Saturday - February 13th from 12noon to 5:00pm
Abiding Truth Ministries Church at 5701 Washington Avenue (one block north from Baltimore Ave) in Philadelphia
Activists from Philadelphia, across the U.S. and around the globe will take part in an important video streaming, video conferencing and live teach-in to take up the next stage in the struggle to free Mumia Abu-Jamal. Updates will be provided on the latest legal developments including the Jan. 19 U.S. Supreme Court decision that opens the way for the reinstatement of the death sentence.
Information will be provided for those unfamiliar with this important case of the U.S.'s most prominent political prisoner and action proposals will be discussed including a global petition campaign calling on U.S. Attorney Eric Holder to open an investigation into civil rights violations in this case. Other proposals will discuss activities to reach out to and educate students and youth; and for events from April to July including teach-ins and protests.
For more information call 215-476-8812 or 215-724-1618 in Philadelphia or 212-330-8029 or 212-633-6646 in New York
www.freemumia.com
Monday, February 01, 2010
Petition for Mumia
From Robert R. Bryan, Mumia's attorney:
Mumia & I recently launched an online petition in 10 languages: Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Global Abolition of the Death Penalty. It is the only petition that Mumia & I have approved. There are already over 14,500 signers, mostly from outside the U.S. The petition will eventually be presented to President Barack Obama by a distinguished international delegation. The early signers include: Desmond Tutu, South Africa (Nobel Peace Prize); Günter Grass, Germany (Nobel Prize in Literature); the first signer, Danielle Mitterrand (former Fist Lady of France); Fatima Bhutto, Pakistan (writer); Noam Chomsky, MIT (philosopher & author); Ed Asner (actor; Mike Farrell (actor); Michael Radford (director of the Oscar winning film Il Postino); members of the European Parliament; members of the German Bundestag; European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights; Reporters Without Borders, Paris; Paris officials.
Please e-mail the petition link to all possible people, ideally to members of organizations. Its link is at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Mumialaw/petition.html The petition provides:
WE THE UNDERSIGNED petition you to speak out against the death penalty for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and all the men, women and children facing execution around the world. This ultimate form of punishment is unacceptable in a civilized society and undermines human dignity. (U.N. General Assembly, Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty, Resolution 62/149, Dec. 18, 2007; reaffirmed, Resolution 63/168, Dec. 18, 2008.)
Mr. Abu-Jamal, a renowned black journalist and author, has been on Pennsylvania’s death row for nearly three decades. Even though you do not have direct control over his fate as a state death-row inmate, we ask that you as a moral leader on the world stage call for a global moratorium on the death penalty in his and all capital cases. Mr. Abu-Jamal has become a global symbol, the “Voice of the Voiceless”, in the struggle against capital punishment and human-rights abuses. There are over 20,000 awaiting execution around the globe, with over 3,000 on death rows in the United States.
The 1982 trial of Mr. Abu-Jamal was tainted by racism, and occurred in Philadelphia which has a history of police corruption and discrimination. Amnesty International, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, “determined that numerous aspects of this case clearly failed to meet international standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings. [T]he interests of justice would best be served by the granting of a new trial to Mumia Abu-Jamal. The trial should fully comply with international standards of justice and should not allow for the reimposition of the death penalty.” (A Life In the Balance - The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, at 34, Amnesty Int’l, 2000; www. Amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/001/2000.)
[Note: This petition is approved by Mumia Abu-Jamal and his lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, San Francisco.]
As you know, the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued the long-awaited ruling in Mumia's case. It has been sent back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. The decision I won in 2008 for a new jury trial on the issue of the death penalty, was vacated & the federal court directed to reconsider the death penalty. My client is now much closer to being executed.
The link to Mumia's Legal Defense: http://www.MumiaLegalDefense.org
We will be grateful any assistance you can provide.
