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First Woman Put on ‘Most Wanted Terrorist List’

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Aleteia - published on 05/03/13
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Joanne Chesimard fled to Cuba in 1979 after escaping from prison

Joanne Chesimard was a leader of the Black Liberation Army, which the FBI described as a revolutionary extremist organisation responsible for killing more than a dozen US police officers in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1977 she was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a New Jersey State Police trooper. In 1979 she escaped prison and fled to Cuba where she lives openly. BBC News has more on the story:
 
Joanne Chesimard, a member of the Black Liberation Army also known as Assata Shakur, fled to Cuba in 1979 after escaping from a prison where she was serving a life sentence for murder.
 
She is listed as a domestic terrorist on the FBI website, although she is not considered to pose a new threat.
 
There are rewards totalling $2m (£1.3m) for information leading to her capture.
 
Chesimard is thought still to be living in Cuba, which does not have an extradition treaty with the US and is believed to be providing shelter to an estimated 70 people sought by the US authorities.
 
However, in April the Cuban authorities returned a Florida couple who were accused of kidnapping their two young sons after losing a custody battle with the boys' grandparents.
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