From: Hans Bennett
================
Hi folks, this is the one I've been working on all night, responding to yesterday's awful US Supreme Court News. Please be sure and go to this link to get all of the embedded stuff, including links to the new flyers I made, so folks with photo-copy resources can help get the word out in their own communities. This is a crucial time, so anything you can do to help spread the word, will go a long way! Here is the master link:
http://abu-jamal-news.com/article?name=hbpcra
All Best,
Hans
Abu-Jamal-News.com
** Please download our two new info flyers just completed: 1) A condensed legal update, and 2) A flyer summarizing the key points from The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal! **
By Hans Bennett
(Abu-Jamal-News.com)
On Monday, Oct.6, in a ruling unrelated to death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal's upcoming appeal of the recent Third Circuit decision denying a new guilt-phase trial, the US Supreme Court rejected his Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) appeal, which was asking the courts to hear newly discovered testimony from Kenneth Pate and Yvette Williams (read the affidavits here). The appeal had been filed in July, after it was rejected by the PA Supreme Court in Feb, 2008, and in 2005 by Philadelphia Judge Pamela Dembe.
Upset by Monday's news, Dr. Suzanne Ross, Co-Chair of The NYC Free Mumia Coalition argued: "The courts, from Judge Albert Sabo's outrageously biased rulings and court decorum; to Pamela Dembe's ridiculous rulings, including her disregard of the significance of Sabo's infamous 'I'm going to help them fry the Nigger' remark; to the PA Supreme Court's rubber stamping of Sabo's and Dembe's rulings; to Judge William Yohn's refusal to examine the question of innocence, to the Third Circuit's 'topsy turvy' violations of their own precedents in considering the Batson issue so that they could deny Abu-Jamal the trial he is entitled to, have all shown a callous disregard for the life of a man who is obviously innocent, and have done everything in their power to assure that Mumia Abu-Jamal will never see the light of day from other than the twisted prism of a prison. This last decision is yet another outrageous chapter in a 27 year history of a conspiracy to imprison, kill, and silence Mumia Abu-Jamal."
With the court's PCRA rejection, Abu-Jamal's upcoming appeal to the US Supreme Court of the Third Circuit decision (the filing of this appeal is due by Oct. 20 unless a 60 day extension is requested) is now more important than ever, because this is now his last chance for a new guilt-phase trial. Fortunately, this crucial moment for Abu-Jamal coincides with two new media projects that expose injustice in his case that extends well beyond the narrow issues being considered by the courts: the British film In Prison My Whole Life and the book The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal, by J. Patrick O'Connor.
Both projects merit extensive coverage from the mainstream media, and are being utilized as tools by Abu-Jamal's supporters for both education and fighting what they see as a long history of mainstream media bias against Abu-Jamal. Supporters are currently organizing for a major demonstration in Philadelphia on December 6, organized in solidarity with other actions around the world.
The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal, by J. Patrick O'Connor
Acclaimed historian Howard Zinn has written that "J. Patrick O'Connor's new book, The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal is based on a meticulous review of 12,000 pages of court transcripts, legal briefs, police records and an exhaustive examination of the constitutional violations perpetrated by America's criminal 'justice' system. His evidence makes a powerful case that Mumia Abu-Jamal should be granted a new trial, and having been cruelly kept on death row for 26 years, he should be immediately freed."
In Framing, O'Connor criticizes the media, who he says "bought into the prosecution's story line early on and has never been able to see this case for what it is: a framing of an innocent and peace loving man." As explained in a recent interview, O'Connor argues that the actual shooter was a man named Kenneth Freeman, who was Billy Cook's business partner and who O'Connor argues was a passenger in Cook's car when it was pulled over by Officer Daniel Faulkner the morning of Dec. 9, 1981. Freeman was mysteriously found dead in a Northeast lot (reportedly naked, gagged, hand-cuffed, and with a drug needle in his arm) the day after the infamous May 13, 1985 police bombing of MOVE, leading O'Connor to conclude that "the timing and modus operandi of the abduction and killing alone suggest an extreme act of police vengeance."
Despite the importance of Framing, and a timely NY Times article that spotlighted the book's release in May, the mainstream media has virtually ignored O'Connor's book. Supporters of Abu-Jamal are fighting back against this media blackout, and on October 3, author J. Patrick O'Connor began a week-long book tour in the SF Bay Area, which followed his tour of New York City and Philadelphia in June. Click here for a compilation of radio shows, interviews with, and articles by & about O'Connor--including this video interview at Philadelphia City Hall on the day of the book's release (WATCH PARTS 1, 2, and 3).
The Sundance Channel Acquires New British Film About Mumia
Scheduled to premiere on The Sundance Channel on December 8, 2008, the new film, titled In Prison My Whole Life has been officially endorsed by Amnesty International, who in 2000 published a major report calling for a new trial. Amnesty UK Director Kate Allen said: "It's shocking that the US justice system has repeatedly failed to address the appalling violation of Mumia Abu-Jamal's fundamental fair trial rights..We hope that the film's viewers will back our call for a fair retrial for Mumia Abu-Jamal--and also support our work opposing the death penalty in the US and around the world."
In Prison character and filmmaker, William Francome was born on the night of Mumia's 1981 arrest. Responding to the Sundance acquisition, he said: "Mumia's case and the issues surrounding it are still highly important and need to be analyzed..It is so important that a trusted high quality broadcaster like Sundance has taken up the film, putting it at the fingertips of millions of Americans."
On October 10, there is a special press conference, reception, and screening of In Prison at Theatre Pathe Vaise in Lyon, France, featuring the former French First Lady, Madame Daniele Mitterrand, producers Colin Firth & Livia Giuggioli-Firth, Abu-Jamal's lead attorney Robert R. Bryan, representatives of Amnesty International, and a message from Mumia to be read to the audience. In Prison has already been shown at many prestigious film festivals including The Times BFI 51st London Film Festival and Rome's International Film Festival in 2007, The Sundance Film Festival, in January, 2008, and this September at NYC's Urbanworld Film Festival, and at the CR10 prison abolitionist conference in Oakland, CA.
An October, 2007 interview with Francome, and a September, 2008 interview with co-producer Livia Giuggioli Firth, revealed that In Prison features 1) the first interview ever with Billy Cook, and 2) a presentation of the crime scene photos recently aired on NBC's Today Show, featuring an interview with the photographer Pedro Polakoff, and the German author that recently discovered them, Michael Schiffmann.
Mumia's brother Billy Cook was at the scene on Dec. 9, 1981, after Officer Faulkner pulled Cook's VW car over. Interviewed in the film, Cook denies the accusation that he struck Faulkner in the face, from which he allegedly instigated the documented beating by Faulkner. Cook shows In Prison's interviewers the scars from the beating, which are still on his head today. "They arrested me for assaulting him, but I never laid a hand on him. I was only trying to protect myself," says Cook, who also reports that before he was beaten bloody with the police flashlight, Faulkner "was kind of vulgar and nasty. And if I remember correctly he threw a slur in.. 'Nigger' get back in the car."
In Prison features the first interview with press photographer Pedro Polakoff, along with German author, Dr. Michael Schiffmann (University of Heidelberg), who discovered Polakoff's photos (never seen by the 1982 jury) and featured them in his new German book Race Against Death, published in Fall, 2006. William Francome argues that the photos "were purposefully ignored by the prosecution and the DA's Office", because the DA knew that the photographs "could have done their case some damage in court." (For more on the photos, go to Journalists for Mumia's website: Abu-Jamal-News.com)
Appealing The Third Circuit Ruling to The US Supreme Court
On July 22, the Third Circuit Court ruled against Mumia's en banc appeal requesting that the entire court hear his appeal, instead of just the three-judge panel of Thomas Ambro, Anthony Scirica, and Robert Cowen, who previously ruled against a new guilt-phase trial on March 27, 2008. Ruling against three different appeal issues, the court refused to grant either a new guilt-phase trial or a preliminary hearing that could have led to a new guilt-phase trial for Mumia. However, on the issue of racist jury selection, also known as the Batson claim, the three judge panel of split 2-1, with Ambro dissenting.