Cordially yours,
Robert
_______
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
http://www.MumiaLegalDefense.org
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia & I recently launched an online petition in 10 languages: Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Global Abolition of the Death Penalty. It is the only petition that Mumia & I have approved. There are already over 14,500 signers, mostly from outside the U.S. The petition will eventually be presented to President Barack Obama by a distinguished international delegation. The early signers include: Desmond Tutu, South Africa (Nobel Peace Prize); Günter Grass, Germany (Nobel Prize in Literature); the first signer, Danielle Mitterrand (former Fist Lady of France); Fatima Bhutto, Pakistan (writer); Noam Chomsky, MIT (philosopher & author); Ed Asner (actor; Mike Farrell (actor); Michael Radford (director of the Oscar winning film Il Postino); members of the European Parliament; members of the German Bundestag; European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights; Reporters Without Borders, Paris; Paris officials.
Please e-mail the petition link to all possible people, ideally to members of organizations. Its link is at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Mumialaw/petition.html The petition provides:
WE THE UNDERSIGNED petition you to speak out against the death penalty for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and all the men, women and children facing execution around the world. This ultimate form of punishment is unacceptable in a civilized society and undermines human dignity. (U.N. General Assembly, Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty, Resolution 62/149, Dec. 18, 2007; reaffirmed, Resolution 63/168, Dec. 18, 2008.)
Mr. Abu-Jamal, a renowned black journalist and author, has been on Pennsylvania’s death row for nearly three decades. Even though you do not have direct control over his fate as a state death-row inmate, we ask that you as a moral leader on the world stage call for a global moratorium on the death penalty in his and all capital cases. Mr. Abu-Jamal has become a global symbol, the “Voice of the Voiceless”, in the struggle against capital punishment and human-rights abuses. There are over 20,000 awaiting execution around the globe, with over 3,000 on death rows in the United States.
The 1982 trial of Mr. Abu-Jamal was tainted by racism, and occurred in Philadelphia which has a history of police corruption and discrimination. Amnesty International, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, “determined that numerous aspects of this case clearly failed to meet international standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings. [T]he interests of justice would best be served by the granting of a new trial to Mumia Abu-Jamal. The trial should fully comply with international standards of justice and should not allow for the reimposition of the death penalty.” (A Life In the Balance - The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, at 34, Amnesty Int’l, 2000; www. Amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/001/2000.)
[Note: This petition is approved by Mumia Abu-Jamal and his lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, San Francisco.]
As you know, the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued the long-awaited ruling in Mumia's case. It has been sent back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. The decision I won in 2008 for a new jury trial on the issue of the death penalty, was vacated & the federal court directed to reconsider the death penalty. My client is now much closer to being executed.
The link to Mumia's Legal Defense: http://www.MumiaLegalDefense.org
We will be grateful any assistance you can provide.
Cordially yours,
Robert
_______
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
http://www.MumiaLegalDefense.org
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
UPDATED LETTER TO ERIC HOLDER FOR MUMIA
From: Mumia NYC
US Department of Justice
Washington, DC
January 2010
To Eric Holder, US Attorney General:
We write to you with a sense of grave concern and outrage about the US Supreme Court's denial of a hearing to Mumia Abu-Jamal on the issue of racial bias in jury selection, that is, the "Batson issue". Inasmuch as there is no other court to which Abu-Jamal can appeal for justice, we turn to you for remedy of a 27- year history of gross violations of US constitutional law and international standards of justice as documented by Amnesty International and many other legal groups around the world.
We call on you and the Justice Department to immediately commence a civil rights investigation to examine the many examples of egregious and racist prosecutorial and judicial misconduct dating back to the original trial in 1982 and continuing through to the current inaction of the US Supreme Court. The statute of limitations should not be a factor in this case as there is very strong evidence of an ongoing conspiracy to deny Abu-Jamal his constitutional rights.
We are aware of the many differences that exist between the case of former Senator Ted Stevens and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Still, we note with great interest the actions you have taken with regard to Senator Stevens' conviction to assure that he not be denied his constitutional rights. You were specifically outraged by the fact that the prosecution withheld information critical to the defense's argument for acquittal, a violation clearly committed by the prosecution in Abu-Jamal's case. Mumia Abu-Jamal, though not a US senator of great wealth and power, is a Black man revered around the world for his courage, clarity, and commitment and deserves no less than Senator Stevens.
