Haitian priest who helped immigrants dies in Miami

MIAMI (AP) -- An attorney for the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste says the beloved and influential Haitian priest, who fought for immigrant rights in the U.S., has died.

Immigration attorney Ira Kurzban said the 62-year-old Jean-Juste died Wednesday afternoon in a Miami area hospital. The Catholic priest suffered from leukemia but the cause of death was not immediately clear.

Jean-Juste founded the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami in the late 1970s. He later returned to Haiti and spoke out against a coup that forced then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office. He was arrested in 2005 on what international human rights groups called politically motivated charges, before eventually being released for medical treatment in the U.S. All charges against him were later dropped.

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