The 1986 Batson v. Kentucky ruling established the right to a new trial if jurors were excluded on the basis of race. At the 1982 trial Prosecutor McGill used 10 of his 15 peremptory strikes to remove otherwise acceptable black jurors, yet the court ruled that there was not even the appearance of discrimination. In his dissenting opinion, Ambro wrote that the denial of a preliminary Batson hearing "goes against the grain of our prior actions…I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents."
Mumia will be filing an appeal of this ruling with the US Supreme Court by the deadline of Oct. 20, unless he applies for a 60 day extension. The District Attorney has the same Oct. 20 deadline to appeal the Third Circuit ruling regarding the 'overturning' of the death sentence, if they choose to do so.
On March 27, the three-judge panel unanimously affirmed Federal District Court Judge William Yohn's 2001 decision overturning the death sentence. Citing the 1988Mills v. Maryland precedent, Yohn had ruled that sentencing forms used by jurors and Judge Sabo's instructions to the jury were potentially confusing, and jurors could have mistakenly believed that they had to unanimously agree on any mitigating circumstances in order to consider them as weighing against a death sentence.
Now, if the DA wants to re-instate the death sentence, the DA must call for a new penalty-phase jury trial where new evidence of Mumia's innocence can be presented. However, the jury can only choose between a sentence of life in prison without parole or a death sentence.
Or, the DA can appeal this ruling to the US Supreme Court by the deadline of Oct. 20. The DA has not stated whether or not it will: (1) appeal this to the US Supreme Court, or (2) accept the Third Circuit ruling and either request a new sentencing trial or accept life in prison without the chance of parole.
US Supreme Court Rejects Mumia Abu-Jamal's PCRA Appeal
On Monday, October 6 (in a ruling unrelated to the above-mentioned appeal of the 3rd Circuit ruling), the US Supreme Court rejected Mumia's Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) appeal, which was asking the courts to hear newly discovered testimony from Kenneth Pate and Yvette Williams (read the affidavits here). The appeal had been filed in July, after it was rejected by the PA Supreme Court in Feb, 2008, and in 2005 by Philadelphia Judge Pamela Dembe.
Philadelphia journalist Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time, an independent investigation into the Abu-Jamal case. Responding on Monday to the US Supreme Court ruling he said: "One of the travesties that is part of American death penalty jurisprudence, and that contributes to the inescapable conclusion that it can never be fair or foolproof, is that the bar for getting a new hearing based upon new evidence is set almost impossibly high. So for example, even though we have in these two affidavits evidence that a key witness at trial to an alleged confession had been pressured or lured into lying on the stand, and that a second alleged eye-witness had been pressured and induced into claiming she was a witness when she actually wasn't one, the US Supreme Court rules that it will not even review the matter or order a lower court to do so. And so it is possible that Mumia Abu-Jamal, a man who could in fact be innocent of murder, will either die or be left to rot in jail for the rest of his life while he could be the victim of police witness tampering and prosecutorial misconduct."
Another Philadelphia journalist was dismayed by Monday's ruling, and hopes it is not an indication of how the court will respond to the upcoming, separate appeal of the 3rd Circuit ruling. Having covered this story since 1981, Temple University professor and Philadelphia Tribune columnist Linn Washington, Jr. argues that "the Williams revelation by itself at least deserves a formal hearing..as does the jury selection discrimination issue. However, state and federal courts continue with the pattern in the Abu-Jamal case of circling the wagons to shut-out any evidence exposing the major flaws of the 1982 trial and that jury's guilty verdict."
Let's take a closer look at these two rejected affidavits that shed light on the broader issue of fabricated evidence used to convict Mumia Abu-Jamal.
KENNETH PATE'S AFFIDAVIT AND THE FAKE 'HOSPITAL CONFESSION'
Kenneth Pate is the step-brother of hospital security guard Priscilla Durham, who testified at the 1982 trial to hearing Abu-Jamal confess at the hospital, to shooting Officer Daniel Faulkner. Pate now states in an April 18, 2003 affidavit that Durham confided to him during a telephone conversation "around the end of 1983 or the beginning of 1984" that she had actually lied about hearing the alleged hospital confession.
Pate states that Durham told him on the telephone that "Mumia was all bloody and the police were interfering with his treatment, saying 'let him die.' Priscilla said that the police told her that she was part of the 'brotherhood' of police since she was a security guard and that she had to stick with them and say that she heard Mumia say that he killed the police officer, when they brought Mumia in on a stretcher.''
Even before Pate's affidavit, Durham's account was very suspicious.
The alleged "hospital confession," where Mumia reportedly declared, "I shot the motherf***er and I hope the motherf***er dies," was first officially reported to police over two months later, by hospital guards Priscilla Durham and James LeGrand (Feb. 9, 1982), PO Gary Wakshul (Feb.11), PO Gary Bell (Feb.25), and PO Thomas M. Bray (March1).
Only two of these five witnesses were called by the DA: Priscilla Durham and Gary Bell (Faulkner's partner and "best friend").
Priscilla Durham and Gary Bell
Durham testified in 1982, and added for the very first time (not reported to the police on Feb.9), that she had reported the confession to her supervisor the next day, making a hand-written report. Neither her supervisor, nor the alleged handwritten statement were presented in court.
Instead, the DA sent an officer to the hospital, returning with a suspicious typed version. Sabo accepted the unsigned and unauthenticated paper despite both Durham's disavowal (because it was not hand-written), and the defense's protest that authorship and authenticity were unproven.
Gary Bell testified that his two month memory lapse resulted from him being so upset over the death of Faulkner, that he forgot to report it to police.
Gary Wakshul: 'the negro male made no comment.'
Police Officer Gary Wakshul was not a prosecution witness, and on the final day of testimony in 1982, Mumia's lawyer discovered Wakshul's statement from Dec. 9, 1981 (Mumia's supporters cite this late discovery as another example of incompetent representation--to which defense attorney Anthony Jackson testified about at the 1995 PCRA hearings).
After riding with Abu-Jamal to the hospital and guarding him until his treatment, Wakshul reported: "the negro male made no comment."
When the defense immediately sought to call Wakshul as a witness, the DA reported that he was on vacation. On grounds that it was too late in the trial, Sabo denied the defense request to locate him for testimony.
Subsequently, the jury never heard from Wakshul or about his contradictory written report. When an outraged Abu-Jamal protested, Judge Sabo cruelly declared to him: "You and your attorney goofed."
At the 1995 PCRA Hearings, Wakshul testified that both his contradictory Dec. 9 "the negro male made no comment" report and the two month delay were simply bad mistakes. He repeated his earlier February 11, 1982 statement given to the police IAB investigator that he "didn't realize it had any importance until that day." Wakshul also testified to being home for his 1982 vacation—in accordance with explicit instructions to stay in town for the trial so that he could testify if called.
Mysteriously, just days before his PCRA testimony, Wakshul was savagely beaten by undercover police officers in front of a Judge in the Common Pleas Courtroom, where Wakshul worked as a court crier.The two attackers were later suspended without pay, as punishment. With the motive still unexplained, the beating was possibly used to intimidate Wakshul into maintaining his "confession" story at the PCRA hearings.
Regarding the alleged confession, Amnesty International concluded: "The likelihood of two police officers and a security guard forgetting or neglecting to report the confession of a suspect in the killing of another police officer for more than two months strains credulity."
YVETTE WILLIAMS' AFFIDAVIT AND CYNTHIA WHITE'S FALSE TESTIMONY
Yvette Williams' July 8, 2002 affidavit, is the just latest evidence discrediting the prosecution's star witness at the 1982 trial: Cynthia White.
Suspiciously, no official eyewitness even reported seeing White at the scene, and White is the only "witness" to report seeing alleged eyewitness Robert Chobert's taxi cab parked behind PO Faulkner's car.
Amnesty International documents that key DA witnesses Chobert (an arsonist on probation, driving his cab without a license) and White (a prostitute facing multiple charges) "altered their descriptions of what they saw, in ways that supported the prosecution's version of events."
Importantly, Williams' account of 1) White being coerced by police to give false testimony, and 2) Police seeking out even more false testimony, is strongly supported by the testimony of Veronica Jones (at the 1982 trial and the 1996 PCRA) and Pamela Jenkins (at the 1997 PCRA).