Cordially,
NAME
ADDRESS
E-MAIL
RETURN TO: FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION, PO BOX 16, COLLEGE STATION, NEW YORK, NY, 10030. For more info: 330-8029 www.freemumia.com
US Department of Justice
Washington, DC
January 2010
To Eric Holder, US Attorney General:
We write to you with a sense of grave concern and outrage about the US Supreme Court's denial of a hearing to Mumia Abu-Jamal on the issue of racial bias in jury selection, that is, the "Batson issue". Inasmuch as there is no other court to which Abu-Jamal can appeal for justice, we turn to you for remedy of a 27- year history of gross violations of US constitutional law and international standards of justice as documented by Amnesty International and many other legal groups around the world.
We call on you and the Justice Department to immediately commence a civil rights investigation to examine the many examples of egregious and racist prosecutorial and judicial misconduct dating back to the original trial in 1982 and continuing through to the current inaction of the US Supreme Court. The statute of limitations should not be a factor in this case as there is very strong evidence of an ongoing conspiracy to deny Abu-Jamal his constitutional rights.
We are aware of the many differences that exist between the case of former Senator Ted Stevens and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Still, we note with great interest the actions you have taken with regard to Senator Stevens' conviction to assure that he not be denied his constitutional rights. You were specifically outraged by the fact that the prosecution withheld information critical to the defense's argument for acquittal, a violation clearly committed by the prosecution in Abu-Jamal's case. Mumia Abu-Jamal, though not a US senator of great wealth and power, is a Black man revered around the world for his courage, clarity, and commitment and deserves no less than Senator Stevens.
Cordially,
NAME
ADDRESS
RETURN TO: FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION, PO BOX 16, COLLEGE STATION, NEW YORK, NY, 10030. For more info: 330-8029 www.freemumia.com
Call Attorney General Eric Holder Now! Demand a Civil Rights Investigation!!!
From: Mumia NYC
The January 19, 2010 the Supreme Court Action of Sending Mumia's Case Back to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Brings Mumia Closer to Execution Unless We Act Now!
U.S. Department of Justice Main Switchboard 202-514-2000
Public Comment Line 202-353-1555
U.S. Department of Justice E-Mail Address webmaster@usdoj.gov
We are continuing and escalating the Campaign for a Civil Rights Investigation to challenge the entire conspiracy to kill yet another Black revolutionary leader. As many of you have learned over the years, this conspiracy even precedes 1981 when the incident which led to Mumia's incarceration, conviction, and death sentence occurred. The FBI began its surveillance and targeting of Mumia when he was only 15 years old. At that time, Mumia had demonstrated against George Wallace, the arch-racist Alabama governor who played a strategic role in fighting the Civil Rights Movement in the South. We demand a civil rights investigation into the 28 plus years of violations of Mumia's rights in the court system, but also into that history of surveillance and targeting of Mumia when he was only a teenager. Mumia was part of the counterintelligence program that the infamous FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, initiated to "neutralize" potential Black leaders.
We urge people to continue to sign onto the petition on our website www.freemumia.com, or to download the letter which will follow and mail it to the address at the bottom, and now contact Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington, DC, by telephone and let him know that such an investigation is essential given that the courts all the way to the US Supreme Court have failed to provide any justice for Mumia.
For years we heard that the federal courts would overturn an obviously biased Pennsylvania judicial process. We have now seen the issue of racism in the trial and the state appeals process, as manifested both in the racial bias of the jury selection and in the judge's statement, "I'm going to help them fry the Nigger" ignored and denied by the federal courts all the way to the Supreme Court. And just recently, the Supreme Court even changed the standard for granting life in prison rather than execution (the Mills issue) in order to bring Mumia closer to execution. Join the movement for justice for Mumia! Call or e-mail the Justice Department immediately! Sign the petition online www.freemumia.com or sign the attached letter and mail it to the address on the bottom. And now, CALL ERIC HOLDER. LET'S FLOOD THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WITH CALLS DEMANDING A CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION.
