Post by blackcrowheart on Dec 27, 2005 5:46:33 GMT -5
Group wants judge to rethink order to return Hawaiian artifacts
Posted: December 26, 2005
by: The Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) - A group is asking a federal judge to reconsider ordering them to retrieve Native Hawaiian artifacts from a Big Island Cave, saying it has new evidence that gives a ''full picture'' of the case.
Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei has refused to comply with a Sept. 7 order by U.S. District Judge David Ezra that instructs the group to give the 83 items back to Bishop Museum.
The order was reaffirmed in mid-December by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Hui Malama, which repatriates artifacts and human remains found around the world, claims to have buried the items - including a human-hair wig, containers with human teeth and carved wooden statuettes of family gods - in a cave after borrowing them from the museum in 2000.
Alan Murakami, an attorney with the Native Legal Hawaiian Corp. who is representing Hui Malama, said during a news conference Dec. 16 that the court needs to consider new evidence on the case.
Among the new material, the group said, is a statement from a masonry contractor who used concrete to seal the cave housing the artifacts.
According to the contractor, the cave could collapse if members of Hui Malama or others tried to enter it, though that argument has been rejected by the appellate court and also by Ezra.
Hui Malama also said a letter from the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation review committee stated the items should remain buried.
''There are good grounds for Judge Ezra to look at this information and really consider whether or not he truly had the complete picture,'' said Murakami.
The items, known as the Forbes Collection, were taken from the Kawaihae Caves on the Big Island in 1905. Hui Malama contends that the items were looted from the cave and illegally given to
the museum.
During the news conference, Hui Malama complained that the items' fate is being decided ''in a Western court'' that has no understanding of Hawaiian traditions.
Hui Malama is one of 13 Hawaiian groups with claims to the objects.
Sherry Broder, an attorney for the groups Na Lei Alii Kawananakoa and the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, which sued Hui Malama for the objects' return, said the courts are clear on what they want.
''They need to comply,'' Broder said. ''There are federal court orders against them. It is not what they wanted and I can understand that. They have lost.''
Ezra has scheduled a status hearing on the case for Dec. 20.
Posted: December 26, 2005
by: The Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) - A group is asking a federal judge to reconsider ordering them to retrieve Native Hawaiian artifacts from a Big Island Cave, saying it has new evidence that gives a ''full picture'' of the case.
Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei has refused to comply with a Sept. 7 order by U.S. District Judge David Ezra that instructs the group to give the 83 items back to Bishop Museum.
The order was reaffirmed in mid-December by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Hui Malama, which repatriates artifacts and human remains found around the world, claims to have buried the items - including a human-hair wig, containers with human teeth and carved wooden statuettes of family gods - in a cave after borrowing them from the museum in 2000.
Alan Murakami, an attorney with the Native Legal Hawaiian Corp. who is representing Hui Malama, said during a news conference Dec. 16 that the court needs to consider new evidence on the case.
Among the new material, the group said, is a statement from a masonry contractor who used concrete to seal the cave housing the artifacts.
According to the contractor, the cave could collapse if members of Hui Malama or others tried to enter it, though that argument has been rejected by the appellate court and also by Ezra.
Hui Malama also said a letter from the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation review committee stated the items should remain buried.
''There are good grounds for Judge Ezra to look at this information and really consider whether or not he truly had the complete picture,'' said Murakami.
The items, known as the Forbes Collection, were taken from the Kawaihae Caves on the Big Island in 1905. Hui Malama contends that the items were looted from the cave and illegally given to
the museum.
During the news conference, Hui Malama complained that the items' fate is being decided ''in a Western court'' that has no understanding of Hawaiian traditions.
Hui Malama is one of 13 Hawaiian groups with claims to the objects.
Sherry Broder, an attorney for the groups Na Lei Alii Kawananakoa and the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, which sued Hui Malama for the objects' return, said the courts are clear on what they want.
''They need to comply,'' Broder said. ''There are federal court orders against them. It is not what they wanted and I can understand that. They have lost.''
Ezra has scheduled a status hearing on the case for Dec. 20.