The New Affidavit
Yvette Williams declares: "I was in jail with Cynthia White in December of 1981 after Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed. Cynthia ['Lucky'] White told me the police were making her lie and say she saw Mr. Jamal shoot Officer Faulkner when she really did not see who did it..Whenever she talked about testifying against Mumia Abu-Jamal, and how the police were making her lie, she was nervous and very excited and I could tell how scared she was from the way she was talking and crying."
Explaining why she is just now coming out with her affidavit, Williams says "I feel like I've almost had a nervous breakdown over keeping quiet about this all these years. I didn't say anything because I was afraid. I was afraid of the police. They're dangerous."
Pamela Jenkins' 1997 PCRA Testimony
At the 1997 PCRA hearing, former prostitute Pamela Jenkins testified that 1) Police tried pressuring her to falsely testify that she saw Abu-Jamal shoot Faulkner, and 2) In late 1981, Cynthia White (who Jenkins knew as a fellow police informant) told Jenkins that she was also being pressured to testify against Mumia, and that she was afraid for her life.
As part of a 1995 federal probe of Philadelphia police corruption, Officers Thomas F. Ryan and John D. Baird were convicted of paying Jenkins to falsely testify that she had bought drugs from a Temple University student named Arthur Colbert. Jenkins' 1995 testimony about Colbert and others she falsely testified against, helped to convict Ryan, Baird, and other officers and to dismiss several dozen drug convictions.
At the 1997 PCRA, Jenkins testified that this same Thomas F. Ryan was one of the officers who attempted to have her lie about Mumia!
The Attempts to Silence Veronica Jones
Veronica Jones (a former prostitute who was working at the scene) first told police that she had seen two men "jogging" away from the scene before police arrived. Then, as a defense witness at the 1982 trial, Jones denied making the statement, but started to describe a pre-trial visit from police, where "They were getting on me telling me I was in the area and I seen Mumia, you know, do it.They were trying to get me to say something that the other girl [Cynthia White] said. I couldn't do that." Jones then explicitly testified that police offered to let her and White "work the area if we tell them" what they wanted to hear regarding Mumia's guilt.
The DA moved to block her account, calling her testimony "absolutely irrelevant." Judge Sabo agreed to block the line of questioning, strike the testimony, and then ordered the jury to disregard Jones' statement.
Later, at the 1996 PCRA, Jones testified that in 1982 she had been coerced by police to recant seeing the two men jogging away, but resisted police pressure to falsely testify that she saw Abu-Jamal shoot Faulkner.
Intimidation of Jones continued at the PCRA. Before she testified, Judge Sabo threatened her with 5-10 yrs imprisonment for admitting perjury. After testifying, he allowed NJ police to handcuff and arrest her for an outstanding arrest warrant on charges of writing a bad check.
Outraged by Jones' treatment, even the normally 'anti-Mumia' Philadelphia Daily News reported that: "Such heavy-handed tactics can only confirm suspicions that the court is incapable of giving Abu-Jamal a fair hearing. Sabo has long since abandoned any pretense of fairness." (Read more about Jones, and watch a new video-interview with her)
Organizing for Dec. 9 and Beyond
German author and co-founder of Journalists for Mumia, Michael Schiffmann responded to Monday's ruling from his home in Heidelberg. Emphasizing that these two affidavits are important enough to merit a PCRA hearing, Schiffmann says "there's just one point I want to stress. Right-wing and FOP commentators will claim that the Williams and Pate affidavits were hearsay anyway. But this isn't true. If someone reports a crime commited by him/herself to me, that's called a statement 'against one's own interest,' and if I report it to the police or testify to it in court, my report or testimony is admissible. Of course, both statements are highly relevant: White and Durham were main pillars of the prosecution. If they admitted to other people that they lied in court, the testimony of these other people should be heard."
"Now we will have to redouble our efforts to ensure that the US Supreme Court grants the petition for writ of certiorari Mumia's lawyer will be filing later this month or in December, if given a 60 day extension," says Schiffmann.
Please visit FreeMumia.com for the latest updates on organizing for December 6, and be sure to download (and print out in your community) our two new info flyers just completed:
1) A condensed legal update, and 2) A flyer summarizing the key points from The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and promoting the West Coast Book Tour.
--Hans Bennett is an independent multi-media journalist (insubordination.blogspot.com) and co-founder of Journalists for Mumia (Abu-Jamal-News.com), whose new video series documenting the movement in Philadelphia to free Mumia and all political prisoners is viewable here.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
UPDATE: From Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
This decision is completely separate from the appeal to the US Supreme Court re the recent Third Circuit decision that denied a new guilt phase trial. The deadline for Mumia and the DA to appeal this to the US Supreme Court is October 20, unless Mumia's lawyer applies for a 60 day extension.
I just received this quote from lead attorney Robert R. Bryan re. today's news. Last night he arrived in France for a film festival showing of the film "In Prison My Whole Life", and to do a related press conference. Today, following the news, he told me: "Today, as expected, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Petition for Writ of Certiorari which I filed some time ago on behalf of Mumia. As reported in my recent Legal Update, this concerned uncovered evidence of prosecutorial and police fraud. Even though I now have proof that the 1982 trial was literally a trial by fraud, there were procedural problems caused by the previous lawyers not presenting the new evidence in a timely and proper manner. As you know, I took over the case in nearly six years ago (Mumia first began seeking my representation in 1985; I was too busy at the time)."
"Please understand that as you pointed out, this is unrelated to the petition I will file later in the year in the Supreme Court. That will relate to the 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, concerning racism-jury-selection, and material misrepresentations made by the prosecutor at the guilt-phase argument."—said Bryan.
Below here I have compiled info regarding the affidavits of Kenneth Pate and Yvette Williams, and other overall frame-up and police corruption that their stories's expose.
Kenneth Pate's Affidavit and the Fraudulent Hospital Confession
Kenneth Pate is the step-brother of hospital security guard Priscilla Durham, who testified at the 1982 trial to hearing Abu-Jamal confess at the hospital, to shooting Officer Daniel Faulkner. Pate now states in an April 18, 2003 affidavit that Durham confided to him during a telephone conversation "around the end of 1983 or the beginning of 1984" that she had actually lied about hearing the alleged hospital confession.
Pate states that Durham told him on the telephone that "Mumia was all bloody and the police were interfering with his treatment, saying 'let him die.' Priscilla said that the police told her that she was part of the 'brotherhood' of police since she was a security guard and that she had to stick with them and say that she heard Mumia say that he killed the police officer, when they brought Mumia in on a stretcher.''
Even before Pate's affidavit, Durham's account was very suspicious.
The alleged "hospital confession," where Mumia reportedly declared, "I shot the motherf***er and I hope the motherf***er dies," was first officially reported to police over two months later, by hospital guards Priscilla Durham and James LeGrand (Feb. 9, 1982), PO Gary Wakshul (Feb.11), PO Gary Bell (Feb.25), and PO Thomas M. Bray (March1).
Only two of these five witnesses were called by the DA: Priscilla Durham and Gary Bell (Faulkner's partner and "best friend").
Priscilla Durham
Durham testified in 1982, and added for the very first time (not reported to the police on Feb.9), that she had reported the confession to her supervisor the next day, making a hand-written report. Neither her supervisor, nor the alleged handwritten statement were presented in court.
Instead, the DA sent an officer to the hospital, returning with a suspicious typed version. Sabo accepted the unsigned and unauthenticated paper despite both Durham's disavowal (because it was not hand-written), and the defense's protest that authorship and authenticity were unproven.
Gary Bell
Bell testified that his two month memory lapse resulted from him being so upset over the death of Faulkner, that he forgot to report it to police.
Gary Wakshul: 'the negro male made no comment.'
Police Officer Gary Wakshul was not a prosecution witness, and on the final day of testimony in 1982, Mumia's lawyer discovered Wakshul's statement from Dec. 9, 1981 (Mumia's supporters cite this late discovery as another example of incompetent representation--to which defense attorney Anthony Jackson testified about at the 1995 PCRA hearings).
After riding with Abu-Jamal to the hospital and guarding him until his treatment, Wakshul reported: "the negro male made no comment."
