The ailing Native American rights activist has been in prison for nearly 50 years after the U.S. government lied to put him there.

Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Peltier, who was convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.

If there were ever a case that merited compassionate release, Leonard Peltier’s was it,” said Schatz, who serves as vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, in a statement. “President Biden did the right thing by showing this aging man in poor health mercy and allowing him to return home to spend whatever days he has remaining with his loved ones,

American Indian activist Leonard Peltier speaks during a 1999 interview at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan. President Joe Biden commuted to home confinement Peltier's life sentence after he spent most of his life in prison for the killing of two FBI agents in South Dakota in 1975.

The FBI had urged former President Joe Biden not to commute the life sentence of indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who has been in p

The president commuted Peltier over the objection of former FBI Director Christopher Wray. In a private letter sent to Biden earlier this month and obtained by The Associated Press, Wray reiterated his position that “Peltier is a remorseless killer,” and urged the president not to act.

President Biden said the decision will allow Peltier, an 80-year-old Native American activist, to fulfill the remainder of his sentence from home.

Free Leonard Peltier' will debut at Sundance next Monday, and filmmakers David France and Jesse Short Bull are back in the editing room.

President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents nearly 50 years ago in South Dakota. Peltier, 80, is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota.

President Joe Biden has sparked outrage after commuting the sentence of Leonard Peltier in a last-minute move before leaving office Monday.

"I'm gonna be so, so happy," said his sister, Betty Ann Peltier Solano. "It's gonna be one of the happiest days in my life. I'll give him a big hug and a kiss."