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Fr. Gerry was granted a provisional release, which requires him to return to Haiti after the treatment to face the charges still pending against him. The current charges against him are as baseless as the other charges which have been dismissed. Fr. Gerry's lawyers at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) have filed an appeal, asking for the charges to be dismissed. The appeals court can rule on the appeal without Fr. Gerry's presence, so it is possible that the case will be dismissed without requiring him to return to court. If he is forced to return to court, the BAI lawyers will continue to fight the charges.

In the meantime, Fr. Gerry will be relatively safe, and will have his leukemia treated. Doctors who have examined him are hopeful that his disease is at a stage where it can be successfully treated, but they cannot be certain without more tests.

Today's victory proves the Haitian proverb, "men anpil, chay pa lou": many hands makes the load light. This mobilization has been by far the strongest and most persistent Haiti advocacy effort in the ten years that I have been involved in Haiti work. Everyone who called, faxed, wrote or emailed Haitian and US officials, everyone who signed a petition, everyone who forwarded information about Fr. Gerry to their church, their friends, and their family, should be proud. Close to a dozen human rights groups, over 50 members of the US Congress, and hundreds of religious, political and human rights leaders from all over the world joined together to make this moment possible.

Together we demonstrated that the world does care, that justice is possible, and that collective action does work. No small accomplishment.

Fr. Gerry said in a letter from prison on Friday: "understand that I wish you all to extend your support not only to me but to as many political prisoners as possible wherever on planet earth. Probably, you are aware that there are quite a number of political prisoners around the world. Think of them and keep them in your hearts. I am very grateful to Amnesty International and to all of you for helping fight for the human rights of all political prisoners, here in Haiti and across the world. Let's keep the momentum on for justice, peace, love, and sharing to prevail all over the world as God wants it.

Fortunately asylum is the one thing we do not need to worry about right now for Fr. Gerry. He is a legal resident of the U.S., so under US law he can stay as long as he wants, unless he is deported for criminal activity or extradited, neither of which is likely.

Fr. Gerry has said that he wants to return to Haiti to clear his name. I have no doubt that he would do so, even if his lawyers advised him that it was too dangerous. We are hoping to make that unnecessary, by convincing the court of appeals to dismiss the baseless charges.

There is a broader effort to stop all deportations to Haiti, based on the conditions you mentioned in your blog. For more on that, see Motion to Stop Haitian Deportations on our website.