When the defense immediately sought to call Wakshul as a witness, the DA reported that he was on vacation. On grounds that it was too late in the trial, Sabo denied the defense request to locate him for testimony.
Subsequently, the jury never heard from Wakshul or about his contradictory written report. When an outraged Abu-Jamal protested, Judge Sabo cruelly declared to him: "You and your attorney goofed."
At the 1995 PCRA Hearings, Wakshul testified that both his contradictory Dec. 9 "the negro male made no comment" report and the two month delay were simply bad mistakes. He repeated his earlier February 11, 1982 statement given to the police IAB investigator that he "didn't realize it had any importance until that day." Wakshul also testified to being home for his 1982 vacation—in accordance with explicit instructions to stay in town for the trial so that he could testify if called.
Mysteriously, just days before his PCRA testimony, Wakshul was savagely beaten by undercover police officers in front of a Judge in the Common Pleas Courtroom, where Wakshul worked as a court crier.The two attackers were later suspended without pay, as punishment. With the motive still unexplained, the beating was possibly used to intimidate Wakshul into maintaining his "confession" story at the PCRA hearings.
Regarding the alleged confession, Amnesty International concluded: "The likelihood of two police officers and a security guard forgetting or neglecting to report the confession of a suspect in the killing of another police officer for more than two months strains credulity."
Yvette Williams' Affidavit and the Police Coercion of Cynthia White
Yvette Williams' July 8, 2002 affidavit, is the just latest evidence discrediting the prosecution's star witness at the 1982 trial: Cynthia White.
Suspiciously, no official eyewitness even reported seeing White at the scene, and White is the only "witness" to report seeing alleged eyewitness Robert Chobert's taxi cab parked behind PO Faulkner's car.
Amnesty International documents that key DA witnesses Chobert (an arsonist on probation, driving his cab without a license) and White (a prostitute facing multiple charges) "altered their descriptions of what they saw, in ways that supported the prosecution's version of events."
Importantly, Williams' account of 1) White being coerced by police to give false testimony, and 2) Police seeking out even more false testimony, is strongly supported by the testimony of Veronica Jones (at the 1982 trial and the 1996 PCRA) and Pamela Jenkins (at the 1997 PCRA).
The New Affidavit
Yvette Williams declares: "I was in jail with Cynthia White in December of 1981 after Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed. Cynthia ['Lucky'] White told me the police were making her lie and say she saw Mr. Jamal shoot Officer Faulkner when she really did not see who did it....Whenever she talked about testifying against Mumia Abu-Jamal, and how the police were making her lie, she was nervous and very excited and I could tell how scared she was from the way she was talking and crying."
Explaining why she is just now coming out with her affidavit, Williams says "I feel like I've almost had a nervous breakdown over keeping quiet about this all these years. I didn't say anything because I was afraid. I was afraid of the police. They're dangerous."
Pamela Jenkins' 1997 PCRA Testimony
At the 1997 PCRA hearing, former prostitute Pamela Jenkins testified that 1) Police tried pressuring her to falsely testify that she saw Abu-Jamal shoot Faulkner, and 2) In late 1981, Cynthia White (who Jenkins knew as a fellow police informant) told Jenkins that she was also being pressured to testify against Mumia, and that she was afraid for her life.
As part of a 1995 federal probe of Philadelphia police corruption, Officers Thomas F. Ryan and John D. Baird were convicted of paying Jenkins to falsely testify that she had bought drugs from a Temple University student named Arthur Colbert. Jenkins' 1995 testimony about Colbert and others she falsely testified against, helped to convict Ryan, Baird, and other officers and to dismiss several dozen drug convictions.
At the 1997 PCRA, Jenkins testified that this same Thomas F. Ryan was one of the officers who attempted to have her lie about Mumia!
The Attempts to Silence Veronica Jones
Veronica Jones (a prostitute working at the scene) first told police that she had seen two men "jogging" away from the scene before police arrived. Then, as a defense witness at the 1982 trial, Jones denied making the statement, but started to describe a pre-trial visit from police, where "They were getting on me telling me I was in the area and I seen Mumia, you know, do it..They were trying to get me to say something that the other girl [Cynthia White] said. I couldn't do that." Jones then explicitly testified that police offered to let her and White "work the area if we tell them" what they wanted to hear regarding Mumia's guilt.
The DA moved to block her account, calling her testimony "absolutely irrelevant." Judge Sabo agreed to block the line of questioning, strike the testimony, and then ordered the jury to disregard Jones' statement.
Later, at the 1996 PCRA, Jones testified that in 1982 she had been coerced by police to recant seeing the two men jogging away, but resisted police pressure to falsely testify that she saw Abu-Jamal shoot Faulkner.
Intimidation of Jones continued at the PCRA. Before she testified, Judge Sabo threatened her with 5-10 yrs imprisonment for admitting perjury. After testifying, he allowed NJ police to handcuff and arrest her for an outstanding arrest warrant on charges of writing a bad check.
Outraged by Jones' treatment, even the normally 'anti-Mumia' Philadelphia Daily News reported that: "Such heavy-handed tactics can only confirm suspicions that the court is incapable of giving Abu-Jamal a fair hearing. Sabo has long since abandoned any pretense of fairness."
I just received this quote from lead attorney Robert R. Bryan re. today's news. Last night he arrived in France for a film festival showing of the film "In Prison My Whole Life", and to do a related press conference. Today, following the news, he told me: "Today, as expected, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Petition for Writ of Certiorari which I filed some time ago on behalf of Mumia. As reported in my recent Legal Update, this concerned uncovered evidence of prosecutorial and police fraud. Even though I now have proof that the 1982 trial was literally a trial by fraud, there were procedural problems caused by the previous lawyers not presenting the new evidence in a timely and proper manner. As you know, I took over the case in nearly six years ago (Mumia first began seeking my representation in 1985; I was too busy at the time)."
"Please understand that as you pointed out, this is unrelated to the petition I will file later in the year in the Supreme Court. That will relate to the 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, concerning racism-jury-selection, and material misrepresentations made by the prosecutor at the guilt-phase argument."—said Bryan.
Below here I have compiled info regarding the affidavits of Kenneth Pate and Yvette Williams, and other overall frame-up and police corruption that their stories's expose.
Kenneth Pate's Affidavit and the Fraudulent Hospital Confession
Kenneth Pate is the step-brother of hospital security guard Priscilla Durham, who testified at the 1982 trial to hearing Abu-Jamal confess at the hospital, to shooting Officer Daniel Faulkner. Pate now states in an April 18, 2003 affidavit that Durham confided to him during a telephone conversation "around the end of 1983 or the beginning of 1984" that she had actually lied about hearing the alleged hospital confession.
Pate states that Durham told him on the telephone that "Mumia was all bloody and the police were interfering with his treatment, saying 'let him die.' Priscilla said that the police told her that she was part of the 'brotherhood' of police since she was a security guard and that she had to stick with them and say that she heard Mumia say that he killed the police officer, when they brought Mumia in on a stretcher.''
Even before Pate's affidavit, Durham's account was very suspicious.
The alleged "hospital confession," where Mumia reportedly declared, "I shot the motherf***er and I hope the motherf***er dies," was first officially reported to police over two months later, by hospital guards Priscilla Durham and James LeGrand (Feb. 9, 1982), PO Gary Wakshul (Feb.11), PO Gary Bell (Feb.25), and PO Thomas M. Bray (March1).
Only two of these five witnesses were called by the DA: Priscilla Durham and Gary Bell (Faulkner's partner and "best friend").
Priscilla Durham
Durham testified in 1982, and added for the very first time (not reported to the police on Feb.9), that she had reported the confession to her supervisor the next day, making a hand-written report. Neither her supervisor, nor the alleged handwritten statement were presented in court.
Instead, the DA sent an officer to the hospital, returning with a suspicious typed version. Sabo accepted the unsigned and unauthenticated paper despite both Durham's disavowal (because it was not hand-written), and the defense's protest that authorship and authenticity were unproven.
Gary Bell
Bell testified that his two month memory lapse resulted from him being so upset over the death of Faulkner, that he forgot to report it to police.
Gary Wakshul: 'the negro male made no comment.'
