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<h1
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style="font-size:20px;">The Campaign
To Bring Mumia Home</span></strong></h1>
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<div
style="margin-top:14pt;margin-bottom:14pt;"><font
size="-1"><strong><em><b>By Johanna
Fernandez</b></em></strong></font>
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<p>Dear Friends of Mumia,</p>
<p>I'm writing on behalf of the
Committee to Save Mumia
Abu-Jamal to ask if you might
help us in an emergency. The
Committee is the official
fundraising venue for Mumia’s
legal defense today. It has
been raising funds, quietly,
since Mumia was facing
execution in the ‘90s.</p>
<p>The Committee was initiated
and led by Frances Goldin,
Mumia’s literary agent. She is
93 years old today and
continues to be actively
involved in this work. Our
letters are reviewed and
signed by Angela Davis. Our
efforts focus exclusively on
Mumia’s legal defense, and on
the few occasions when we’ve
deemed that raising funds for
other projects was critical to
Mumia’s safety, our letters
have explicitly outlined our
thinking.</p>
<p>Since Mumia fell ill, we have
been behind on payments to
Mumia’s lead health attorney
and we need to raise funds –
quickly. Would you consider
making a donation and
identifying one or two others
who might do the same?</p>
<h3
style="color:#ed5e29;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:0;text-align:left;"><span
style="font-size:16px;"><span
style="font-family:georgia, times, times new roman, serif;"><strong>A
Word on Mumia’s
Condition</strong></span></span></h3>
<p>Although the symptoms of his
Hep C condition wax and wane,
he is much improved since his
near death crisis two years
ago. That moment was
harrowing, and having been in
the center of it, I can truly
tell you that the movement
saved his life.</p>
<p>Heidi Beghosian, former
executive director, National
Lawyers Guild, and I had been
concerned about Mumia’s
declining health two years
ago, and we happened to visit
Mumia the morning that he
collapsed in the infirmary. At
that moment, we called his
family, identified the
hospital to which he had been
taken, then drove there to
make our presence known.</p>
<h3
style="color:#ed5e29;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:0;text-align:left;">Since
Mumia fell ill, we have been
behind on payments to Mumia’s
lead health attorney and we
need to raise funds – quickly.
Would you consider making a
donation and identifying one
or two others who might do the
same?</h3>
<p>We alerted the movement, and
dozens joined us at the
hospital that evening. The
next day we held a press
conference at the hospital to
which surprisingly the
Philadelphia mainstream media
showed up. The conditions
under which Mumia was
hospitalized were horrendous
and we visited the hospital
daily.</p>
<p>After these dramatic days,
when we realized that Mumia
was in danger of dying, we
went into emergency mode for
several months. This included
identifying outside doctors to
visit him, taking out an ad in
the New York Times, mobilizing
the movement and testifying in
court about what we saw.</p>
<p>We even took Mumia’s hair
sample covertly to be tested
at an outside laboratory. It
was our doctor, not the
hospital physicians, who in
the end diagnosed Mumia with
Hep C and made the connection
that his terrible skin
condition was a symptom of
that disease. In this moment
of crisis, Pam Africa’s
experience was indispensable.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-size:16px;"><span
style="font-family:georgia, times, times new roman, serif;"><span
style="color:#ff3300;"><strong>The
Legal Situation and
Our Request for Funds</strong></span></span></span><br>
<br>
As you know, his attorneys,
primarily Bob Boyle, scored an
unprecedented legal victory in
Mumia’s Hep C health suit. On
Jan. 7, a federal judge,
Robert Mariani, in an
unprecedented decision,
ordered that Mumia be treated
with the 95 percent effective
cure rate antiviral medicines
within 21 days. He condemned
the barbarity of the DOC’s
(Department of Corrections’)
Hep C protocol, and his
opinion establishes the
groundwork for the treatment
of the 7,000 others with Hep C
in the Pennsylvania prisons.</p>
<p>The Pennsylvania DOC is
fighting this all the way to
hell. On the 10th day after
the ruling, right before the
Martin Luther King holiday,
the DOC attorneys filed a stay
and a notice of appeal in the
3rd Circuit District Court of
Appeals.</p>
<p>Our legal filings are
voluminous. Bob Boyle has been
working for two years at
reduced legal fees, and we are
behind on payments. He has
literally had to borrow money
to stay afloat. We’ve also put
in some personal funds, and
are sending out another appeal
to our members, but we need an
infusion of $25,000 in the
next week.</p>
<h3
style="color:#ed5e29;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:0;text-align:left;">His
attorneys, primarily Bob
Boyle, scored an unprecedented
legal victory in Mumia’s Hep C
health suit. The Pennsylvania
DOC is fighting this all the
way to hell.</h3>
<p>Thanking you in advance for
your consideration.</p>
<p>All the best,</p>
<p><em>Johanna Fernandez, Ph.D.</em></p>
<p><em>Johanna Fernandez, Ph.D.,
is a professor of history at
Baruch College (CUNY,)
coordinator of the Campaign
to Bring Mumia Home, member
of the Committee to Save
Mumia Abu Jamal, and writer
and producer of the
acclaimed film, “</em><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
style="color:#ed5e29;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;"
target="_blank"
href="http://bringmumiahome.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=41813959c5e8470c91faf3ab3&id=645e4b9765&e=f968fb2bce"><em>Justice
on Trial: The Case of
Mumia Abu-Jamal</em></a><em>.”