Free Mumia and All Our Political Prisoners! Abolish the Death Penalty! Abolish the Prison Industrial Complex!
For more information on what you can do as part of the Campaign for a Civil Rights Investigation, leave your number on our hotline, 212 330-8029, come to our weekly Friday 6:30 PM meetings at St. Mary's Church, 521 West 126th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue), ORGANIZE SUPPORT!
The January 19, 2010 the Supreme Court Action of Sending Mumia's Case Back to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Brings Mumia Closer to Execution Unless We Act Now!
U.S. Department of Justice Main Switchboard 202-514-2000
Public Comment Line 202-353-1555
U.S. Department of Justice E-Mail Address webmaster@usdoj.gov
We are continuing and escalating the Campaign for a Civil Rights Investigation to challenge the entire conspiracy to kill yet another Black revolutionary leader. As many of you have learned over the years, this conspiracy even precedes 1981 when the incident which led to Mumia's incarceration, conviction, and death sentence occurred. The FBI began its surveillance and targeting of Mumia when he was only 15 years old. At that time, Mumia had demonstrated against George Wallace, the arch-racist Alabama governor who played a strategic role in fighting the Civil Rights Movement in the South. We demand a civil rights investigation into the 28 plus years of violations of Mumia's rights in the court system, but also into that history of surveillance and targeting of Mumia when he was only a teenager. Mumia was part of the counterintelligence program that the infamous FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, initiated to "neutralize" potential Black leaders.
We urge people to continue to sign onto the petition on our website www.freemumia.com, or to download the letter which will follow and mail it to the address at the bottom, and now contact Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington, DC, by telephone and let him know that such an investigation is essential given that the courts all the way to the US Supreme Court have failed to provide any justice for Mumia.
For years we heard that the federal courts would overturn an obviously biased Pennsylvania judicial process. We have now seen the issue of racism in the trial and the state appeals process, as manifested both in the racial bias of the jury selection and in the judge's statement, "I'm going to help them fry the Nigger" ignored and denied by the federal courts all the way to the Supreme Court. And just recently, the Supreme Court even changed the standard for granting life in prison rather than execution (the Mills issue) in order to bring Mumia closer to execution. Join the movement for justice for Mumia! Call or e-mail the Justice Department immediately! Sign the petition online www.freemumia.com or sign the attached letter and mail it to the address on the bottom. And now, CALL ERIC HOLDER. LET'S FLOOD THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WITH CALLS DEMANDING A CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION.
Free Mumia and All Our Political Prisoners! Abolish the Death Penalty! Abolish the Prison Industrial Complex!
For more information on what you can do as part of the Campaign for a Civil Rights Investigation, leave your number on our hotline, 212 330-8029, come to our weekly Friday 6:30 PM meetings at St. Mary's Church, 521 West 126th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue), ORGANIZE SUPPORT!
VIDEO FOOTAGE: Harlem Supporters Protest Supreme Court Ruling On Mumia!
VIDEO FOOTAGE COURTESY OF ALLTHINGSHARLEM.COM
Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal Take to the Streets the "Day After" in Response to Supreme Court Ruling; Critical Juncture in 28-Year-Old Death Penalty Case
VIDEO:
http://allthingsharlemproductions.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-video-nyc-mumia-supporters-rally-in.html
Speaker Include, Immortal Technique, Johanna Fernandez, Educators for Mumia, Daniel Meyers, National Laywers Guild (NYC), Orie Lumumba and others.
Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal Take to the Streets the "Day After" in Response to Supreme Court Ruling; Critical Juncture in 28-Year-Old Death Penalty Case
VIDEO:
http://allthingsharlemproductions.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-video-nyc-mumia-supporters-rally-in.html
Speaker Include, Immortal Technique, Johanna Fernandez, Educators for Mumia, Daniel Meyers, National Laywers Guild (NYC), Orie Lumumba and others.
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