WASHINGTON — Actor and human rights advocate Sean Penn urged Congress Monday to take a stand against the nearly two-year imprisonment of U.S. businessman Jacob Ostreicher, who has been held without formal charges for 20 months in Bolivia.
Organizers of the Dakar Rally, an off-road race, announced earlier this year that Bolivia will be part of a 2014 race for motorbikes. Penn said sponsors should boycott the event.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the chairman of a House subcommittee on human rights, drafted legislation known as Jacob’s Law to urge State Department involvement in preventing future U.S. assistance to foreign governments that deny due process to American citizens.
Penn says that the legislation, paired with continuous pressure surrounding the Dakar Rally sponsors, may free Ostreicher.