She can be reached at <font
color="#0000ff"><a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:jfernandez1202@gmail.com">jfernandez1202@gmail.com</a></font>.<br>
______________________________ ______________________________
____________</em><br>
</p>
<h3
style="color:#ed5e29;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:0;text-align:left;"><strong>Legal
Particulars</strong></h3>
<p>Federal Judge Robert Mariani
presided over Mumia’s health
suit. Judge Mariani granted
Mumia his claim of deliberate
indifference, meaning that
Mumia won the preliminary
injunction for immediate
treatment. The judge ordered
that a Pennsylvania Department
of Corrections (DOC) doctor
must see Mumia within 14 days
of his Jan. 7 ruling and
instructed that treatment
begin seven days after that –
in other words, within 21 days
of the ruling.</p>
<p>But on the 10th day after the
ruling, right before the
Martin Luther King holiday,
the DOC lawyers filed a
challenge to the judge’s
ruling. They filed “a stay,”
which essentially asked the
judge to halt all legal
actions and proceedings. The
DOC attorneys also filed a
separate notice of appeal that
made known their intention to
appeal the decision in the
Third Circuit Court of
Appeals, which is the court
immediately below the Supreme
Court.</p>
<p>Here are the different
scenarios that can emerge.</p>
<p>If Judge Mariani denies the
stay and upholds his original
decision, the DOC can seek a
stay from the 3rd Circuit
Court of Appeals. This would
happen in advance and
separately from the DOC’s full
appeal in that court. If the
3rd Circuit grants the stay,
the appeal process could take
two to three months, even if
“expedited.” If the 3rd
Circuit denies the DOC’s
request for a stay, Mumia
basically wins because it
would mean that the injunction
must be carried out, meaning
that MAJ gets the drugs.</p>
<p>If Judge Mariani grants the
DOC’s request for a stay,
Mumia’s attorneys can ask the
3rd Circuit to vacate
(overturn) the stay; however,
it would be unlikely that the
3rd Circuit would do so since
they would take Judge Mariani
granting the stay as an
indicator that he feels his
ruling would not withstand an
appeal. We then would have to
litigate the appeal in the 3rd
Circuit Court, again a two to
three month process.</p>
<h3
style="color:#ed5e29;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:0;text-align:left;"><strong>Profile
of the Attorneys Litigating
Mumia’s Health Suit</strong></h3>
<p>Bret Grote is a young
attorney and the founder of
the Abolitionist Law Center in
Pittsburgh. He was the only
lawyer willing to file a
preliminary injunction to get
Mumia immediate treatment
after he fell ill. All the
attorneys with whom we
consulted argued that the case
was impossible to litigate and
win. Shortly after Bret Grote
filed the motion, the movement
recruited Bob Boyle to join
Bret Grote.</p>
<p>Bob Boyle is one of the most
noted and accomplished
attorneys representing
political prisoners today. He
is comparable to Len Weinglass
in his political analysis of
these cases. Bob Boyle</p>
<ul>
<li>litigated the Lynne
Stewart case, which led to
her compassionate release;</li>
<li>litigated the case of
Black Panther Dhoruba Bin
Wahad and secured his
freedom;</li>
<li>secured the release of
Black Panther Marshall Eddie
Conway, who spent close to
43 years in prison;</li>
<li>overturned in appellate
court the 75-year sentence
of Mohammed Al-Moayad, who
was convicted of providing
material support to Hamas.</li>
</ul>
<h3
style="color:#ed5e29;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:0;text-align:left;"><strong>How
to Donate</strong></h3>
<p>Please mail your
tax-deductible check payable
to National Lawyers Guild. On
the memo line, be sure to
write: “For Mumia Abu-Jamal’s
Defense.”</p>
<p>Mail your check directly to
Johanna Fernandez, 158-18
Riverside Drive W., Apt.
6C-50, New York, New York
10032.</p>
<p>Please forward this email far
and wide and let’s make the
raising of $25,000 a reality.</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
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San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
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