Police Officer Gary Wakshul was not a prosecution witness, and on the final day of testimony in 1982, Mumia's lawyer discovered Wakshul's statement from Dec. 9, 1981 (Mumia's supporters cite this late discovery as another example of incompetent representation--to which defense attorney Anthony Jackson testified about at the 1995 PCRA hearings).
After riding with Abu-Jamal to the hospital and guarding him until his treatment, Wakshul reported: "the negro male made no comment."
When the defense immediately sought to call Wakshul as a witness, the DA reported that he was on vacation. On grounds that it was too late in the trial, Sabo denied the defense request to locate him for testimony.
Subsequently, the jury never heard from Wakshul or about his contradictory written report. When an outraged Abu-Jamal protested, Judge Sabo cruelly declared to him: "You and your attorney goofed."
At the 1995 PCRA Hearings, Wakshul testified that both his contradictory Dec. 9 "the negro male made no comment" report and the two month delay were simply bad mistakes. He repeated his earlier February 11, 1982 statement given to the police IAB investigator that he "didn't realize it had any importance until that day." Wakshul also testified to being home for his 1982 vacation—in accordance with explicit instructions to stay in town for the trial so that he could testify if called.
Mysteriously, just days before his PCRA testimony, Wakshul was savagely beaten by undercover police officers in front of a Judge in the Common Pleas Courtroom, where Wakshul worked as a court crier.The two attackers were later suspended without pay, as punishment. With the motive still unexplained, the beating was possibly used to intimidate Wakshul into maintaining his "confession" story at the PCRA hearings.
Regarding the alleged confession, Amnesty International concluded: "The likelihood of two police officers and a security guard forgetting or neglecting to report the confession of a suspect in the killing of another police officer for more than two months strains credulity."
Yvette Williams' Affidavit and the Police Coercion of Cynthia White
Yvette Williams' July 8, 2002 affidavit, is the just latest evidence discrediting the prosecution's star witness at the 1982 trial: Cynthia White.
Suspiciously, no official eyewitness even reported seeing White at the scene, and White is the only "witness" to report seeing alleged eyewitness Robert Chobert's taxi cab parked behind PO Faulkner's car.
Amnesty International documents that key DA witnesses Chobert (an arsonist on probation, driving his cab without a license) and White (a prostitute facing multiple charges) "altered their descriptions of what they saw, in ways that supported the prosecution's version of events."
Importantly, Williams' account of 1) White being coerced by police to give false testimony, and 2) Police seeking out even more false testimony, is strongly supported by the testimony of Veronica Jones (at the 1982 trial and the 1996 PCRA) and Pamela Jenkins (at the 1997 PCRA).
The New Affidavit
Yvette Williams declares: "I was in jail with Cynthia White in December of 1981 after Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed. Cynthia ['Lucky'] White told me the police were making her lie and say she saw Mr. Jamal shoot Officer Faulkner when she really did not see who did it....Whenever she talked about testifying against Mumia Abu-Jamal, and how the police were making her lie, she was nervous and very excited and I could tell how scared she was from the way she was talking and crying."
Explaining why she is just now coming out with her affidavit, Williams says "I feel like I've almost had a nervous breakdown over keeping quiet about this all these years. I didn't say anything because I was afraid. I was afraid of the police. They're dangerous."
Pamela Jenkins' 1997 PCRA Testimony
At the 1997 PCRA hearing, former prostitute Pamela Jenkins testified that 1) Police tried pressuring her to falsely testify that she saw Abu-Jamal shoot Faulkner, and 2) In late 1981, Cynthia White (who Jenkins knew as a fellow police informant) told Jenkins that she was also being pressured to testify against Mumia, and that she was afraid for her life.
As part of a 1995 federal probe of Philadelphia police corruption, Officers Thomas F. Ryan and John D. Baird were convicted of paying Jenkins to falsely testify that she had bought drugs from a Temple University student named Arthur Colbert. Jenkins' 1995 testimony about Colbert and others she falsely testified against, helped to convict Ryan, Baird, and other officers and to dismiss several dozen drug convictions.
At the 1997 PCRA, Jenkins testified that this same Thomas F. Ryan was one of the officers who attempted to have her lie about Mumia!
The Attempts to Silence Veronica Jones
Veronica Jones (a prostitute working at the scene) first told police that she had seen two men "jogging" away from the scene before police arrived. Then, as a defense witness at the 1982 trial, Jones denied making the statement, but started to describe a pre-trial visit from police, where "They were getting on me telling me I was in the area and I seen Mumia, you know, do it..They were trying to get me to say something that the other girl [Cynthia White] said. I couldn't do that." Jones then explicitly testified that police offered to let her and White "work the area if we tell them" what they wanted to hear regarding Mumia's guilt.
The DA moved to block her account, calling her testimony "absolutely irrelevant." Judge Sabo agreed to block the line of questioning, strike the testimony, and then ordered the jury to disregard Jones' statement.
Later, at the 1996 PCRA, Jones testified that in 1982 she had been coerced by police to recant seeing the two men jogging away, but resisted police pressure to falsely testify that she saw Abu-Jamal shoot Faulkner.
Intimidation of Jones continued at the PCRA. Before she testified, Judge Sabo threatened her with 5-10 yrs imprisonment for admitting perjury. After testifying, he allowed NJ police to handcuff and arrest her for an outstanding arrest warrant on charges of writing a bad check.
Outraged by Jones' treatment, even the normally 'anti-Mumia' Philadelphia Daily News reported that: "Such heavy-handed tactics can only confirm suspicions that the court is incapable of giving Abu-Jamal a fair hearing. Sabo has long since abandoned any pretense of fairness."
Monday, October 06, 2008
US Supreme Court rejects new trial for former Black Panther
Monday, October 6, 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) The US Supreme Court Monday refused to hear arguments for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther accused of killing a police officer, who has become an international symbol for the fight against capital punishment.
His lawyer Robert Bryan has already said he will seek to bring a second Supreme Court appeal for the 54 former radio journalist accused of the 1981 murder, this time for racism.
Abu-Jamal's death sentence was overturned in March by a federal court in Philadelphia, which voted two-to-one to uphold his conviction, which now automatically becomes a life sentence unless prosecutors bring him back before a jury.
But Bryan has said he will not rest until client is freed. "Even though the federal court granted a new trial on the question of the death penalty, we want a complete reversal of the conviction," Byran said in July.
Abu-Jamal has argued he was denied a fair trial in 1982 because the prosecution barred 10 qualified African-Americans from sitting on the jury, which in the end consisted of 10 whites and two blacks.
The Philadelphia appeals court had rejected his arguments on lack of evidence of any racist intent on the part of the prosecution.
WASHINGTON (AFP) The US Supreme Court Monday refused to hear arguments for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther accused of killing a police officer, who has become an international symbol for the fight against capital punishment.
His lawyer Robert Bryan has already said he will seek to bring a second Supreme Court appeal for the 54 former radio journalist accused of the 1981 murder, this time for racism.
Abu-Jamal's death sentence was overturned in March by a federal court in Philadelphia, which voted two-to-one to uphold his conviction, which now automatically becomes a life sentence unless prosecutors bring him back before a jury.
But Bryan has said he will not rest until client is freed. "Even though the federal court granted a new trial on the question of the death penalty, we want a complete reversal of the conviction," Byran said in July.
Abu-Jamal has argued he was denied a fair trial in 1982 because the prosecution barred 10 qualified African-Americans from sitting on the jury, which in the end consisted of 10 whites and two blacks.
The Philadelphia appeals court had rejected his arguments on lack of evidence of any racist intent on the part of the prosecution.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
French Solidarity with Mumia, Peltier and Indian Peoples of the Americas
On Saturday October 11th, in France, the Bobigny Committee in Solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier will be holding a day of international solidarity with the Indian peoples of the Americas. The information for that day is included below. Bobigny, a town on the outskirts of Paris, has long been a stronghold of anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, and anti-racist activity, with a particular focus on the cases of Mumia and Leonard. Mumia received honorary citizenship from Bobigny, the mayor and others from the committee visited Philadelphia and New York City, and a strong bond of solidarity has been a long-established reality between our movements.
