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Article w/photos at
<a href="http://www.phillyimc.org/en/washington-dc-protest-demands-%E2%80%9Cjustice-mumia%E2%80%9D">
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/washington-dc-protest-demands-%E2%80%9Cjustice-mumia%E2%80%9D</a>
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Washington Protest Demands “Justice for Mumia”<br>
Written Article by Betsey Piette<br>
Photos by Joe Piette<br><br>
Over 25,000 letters calling on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to
conduct a civil rights investigation of the 28 year conspiracy to execute
death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal were delivered to the doors
of the Department of Justice in Washington at the end of a spirited march
and rally on Nov. 12. <br><br>
The letter campaign took on world-wide momentum earlier this year after
Holder called for the dismissal of charges against Sen. Ted Stevens of
Alaska on the basis that prosecutors in that case withheld evidence
favorable to the defense. <br><br>
The letters to Holder on Mumia’s behalf make it clear that in addition to
a similar pattern of evidence being withheld in his case, courts on
local, state and federal levels have all violated their own rules to keep
Abu-Jamal on death row. The letters make a point that rules that
apply for a powerful, wealthy U.S. senator like Stevens should apply as
well to an African-American political activist.<br><br>
Despite a December 2001 ruling by Federal District Court Judge William
Yohn that converted the death sentence in Abu-Jamal’s case to life in
prison, he remains on death row and his life in jeopardy because of
efforts by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office to appeal Yohn’s
decision. Abu-Jamal has exhausted other federal appeals seeking a
new trial in his case.<br><br>
Meanwhile Seth Williams, who was elected earlier in November as the first
African-American to hold the position of Philadelphia District Attorney,
campaigned on the basis of support for reinstating the death sentence in
Abu-Jamal’s case.<br><br>
EVIDENCE WITHHELD<br><br>
Dr. Suzanne Ross from the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, who chaired the
press conference and indoor rally at the New York Avenue Presbyterian
Church, told how for 13 years the prosecution withheld evidence that a
driver’s license belonging to a passenger in the car driven by Mumia’s
brother William Cook was found in the pocket of slain police officer
Daniel Faulkner. <br><br>
Attorney Thomas Ruffin who outlined the legal issues in Abu-Jamal’s case
told of photos taken by independent photographer Pedro Polakoff who
arrived at the scene of the Dec. 9, 1981 shooting before the police
forensics team. These pictures exposed the lies told by key prosecution
witnesses during the trial. The prosecution, who had access to these
pictures, never shared information of their existence with the
defense.<br><br>
Ruffin noted that there was no proof that Abu-Jamal had his gun in hand
when he arrived on the scene or that he had fired it. The prosecution
never presented paraffin tests for gunshot residue. The prosecution
claimed that this standard test administered to a defendant’s hands in
cases when a gun was the murder weapon, had not been performed in
Abu-Jamal’s case. <br><br>
SOLIDARITY WITH MUSLIM POLITICAL PRISONERS<br><br>
One of the significant aspects of the press conference and protest was
the open solidarity with victims of the state’s COINTELPRO like campaign
that has targeted over 400 Muslims and recently resulted in FBI agents
gunning down and murdering Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah in Detroit on Oct.
31. <br><br>
Several family members and supporters of the Fort Dix Five from N.J.
attended the events. Leila Duka, the eleven year old daughter and
niece of three of these Muslim political prisoners, spoke at the press
conference. Two members of another Muslim prisoner,
Shifa , came from Atlanta to take part, and organizers with Project
Salam, an organization that works to draw attention to these and others
cases, attended from Albany.<br><br>
In an important act of solidarity plans for a separate protest at the
Justice Dept. on Nov.21 to demand that Holder investigate the growing
human rights violation of Muslims in the U.S.were changed in order to
join forces on Nov 12. At the press conference several speakers made
reference to the dangerous campaign growing against Muslims.<br><br>
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY<br><br>
The array of support for Mumia Abu-Jamal was impressive. Fignole
Saint-Cyr, President of the Autonomous Unions of Haiti delivered 986
signed letters collected on Abu-Jamal’s behalf and flew into Washington
to attend a press conference earlier in the day. Saint-Cyr stated
“Right now the world should observe American justice because the U.S. is
supposed to stand for democracy. Justice should not be
two-faced. Justice for Black people and for white people should be
equal.”<br><br>
Thousands of signed letters were also gathered in Germany where the city
council in Munich passed a resolution demanding justice and a new trial
for Mumia and the abolition of the death penalty in the U.S.
<br><br>
Letters were sent from S. African labor and political groups who had
engaged in their own fight to overturn the racist apartheid system and
recognized Abu-Jamal as a victim of racist injustice in the U.S.
Other letters came from Japan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Spain, and
throughout Latin America.<br><br>
From the U.S. there were letters and resolutions from unions, churches,
and national organizations including the NAACP and the National Lawyers
Guild, as well as progressive politicians like Cynthia McKinney and
Charles Rangel. Representatives of the NAACP, Amnesty
International, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, International
Action Center, National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights, and the
Riverside Church Prison Ministry spoke at the press conference.<br><br>
In closing the indoor event Pam Africa, with the MOVE organization and
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, stated
“Mumia was railroaded and the evidence is there. Mumia is not on
trial here –the movement is. It’s up to us to stand up for what’s
right.”<br><br>
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