Sat May 18 2013

Investigate the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
by Dr. Suzanne Ross (917) 584-2135 • Pam Africa (215) 476-8812
April 25, 2010

UPPORTERS REFUSE TO ACCEPT A “NO” FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ON CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION OF CASE OF DEATH ROW PRISONER, MUMIA ABU-JAMAL;
CITE “CONSPIRACY” TO DENY HIS RIGHTS; REPORT STRONG INTERNATIONAL AND US SUPPORT FOR CONTINUED CAMPAIGN IN THE FACE OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE STONEWALLING
For the second time in five months, supporters of Pennsylvania death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal will march on the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on Monday, April 26.

The march and rally will follow a press conference at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church to demand both a civil rights investigation and a meeting with Civil Rights Division Director, Thomas E. Perez, to explain his very questionable arguments for why he will not grant Abu-Jamal an investigation. There will be a delivery of the second installment of petitions, now totaling approximately 40,000. Some of the participants in the press conference will be: Mireille Fanon Mendes-France, Frantz Fanon Foundation and Parliamentary Collaborator for Deputy Patrick Braouezec, French National Assembly; Estela Vasquez, Executive Vice President of Local 1199-SEIU; Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, leader of the New Black Panther Party; and Sala Nolan, Director of the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries.

Using the Department of Justice’s language in explaining its jurisdiction, the US and international activists and spokespeople for different movements around the world, assert that there has been “a conspiracy” to silence Abu-Jamal’s voice and ultimately to execute him, despite extensive evidence of his innocence and the fact that he never had a fair trial or appeals process.

The campaign for a civil rights investigation began nearly a year ago following the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to consider Abu-Jamal claim that racist bias in the selection of his jury, what legal experts call the “Batson” issue, entitled him to a new trial. More recently, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a vote of 9-0, overturned a lower court ruling that set aside the death penalty for Mumia Abu-Jamal which now leaves him only two alternatives: life in prison without the possibility of parole or execution. It is the latter that the prosecution, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the media in Philadelphia continue to seek as they have since December 1981, when Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was killed and Abu-Jamal was gravely wounded.

Advocates cite a continuing “conspiracy” in the case that began long before 1981, when the FBI began tracking Abu-Jamal’s movements. Some 900 pages of those files, available at www.freemumia.com, existed prior to 1978 and document the surveillance of Abu-Jamal from the time he was 14 years old until he was 25 years old, when there was no question of a crime involved. They state that Abu-Jamal was subjected to the same kind of targeting that the FBI and Police conducted before the assassination of Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, and others Black gifted organizers who were sharply critical of this government. Abu-Jamal, supporters say, was railroaded through a deeply flawed trial—complete with suppressed evidence that pointed to his innocence, perjury, witness intimidation, and an admittedly biased judge—and then a long string of twisted appellate court rulings.

The campaign to have the Department of Justice conduct a full civil rights investigation has gathered the support of thousands from around the globe from celebrated individuals such as Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Ruby Dee, Angela Davis, Alice Walker, Professor Henry “Skip” Gates, and former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, to international unions representing millions of workers, representatives of major religious denominations, to ordinary citizens from the US to South Africa, to Germany, and from very prestigious legal groups such as the Center for Constitutional Rights. Each week the list grows longer. In addition legal experts have recently joined the effort to prepare the strongest arguments possible to argue for the urgency of a civil rights investigation lest an innocent man be executed or languish in prison for the rest of his life. Already an injustice of 28 years in prison has been imposed on Abu-Jamal.

To date, the Justice Department has not agreed to sit down with Abu-Jamal’s support committee of activists and attorneys. The campaign organizers, however, remain committed to staying the course, and say they have extensive plans for continuing the campaign. Pam Africa of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an electrifying leader of the international grassroots movement to free Abu-Jamal, says, “This campaign is one of direct action. It is not a one-shot demonstration or about waiting for Eric Holder or Thomas Perez to grant us what is just. We will be out there relentlessly fighting for what the Department of Justice is mandated to do – guarantee the civil rights of every individual, not just wealthy and powerful Senators such as Ted Stevens”.