ENSEMBLE, SAUVONS MUMIA
Collectif Unitaire National de Soutien à Mumia Abu-Jamal
43, boulevard de Magenta 75010 Paris – TEL 01 53 38 99 99 FAX 01 40 40 90 98 – E MAIL abujamal@free.fr
www.mumiabujamal.net
SITUATION JUDICIAIRE de Mumia Abu-Jamal
A la suite de la décision (refus d'un nouveau procès) en juillet dernier par la juridiction fédérale de Pennsylvanie, l'avocat principal de Mumia, maître Robert R. Bryan, a déposé un mémoire début septembre auprès de la Cour Suprême des Etats-Unis. Cet ultime recours devant la plus haute juridiction américaine a pour enjeu de faire reconnaître que Mumia a été victime d'un procès raciste, ce qui constitue une violation flagrante de la Constitution des Etats-Unis. Si, la Cour fait sienne la thèse de la défense, Mumia aura enfin droit à un nouveau procès. Si la Cour rejette le recours, Mumia sera définitivement condamné à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité (décision de la Cour d'Appel Fédérale de mars dernier) … donc à mourir en prison ! A l'évidence, l'évolution de la situation judiciaire depuis le printemps dernier (annulation de la peine de mort mais confirmation de la culpabilité) semble rallier tous les adversaires de « la voix des sans voix ». L'objectif poursuivi est clair : pour faire perdurer la sentence de mort sur le sol américain, à défaut de pouvoir exécuter celui qui symbolise la lutte pour son abolition, les autorités tablent sur la démobilisation.
Pour sa part, le Collectif Unitaire National dénonce ce calcul morbide et poursuivra, en liaison avec la défense de Mumia et ses soutiens aux Etats-Unis, son action de sensibilisation et de mobilisation permettant à cet homme courageux et innocent de recouvrer justice et liberté.
Dans l'immédiat, nous vous invitons à diffuser largement le tract et le nouveau texte de pétition que vous trouverez en fichiers joints.
TROY DAVIS n'a pas été exécuté !
La mobilisation internationale a empêché l'irréparable. Comme Mumia, pour la deuxième fois de sa vie, Troy Davis (noir américain de 39 ans) a été sauvé in extremis. La Cour Suprême des Etats-Unis a accepté d'étudier la demande d'un nouveau procès formulée par la défense tout en précisant que le sursis accordé ne vaudrait que le temps de l'examen de l'appel. Comme le rappelle Amnesty International, dans un rapport en forme de contre-enquête, Troy Davis a été condamné à mort en 1991 pour le meurtre d'un policier blanc, sans que l'arme du crime n'ait été retrouvée, sans preuve matérielle, empreinte, ni traces d'ADN … mais sur la base de neuf témoignages dont sept se sont depuis rétractés ou contredits. La copie conforme d'une certaine affaire Mumia !
Pour sauver Troy Davis, poursuivons la campagne de mobilisation initiée par Amnesty International en signant la nouvelle pétition en ligne :
INFOS DIVERSES :
â–º la fréquentation du stand « Mumia » à la fête de l'Humanité a été particulièrement soutenue (beaucoup de jeunes visiteurs) : 3.500 tracts diffusés, 700 signatures recueillies sur la nouvelle pétition, 1.000 €uros de recette (deux tiers vente de livres et un tiers solidarité) ;
â–º deux nouvelles villes ont élevé Mumia au rang de citoyen d'honneur : SAUVETERRE du Gard et PORTES lès Valence.
30 septembre 2008
ENSEMBLE, SAUVONS MUMIA
Collectif Unitaire National de Soutien à Mumia Abu-Jamal
43, boulevard de Magenta 75010 Paris – TEL 01 53 38 99 99 FAX 01 40 40 90 98 – E MAIL abujamal@free.fr
www.mumiabujamal.net
SITUATION JUDICIAIRE de Mumia Abu-Jamal
A la suite de la décision (refus d'un nouveau procès) en juillet dernier par la juridiction fédérale de Pennsylvanie, l'avocat principal de Mumia, maître Robert R. Bryan, a déposé un mémoire début septembre auprès de la Cour Suprême des Etats-Unis. Cet ultime recours devant la plus haute juridiction américaine a pour enjeu de faire reconnaître que Mumia a été victime d'un procès raciste, ce qui constitue une violation flagrante de la Constitution des Etats-Unis. Si, la Cour fait sienne la thèse de la défense, Mumia aura enfin droit à un nouveau procès. Si la Cour rejette le recours, Mumia sera définitivement condamné à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité (décision de la Cour d'Appel Fédérale de mars dernier) … donc à mourir en prison ! A l'évidence, l'évolution de la situation judiciaire depuis le printemps dernier (annulation de la peine de mort mais confirmation de la culpabilité) semble rallier tous les adversaires de « la voix des sans voix ». L'objectif poursuivi est clair : pour faire perdurer la sentence de mort sur le sol américain, à défaut de pouvoir exécuter celui qui symbolise la lutte pour son abolition, les autorités tablent sur la démobilisation.
Pour sa part, le Collectif Unitaire National dénonce ce calcul morbide et poursuivra, en liaison avec la défense de Mumia et ses soutiens aux Etats-Unis, son action de sensibilisation et de mobilisation permettant à cet homme courageux et innocent de recouvrer justice et liberté.
Dans l'immédiat, nous vous invitons à diffuser largement le tract et le nouveau texte de pétition que vous trouverez en fichiers joints.
TROY DAVIS n'a pas été exécuté !
La mobilisation internationale a empêché l'irréparable. Comme Mumia, pour la deuxième fois de sa vie, Troy Davis (noir américain de 39 ans) a été sauvé in extremis. La Cour Suprême des Etats-Unis a accepté d'étudier la demande d'un nouveau procès formulée par la défense tout en précisant que le sursis accordé ne vaudrait que le temps de l'examen de l'appel. Comme le rappelle Amnesty International, dans un rapport en forme de contre-enquête, Troy Davis a été condamné à mort en 1991 pour le meurtre d'un policier blanc, sans que l'arme du crime n'ait été retrouvée, sans preuve matérielle, empreinte, ni traces d'ADN … mais sur la base de neuf témoignages dont sept se sont depuis rétractés ou contredits. La copie conforme d'une certaine affaire Mumia !
Pour sauver Troy Davis, poursuivons la campagne de mobilisation initiée par Amnesty International en signant la nouvelle pétition en ligne :
INFOS DIVERSES :
â–º la fréquentation du stand « Mumia » à la fête de l'Humanité a été particulièrement soutenue (beaucoup de jeunes visiteurs) : 3.500 tracts diffusés, 700 signatures recueillies sur la nouvelle pétition, 1.000 €uros de recette (deux tiers vente de livres et un tiers solidarité) ;
â–º deux nouvelles villes ont élevé Mumia au rang de citoyen d'honneur : SAUVETERRE du Gard et PORTES lès Valence.
30 septembre 2008
Jericho 10th Anniversary Weekend of Resistance
From http://thejerichomovement.com
Demand Freedom for Our Political Prisoners and POWs!
10/10 and 10/11 actions to celebrate
the National Jericho Movement's 10th Anniversary
"One of the first steps we are going to become involved in as an Organization of Afro-American Unity will be to work with every leader and other organization in this country interested in a program designed to bring your and my problem before the United Nations ... We must take it out of the hands of the United States government."
- Malcolm X, Speech at Founding Rally of the OAAU,
28 June 1964
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008
Moving Agitational Picket @ 12 Noon
1st Ave. from 42nd to 47th Sts. (Trains: 4,5,6 to 42d St.; 7 to Grand Central)
Bring your banners, signs, noisemakers, drums, whistles, etc.
Simultaneous delegation to United Nations for meeting inside UN
Evening Concert to Benefit the Prisoners
@ the Knitting Factory @ 74 Leonard St. (cor. of Church St.), Manhattan (Trains: 1, 9 to Franklin; A,C,E, N, R to Canal)
8 p.m. until . . .
Box office: 212-219-3132
SATURDAY, 11, 2008 @ 12 Noon
Rally at the Harlem State Office Building
@ 163 W. 125th Street (corner of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.) (Trains: A,B,C,D,2,3 to 125th)
March through Harlem @ 1 p.m.
