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Emergency demonstrations to free Mumia as case reaches pivotal point<br>
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 <br>
By: Crystal Kim <br><br>
Free Mumia! Free all political prisoners!<br><br>
<img src="http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr008../images/content/pagebuilder/15339.jpg" alt="mumia">
<br>
On May 17, there will be mass demonstrations in Philadelphia and San
Francisco demanding freedom for political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal. On
the same day, Mumia’s lawyers will present oral arguments to the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia for a new trial.
Ultimately, the court will make one of three decisions: grant the new
trial, reaffirm Mumia’s life sentence or reinstate his death penalty
sentence. <br>
<br>
<b>Framed for being a revolutionary<br>
</b> <br>
Mumia has been imprisoned for the last 26 years after being convicted for
the murder of a Philadelphia police officer. The truth is that he is a
political prisoner framed for his activism as a Black Panther and then as
a revolutionary journalist. <br>
<br>
In the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 1981, Mumia was driving a cab on
the streets of Philadelphia when he came upon cops beating his brother.
When he stopped to intervene, he was shot and wounded. A cop was also
shot and killed. <br>
<br>
Mumia’s fingerprints were never found on the gun that killed the cop.
Witnesses saw the shooter running away from the scene. Mumia himself has
always maintained his innocence. <br><br>
Mumia’s trial was drenched with racism. African-Americans were
systematically excluded from the jury panel. The judge, Albert Sabo, was
overheard by a court stenographer stating about the case, “I’m going to
help ‘em fry the nigger.”<br><br>
In July 1982, an overwhelmingly white jury convicted Mumia. During the
sentencing phase, prosecutors argued that his past membership in the
Black Panther party was evidence of premeditation. Mumia was sentenced to
death. <br><br>
At the age of 14, Mumia joined the Black Panther Party and, a year later,
was serving as lieutenant of information of the Philadelphia branch.
<br>
<br>
At the time of his arrest, he was the president of the Philadelphia
Association of Black Journalists. In 1978, Mumia covered the first police
attack on the MOVE organizationa primarily Black communal activist group
in West Philadelphia. Nine MOVE members were arrested and given long jail
terms in that attack. The MOVE organization was attacked again in 1985,
when Philadelphia police launched an all-out assault that included the
dropping of a bomb on the MOVE house and the firing of 10,000 rounds of
ammunition. Eleven MOVE family memberssix adults and five childrenwere
killed in the police attack. <br>
<br>
From inside prison walls, Mumia has continued his revolutionary
journalism. Through books, radio broadcasts, and especially essays, he
provides powerful political commentary that lays bare the machinations
and hypocrisy of the U.S. government. His eloquent statements have earned
him the title “Voice of the Voiceless.”<br>
<br>
Struggle to free Mumia<br>
<br>
Ceaseless mobilizations and protests have made Mumia an international
symbol of resistance to the racist and repressive U.S. state. <br>
<br>
In 2001, after months and years of protests led by Pam Africa of MOVE and
the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia, federal district
court judge William Yohn overturned Mumia’s death sentence. The district
attorney immediately appealed the decision and the matter is now before
the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Mumia remains on death row in the
State Correctional Institution at Greene, Pa. <br>
<br>
On May 17, as Mumia’s attorneys argue for a new trial at the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, a demonstration
demanding freedom for Mumia will take place in front of the courthouse. A
solidarity demonstration will be held in San Francisco. <br>
<br>
All progressives and revolutionaries must continue to struggle for
Mumia’s freedom. Mumia represents more than himself. He represents tens
of thousands of others behind barspredominantly from Black and Latino
oppressed communitieswho have been snatched off the street, and
wrongfully convicted by the so-called “justice” system. <br>
<br>
Free Mumia! Free all U.S. political prisoners!<br><br>
For information on the emergency demonstrations in support of Mumia,
<a href="http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr008News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6669">
<b>click here</a></b>. <br><br>
<br><br>
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