Legal Update

There are new developments regarding Mumia Abu-Jamal, the journalist who has been on Pennsylvania's death row for nearly three decades.

Federal Litigation:  A major step has been taken in the ongoing litigation to save my client's life. On July 28 we filed the Brief on Remand from the Supreme Court of the United States, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. (Abu-Jamal v. Beard, No. 01-9014.) It is attached. At stake is whether Mumia will be executed, or granted a new jury trial on the question of the death penalty. We previously won on this issue, but early this year the Supreme Court ordered that the case be again reviewed by the federal court.

Petition to President Barack Obama (Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Global Abolition of the Death Penalty):  Over 23,000 people from around the world have signed the petition, including three Nobel Prize winners. We need many more for this to benefit Mumia. Some of the signers are:  Desmond Tutu, South Africa (Nobel Peace Prize, 1984); Günter Grass, Germany (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1999); Elfriede Jelinek, Austria (Nobel Prize in Literature, 2004); Danielle Mitterrand, Paris (former First Lady of France); Fatima Bhutto, Pakistan (writer); Colin Firth (Academy Award Best-Actor nominee, 2010); Noam Chomsky, MIT (philosopher & author); Ed Asner (actor); Mike Farrell (actor); Robert Meeropol (son of Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953); 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.

How to Help:  For information on how to help, both by signing the Obama petition & donating funds, please go to Mumia's website  (http://www.MumiaLegalDefense.org).

Conclusion:  Mumia is in great danger. I will not stop until he is saved.

Yours very truly,Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan2088 Union Street, Suite 4San Francisco, California 94123-4117
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal 
http://www.MumiaLegalDefense.org

In support of Mumia: Puerto Rican Coalition Against the Death Penalty statement

August 5, 2010

Statement of the Puerto Rican Coalition Against the Death Penalty
regarding the Campaign for Mumia Abu Jamal
and the Fourth World Congress Against the Death Penalty

During the last weeks, some abolitionist organizations and activists have approached us to ask
for our position in the matter of Mumia Abu Jamal and the communication issued by some
abolitionist organizations in the United States regarding the role of his campaign in the Fourth
World Congress celebrated last February in Geneva.

The Puerto Rican Coalition Against the Death Penalty (PRCADP), as decided in a meeting of its
Steering Committee held on August 2, 2010, states as follows:

1. PRCADP endorses the campaign for Mumia Abu Jamal and recognizes the important role of Mumia in the abolitionist struggle;
   
2. PRCADP had no participation, neither was consulted, in the petition issued by US abolitionist organizations members of the Steering Committee of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (including the Puerto Rico Bar Association) about this concern; and
   
3. PRCADP strongly calls for unity, respect and solidarity between abolitionist organizations in the United States, as well as internationally.

Please direct any communication regarding this subject to Carmelo Campos Cruz, carmelocampos@yahoo.com.