Closing Rally in Morningside Park @ 3 p.m. (Trains: B,C,2,3 to 110th)
Between 112th & 114th near Morningside Ave. entrances
GET INVOLVED!
For more information: nycjericho@gmail.com * 718-853-0893 * 206-888-4001
To download a pledge sheet with what YOU can do, go to http://thejerichomovement.com/
Organized by the October 10th Coalition (list in formation):
Jericho Movement, Anarchist Black Cross Federation (NYC), Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), International Ctte. in Support of Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, Leonard Peltier Support Group (NYC), Malcolm X Commemoration Ctte., ProLibertad, Resistance in Brooklyn, Safiya Bukhari/Nuh Washington Foundation.
Endorsers (list in formation):
Alvaro Luna Hernández, American Friends Service Committee/Criminal Justice Program (NYMRO), Anarchist Black Cross Federation, Andy Stepanian Support Committee, ANSWER Coalition, The Beautiful Struggle, Black United Front-Houston Chapter, Black Women's Defense League, Boston Anarchist Black Cross, CEMOTAP, The Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action, Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan, Friends of Jeffrey Free Luers, Gabriela Network, In Our Hearts Anarchist Network, International Action Center, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Justseeds, NEFAC-NY, NY Metropolitan Anarchist Alliance (NYMAA), Party for Liberation and Socialism, Pittsburgh Organizing Group, Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC), Puerto Rican Alliance of Los Angeles, Rock Dove Collective, Solidarity Without Borders-NYC, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, War Resisters League, WESPAC Foundation, Win Animal Rights, Workers World Party
Demand Freedom for Our Political Prisoners and POWs!
10/10 and 10/11 actions to celebrate
the National Jericho Movement's 10th Anniversary
"One of the first steps we are going to become involved in as an Organization of Afro-American Unity will be to work with every leader and other organization in this country interested in a program designed to bring your and my problem before the United Nations ... We must take it out of the hands of the United States government."
- Malcolm X, Speech at Founding Rally of the OAAU,
28 June 1964
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008
Moving Agitational Picket @ 12 Noon
1st Ave. from 42nd to 47th Sts. (Trains: 4,5,6 to 42d St.; 7 to Grand Central)
Bring your banners, signs, noisemakers, drums, whistles, etc.
Simultaneous delegation to United Nations for meeting inside UN
Evening Concert to Benefit the Prisoners
@ the Knitting Factory @ 74 Leonard St. (cor. of Church St.), Manhattan (Trains: 1, 9 to Franklin; A,C,E, N, R to Canal)
8 p.m. until . . .
Box office: 212-219-3132
SATURDAY, 11, 2008 @ 12 Noon
Rally at the Harlem State Office Building
@ 163 W. 125th Street (corner of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.) (Trains: A,B,C,D,2,3 to 125th)
March through Harlem @ 1 p.m.
Closing Rally in Morningside Park @ 3 p.m. (Trains: B,C,2,3 to 110th)
Between 112th & 114th near Morningside Ave. entrances
GET INVOLVED!
For more information: nycjericho@gmail.com * 718-853-0893 * 206-888-4001
To download a pledge sheet with what YOU can do, go to http://thejerichomovement.com/
Organized by the October 10th Coalition (list in formation):
Jericho Movement, Anarchist Black Cross Federation (NYC), Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), International Ctte. in Support of Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, Leonard Peltier Support Group (NYC), Malcolm X Commemoration Ctte., ProLibertad, Resistance in Brooklyn, Safiya Bukhari/Nuh Washington Foundation.
Endorsers (list in formation):
Alvaro Luna Hernández, American Friends Service Committee/Criminal Justice Program (NYMRO), Anarchist Black Cross Federation, Andy Stepanian Support Committee, ANSWER Coalition, The Beautiful Struggle, Black United Front-Houston Chapter, Black Women's Defense League, Boston Anarchist Black Cross, CEMOTAP, The Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action, Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan, Friends of Jeffrey Free Luers, Gabriela Network, In Our Hearts Anarchist Network, International Action Center, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Justseeds, NEFAC-NY, NY Metropolitan Anarchist Alliance (NYMAA), Party for Liberation and Socialism, Pittsburgh Organizing Group, Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC), Puerto Rican Alliance of Los Angeles, Rock Dove Collective, Solidarity Without Borders-NYC, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, War Resisters League, WESPAC Foundation, Win Animal Rights, Workers World Party
SUPPORT NEEDED FOR SUNDIATA ACOLI / NY 21 FILM PROJECTS
TIME FRAME: Two Months!
PLAN OF ACTION: Donations urgently needed to finance the independent docufilms of FieldUp Productions!
PURPOSE OF ACTION: Our message is simple. We need your help to tell the true story of the continuing efforts of African-American movements by supporting our monumental documentary film projects. Our project is told by actual members who experienced the movement. A Power Sun and Wrack 21 are very important projects to be shared with the community at large. The voices and stories of actual members of the New York Chapter of the Black Panther Party drive the documentary, as well as dramatic elements and interviews with scholars and others involved in the case. It is rare that an almost forgotten part of the past is told with such passion and a sense of urgency. But the past is not forgotten by those who continue to work for the liberation of all people from poverty and violence, who love freedom, and who want to ensure that the sacrifices of our forefathers and mothers were not in vain.
The film’s director, writer and producer, Dawn McGhee says, “This film combines the true history of a dynamic movement, while re-creating the accounts of his story”. As many of you are aware, the dramatic re-enactments began this month with Irma P. Hall, Omar Wiseman, Mutulu "M1" Olugabala and Stic.man. Words are not enough to express our sincerity and appreciation to these individuals giving their time and talent to help us tell our story and it's commitment like theirs, as well as others on board, that show us how committed to Victory they are. We must pool together our resources and spread the word to family, friends, colleagues, and others to visit the website and donate!!!! Their and your help is greatly appreciated by political prisoners, prisoners of war, exiled comrades, the community, and of course, FieldUp Productions.
WEBSITES: http://www.fieldup.com/ and www.myspace.com/apowersun. The myspace.com site contains a fantastic array of photos of the production currently underway as well as a few videos in support of the project, please check it out!
WHAT WE SHOULD DO NOW:
1. Donations are the difference between these projects going forward or being halted, there is a tremendous sense of urgency. Please visit the FieldUp Website to make donations via PayPal. The amount is not important. Every cent helps.
2. Subscribe to the FieldUp newsletter, which is a fantastic way to keep up with production via e-mail. Please subscribe today at http://www.fieldup.com/
GOALS & OUTCOMES:
GOAL: To acquire the necessary support to insure the completion of these very important and self-determined projects, time is of the essence!
Cashier’s checks/money orders payable to:
Field Up Productions LLC
PO Box 41329
Dallas, TX 75241
Or
Donate using our secure online donations form at www.fieldup.com. By your gift, you will know that you have helped us to tell our own stories and to keep the struggle for democracy and human rights alive.
OUTCOMES:
1. Provide quality interpretations of Our Story to correctly educate our current and future generations regarding the government's war against the Black Liberation movement.
2. To inspire others to write, perform, and produce similar projects instead of allowing the enemies of our people to continue their disinformation campaigns unchallenged.
3. To build the movement to free all Political Prisoners and POW's, who have been abused, tortured and isolated within this government's dungeons for decades. Our freedom fighters have sacrificed much on our collective behalfs, are aging, and largely forgotten. We must support every effort in their fight for another chance of life outside of the walls!
For more info contact: fieldup@gmail.com, www.myspace.com/apowersun, or SAFC (Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign) @ www.sundiataacoli.org for articles and other info by and about Bro. Sundiata Acoli.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD & THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!
PLAN OF ACTION: Donations urgently needed to finance the independent docufilms of FieldUp Productions!
PURPOSE OF ACTION: Our message is simple. We need your help to tell the true story of the continuing efforts of African-American movements by supporting our monumental documentary film projects. Our project is told by actual members who experienced the movement. A Power Sun and Wrack 21 are very important projects to be shared with the community at large. The voices and stories of actual members of the New York Chapter of the Black Panther Party drive the documentary, as well as dramatic elements and interviews with scholars and others involved in the case. It is rare that an almost forgotten part of the past is told with such passion and a sense of urgency. But the past is not forgotten by those who continue to work for the liberation of all people from poverty and violence, who love freedom, and who want to ensure that the sacrifices of our forefathers and mothers were not in vain.
