Hope Rising As First International Delegation Set To Arrive Cape Verde Over Alex Saab Case

All is set for the first International Solidarity Committee emergency delegation to arrive in Cape Verde to evaluate the flagrant violation of diplomatic immunity of Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab, and discuss the humanitarian importance of his role in his embattled country.

The humanitarian committee led by famous Cape Verde religious leader, Bishop Felipe Teixeira, is part of an ongoing international solidarity campaign to secure the release of Saab and prevent his extradition to the United States.

Also on the delegation is foremost Cape Verde politician, Pericles Tavares; Human rights activists, Sara Flounders of International Action Center and Roger Harris of Task Force on the Americas.

Saab’s arrest, during a stop over on his way to Iran in June last year, was based on the request of the Donald Trump led United States government over allegations of money laundering, a move the Venezuelan government faulted with claims that the businessman is its special envoy on a humanitarian mission.

The Venezuelan government claimed that before his arrest, Saab had been on a mission to get food and medical supplies in Iran, stopping over in Cape Verde where he was arrested by security operatives.

Earlier, the committee had launched
an international petition calling on US President Joe Biden, Cape Verdean
Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva, and President Jorge Carlos Fonseca
to release Saab and put a stop on the illegal extradition process.

The petition has been signed by thousands, including former UN special rapporteur on human rights, Alfred de Zayas; Peace activist, Medea Benjamin; Intellectual, Noam Chomsky; Senior peace organizer, Al Marde; Historian and journalist, Vijay Prashad and Max Blumenthal.

Others are: Joe Lombardo of United National Antiwar Coalition; Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza of Orinoco Tribune; Paul Liem of the Korean Policy Institute; Ajamu Baraka of the Black Alliance for Peace, among other renowned attorneys in the US, Canada, and Venezuela

CityMirrorNews reports that Alex Saab’s detention has attracted international attention over multiple allegations of external pressures. The legal tussle in the case has been prolonged for a long period of time.