This news from Haiti — a US medical doctor has confirmed a colleage’s initial diagnosis that imprisoned Haitian priest Gerard Jean-Juste has cancer. Based on an examination and blood sample he drew from Jean Juste last week, prominent Harvard physician Paul Farmer says Jean-Juste has chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He says the disease is not immediately fatal but can but can develop into a more virulent strain of cancer. Farmer told the Miami Herald: “Father Gerry’s in serious trouble if he isn’t released from jail for proper work-up in the States.’’

Jean-Juste was imprisoned in July on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Haitian journalist Jaques Roches — a murder that occurred while Jean-Juste was in Miami. He has not been formally charged. Before his arrest, Jean-Juste was considered to be the leading candidate to run for the ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Family Lavalas party in Haiti’s upcoming elections. Amnesty International has called him a “prisoner of conscience.” Haiti’s interim government has insisted Jean-Juste is in fine condition.