Free Abu-Jamal from the death penalty!

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I am not posting this to provoke a new discussion again, but here is
something that is getting more and more media attention in Norway. Many
are very disturbed about this case - so even the more should we, the
saints, raise our voices in protest! 

Mat 25:44 says:
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an
hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and
did not minister unto thee?                               ^^^^^^^^^^

OEystein
------

 Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

 Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335 
 SCI Greene 
 1040 E. Roy Furman Hwy 
 WAYNESBURG PA 15370 
 USA 
 mumia@igc.apc.org

                                            
 Concerned Family & Friends 
 of Mumia Abu-Jamal, 
 P.O. Box 19709, 
 Philadelphia PA 19143 
 USA 
 Tel + Fax: +1-215-476-8812


For more info:SPG's Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Page or check one of the other 
sites. 


Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of the United States' most prominent political 
prisoners. He is the only prisoner with a history of
political activity facing the death penalty.

Mumia began his career as a revolutionary journalist with the Black 
Panther Party, helping to set up the party's Philadelphia
branch and assuming the post of Minister of Information in that city.

After the government's COINTELPRO repression decimated the Black Panther 
Party, Abu-Jamal worked as a radio and
newspaper journalist. His goal was always to use his skills to expose 
police brutality and racism.

He gained prominence as one of the few Philadelphia journalists to seek 
out the truth of the 1978 police attack on the MOVE
organization. His refusal to parrot the police whitewash of the attack 
led then-Mayor Frank Rizzo to warn against his "new
breed of advocacy journalism."

By 1981, Abu-Jamal earned the position of the president of the 
Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia, and was
named one of the "81 people to watch in 1981" by Philadelphia magazine.

In December 1981, the police found their opportunity to frame Abu-Jamal. 
As he was driving a cab, he spotted a police officer
brutally beating his brother. When he rushed to the scene to protest, a 
struggle broke out. After the smoke cleared, the cop
was dead and Abu-Jamal was lying at the scene, shot and bleeding.

The cops and the city immediately tried to pin the cop's death on 
Abu-Jamal. Mumia declared his innocence from the outset. 

A RACIST TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE

The trial was a racist travesty of justice. No physical evidence was 
presented that linked Mumia to the killing, when it would
have been a routine task to fingerprint the gun and test his hands for 
gunpowder residue. 

Of the over 120 witnesses to the event, the prosecution called six. Only 
one of the six actually identified Mumia, a witness who
had legal trouble of her own and whose testimony did not correspond to 
the physical facts. The witnesses gave wildly different
descriptions of the shooter. Several said the shooter ran away--Abu-Jamal 
was found at the scene. 

Despite this flimsy case, the nearly all-white jury convicted Mumia. The 
prosecution then convinced the jury that his prior
membership in the Black Panther Party was evidence of his premeditation 
to kill a cop. This was all the jury needed to hear to
give him the death penalty. 

Even more outrageous than the lack of evidence against Abu-Jamal has been 
the role of the courts in upholding this racist
frame-up. 

For example, the prosecution told the jury they shouldn't worry about 
giving Abu-Jamal the death penalty, since he would have
"appeal after appeal." The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ruled that such 
an argument minimized the jury's responsibility in
sentencing, and was grounds for overturning death penalty sentences. 

After reversing this precedent and upholding Mumia Abu-Jamal's death 
sentence, the Supreme Court re-established the prior
precedent in the next case before it, just one year later. 

Recently, noted civil liberties attorney Leonard Weinglass has taken up 
Abu-Jamal's case and is attempting to win a new trial
for him. But many supporters believe that without a powerful mass 
movement in his defense, the courts cannot be relied on to
overturn the cops' political and racist frame-up. 

On on the first of june new governor Ridge signed the death-warrant for 
Mumia. Many, many people, from over the whole
world stood up against the planned execution and the death-penalty in 
general. Mumia's lawyer filed the post relief confiction
papers. Judge Albert Sabo, the same one who did the first trail, denied 
the Post Conviction Relief Appeal and turned down
Mumia Abu-Jamal's request for a new trial. Cuurenly the case is going to 
appeal at the State Supreme Court of PA. 

For recent information take a look at the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal page. 


Last Updated: Monday 25 September 1995