US activist barred from leaving country

LIMA (AP):

Lawyers representing paroled American activist Lori Berenson say Peru's government abused its authority by barring her and her 31-month-old son from leaving the country to spend the holidays in New York City.

"Administratively, you can't block a court order," Anibal Apari said after Berenson told The Associated Press (AP) that she and her son Salvador were prevented from boarding a flight last Friday night despite being granted permission in court.

"They didn't let me leave and they're putting out this version that I arrived late," she said in a brief phone conversation.

Local media had initially reported, citing unnamed airport officials, that Berenson arrived late for the flight. But video taken by a local TV channel showed her pacing nervously in front the Continental Airlines ticket counter and talking with an agent more than an hour before the flight left.

"An abuse of authority has been committed," Apari told the AP.

Apari, who is Salvador's father but is separated from Berenson, blamed the interior ministry directly and said no official explanation had been provided.

Exit order needed

He said Berenson presented the document issued by the judiciary authorising her departure to migration officials at the airport but they demanded an additional document they referred to as "an exit order".

"It doesn't exist. They made it up," he said of the purported document.

Berenson, 42, was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding the Tupac Amaru leftist rebel group.

Arrested in 1995, the former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student was accused of helping the rebels plan an armed take-over of Congress, an attack that never happened.

A military court convicted her the following year and sentenced her to life in prison for sedition. After the US government pressured Peruvian officials, she was retried in civil courts in 2001 and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.

A three-judge appeals court had given her permission to leave the country beginning Friday with the stipulation she return by January 11.

The panel had overturned a lower-court judge's initial refusal in October.