LIMA, Peru – Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson said Saturday that she and her toddler son were not permitted to leave Peru despite being granted permission in court to spend the holidays in New York with her family.

“They didn’t let me leave and they’re putting out this version that I arrived late,” she said in a phone conversation with The Associated Press.

Her lawyer, Anibal Apari, accused the government of making an arbitrary political decision to halt her departure. He said it had provided no explanation for not allowing Berenson to board a New York-bound flight the previous night.

An Interior Ministry press offical reached by the AP said he could not offer a response.

Berenson, 42, was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding leftist rebels. She was given permission to leave the country Friday, with the stipulation that she return by Jan. 11.

She had been denied such permission in October, but an appeals court on Wednesday overturned the lower court’s ruling.

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Peru’s anti-terrorism prosecutor, Julio Galindo, told the AP that he had on Friday asked the court that approved Berenson’s leave to nullify the decision because it violated a law prohibiting paroled prisoners from leaving the country.

The prosecutor had opposed letting Berenson out of prison before her 20-year sentence for aiding terrorism ends in 2015, arguing that it would set a bad precedent for the early release of others convicted of terrorism-related crimes.

Her father, Mark Berenson, said his daughter had every intention of returning to Peru.

 


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