a "control" unit for women within the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. In the less than two years that the HSU was operational it became a focus of national and international concern over human rights ab ...

(HSU) was a kind of prison within a prison, occupying a completely isolated unit of the Federal Correctional Institute. Allegations were made that the unit was an experimental underground political prison that practiced isolation and

sensory deprivation Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing, while more complex devices can ...

. It was finally closed by a federal judge after two years of protest by religious and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

groups."Judge Bars U.S. From Isolating Prisoners for Political Beliefs"
''The New York Times'', 1988. Accessed 19 October 2008.

References and primary source

Marie Haydee Beltran Torres vs. United States of America (complete text)
Retrieved on 2008-11-19 {{DEFAULTSORT:Beltran Torres, Marie Haydee 1955 births Living people Puerto Rican rebels People from Arecibo, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican independence activists

Trial

Imprisonment

See also

References and primary source