The film’s director, writer and producer, Dawn McGhee says, “This film combines the true history of a dynamic movement, while re-creating the accounts of his story”. As many of you are aware, the dramatic re-enactments began this month with Irma P. Hall, Omar Wiseman, Mutulu "M1" Olugabala and Stic.man. Words are not enough to express our sincerity and appreciation to these individuals giving their time and talent to help us tell our story and it's commitment like theirs, as well as others on board, that show us how committed to Victory they are. We must pool together our resources and spread the word to family, friends, colleagues, and others to visit the website and donate!!!! Their and your help is greatly appreciated by political prisoners, prisoners of war, exiled comrades, the community, and of course, FieldUp Productions.
WEBSITES: http://www.fieldup.com/ and www.myspace.com/apowersun. The myspace.com site contains a fantastic array of photos of the production currently underway as well as a few videos in support of the project, please check it out!
WHAT WE SHOULD DO NOW:
1. Donations are the difference between these projects going forward or being halted, there is a tremendous sense of urgency. Please visit the FieldUp Website to make donations via PayPal. The amount is not important. Every cent helps.
2. Subscribe to the FieldUp newsletter, which is a fantastic way to keep up with production via e-mail. Please subscribe today at http://www.fieldup.com/
GOALS & OUTCOMES:
GOAL: To acquire the necessary support to insure the completion of these very important and self-determined projects, time is of the essence!
Cashier’s checks/money orders payable to:
Field Up Productions LLC
PO Box 41329
Dallas, TX 75241
Or
Donate using our secure online donations form at www.fieldup.com. By your gift, you will know that you have helped us to tell our own stories and to keep the struggle for democracy and human rights alive.
OUTCOMES:
1. Provide quality interpretations of Our Story to correctly educate our current and future generations regarding the government's war against the Black Liberation movement.
2. To inspire others to write, perform, and produce similar projects instead of allowing the enemies of our people to continue their disinformation campaigns unchallenged.
3. To build the movement to free all Political Prisoners and POW's, who have been abused, tortured and isolated within this government's dungeons for decades. Our freedom fighters have sacrificed much on our collective behalfs, are aging, and largely forgotten. We must support every effort in their fight for another chance of life outside of the walls!
For more info contact: fieldup@gmail.com, www.myspace.com/apowersun, or SAFC (Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign) @ www.sundiataacoli.org for articles and other info by and about Bro. Sundiata Acoli.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD & THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Peru: Interview with Political Prisoner Lori Berenson
Written by Emma Shaw Crane
Thursday, 25 September 2008
American activist Lori Berenson was pulled off a bus in Peru in November of 1995, detained by anti-terrorist police, and tried for treason against the Peruvian state by a hooded military tribunal. A gun was held to her head as she received her sentence: life in prison. Accused of being a leader of the MRTA (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement), Lori was one of thousands of people kidnapped, tortured, disappeared, and/or imprisoned during then-president Alberto Fujimori's campaign to defeat rebel groups.
At the time of Lori's first "trial," Peru was emerging from over a decade of bloody civil war, fought between leftist guerillas and the Peruvian military. Two major armed movements fought the Peruvian government, the MRTA and Sendero Luminoso, the Maoist Shining Path. Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has estimated that approximately 70,000 people were killed between 1980 and 2000. Seventy–five percent of the victims were indigenous people, mostly Quechua, a number vastly out of proportion to their 16% share of the national population. The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds the government (through its military, police and intelligence apparatus along with paramilitary units) responsible for at least 45% of those deaths–compared to the MRTA who caused less than 2% of mortalities during the civil war. The Shining Path was deemed responsible for the majority – 53%.
This interview with Lori Berenson took place shortly before the first of a series of trials of Alberto Fujimori began in Lima. Last December, the former president was sentenced to six years in prison for abuse of authority, the first of three charges. His second trial, for human rights abuses including homicide and kidnapping, resumed July 14th, 2008. Ironically, if he is found guilty on all counts, Fujimori could serve up to 30 years in prison–just ten years more than Lori Berenson is currently serving. However, since Fujimori turns seventy this year, he is eligible under Peruvian law for a reduced sentence served under house arrest.
In this interview, Lori discusses how she maintains her hope while in prison, what she believes it takes to effect real and lasting social change, the emerging `New Left' in Latin America, and why women political prisoners are perceived as a threat to social stability.
What's the hardest thing for you about being in prison?
Frustration! You don't have control of your own life. People don't treat you like an adult. People are afraid to tell you that someone's sick. You are unable to deal with your own problems, either economic or otherwise. You feel sort of – in Spanish it would be impotencia – you can't do anything. The prison authorities beat someone up, you can't do anything. Someone's sick, you can't do anything. You need to write a letter to someone and you can't mail it. Frustration.
How do you maintain your hope and political conviction in a place as oppressive and confining and limiting as prison? What can you say about the prison system?
Each of the prisons I've lived in has provided a direct experience of why I think this prison system needs to change. Certainly, the first years I was in jail were very repressive years. Even in the last few years, you can still see the mistreatment of poor people. You can see it when they are presented before the judges, and you can see it in daily treatment. It's money: those who don't have money are not equal citizens. It's a very defined class differentiation.
What advice do you have for young people who want real and lasting change?
I think that today's young people have a really strong responsibility upon them. I'm no expert in any topic, but what I've heard about the environment is that there won't be much water in Peru in 20 years. Unless people start changing the way they live day to day, and unless people dedicate themselves to making superpowers change their environmentally destructive habits, then things will be hell on earth in 5 to 10 years. And that's just about the environment! Every war that superpowers like the U.S. wage mainly for economic interest is harmful on many levels – including mass killing of people. We're seeing a drastic situation, basically.
What do you think are the major components of a successful political movement?
At this point, I think there are two things. One is that you have to decide what "star" you are looking to follow. I think most of the left (i.e., "progressive people") have a lot of confusion as to where they are going right now. And that is not helpful. What I find very negative, and what I've certainly seen here and in El Salvador, is that when you have a very divided left and progressive circle you go nowhere. You just wind up with everyone in their own little cube doing nothing. At least for me, if you want to be in your little cube, just fight your own struggle, don't fight your struggle on the basis of saying, "Oh, so and so is worse." In the presidential campaign here in Peru, the most pathetic thing I've seen was one segment of the left criticizing other segments.
You've been outlining your first point about a successful social movement. What is your second point about?
On certain issues, it is important that there be unity among progressives and leftists. For example, in the U.S., what might be a principal point is to stop the war in Iraq immediately and not permit that there be another war like that. From what I hear on the radio, that's something that the left has in common with many from the Democratic Party. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. What issues are big enough? Protecting the environment! These are things that a lot of sectors can unite to do.
The other thing is that the left needs to look for where to go. I don't think we need to look for a guide, someone who is going to say, "Do this." We need to sit down and think: What was good about what used to be regarded as the standards of the left before the falling of the Soviet block? What things were good, what things were not? What things need to be changed, what things shouldn't exist? That kind of thing. We must learn from what was good and what was bad. But it's time to do it, because I think we're sitting around too long – myself included, by the way.
What lesson would you want to pass on to other activists, particularly young activists?
Go ahead with whatever you're doing. I admire and I'm proud of the fact that there are still people who think that there are streets in which other people roam, and that things are not really what the press says, and that it is necessary to look out farther than what you can see from the windowsill. This is in spite of the fact that I think there is a proliferating move throughout the world to create individuals that live in their own little cubes. You go, and you see, that the world isn't really what you think it is, and that it is that way maybe not for the reasons that the mainstream press says. It is necessary to think and to do – and not to sit and wait.
What is your hope for the future? Your future, and the future of movements you've been involved in?
I don't think the future is going to be better in the short term. I'm not that hopeful about the governments in power. Even the trend in this region doesn't give me much hope for solid structural change. You can have certain reforms that could be helpful, you can give spaces to the political or popular movement, allow them to do things they haven't been able to under very repressive regimes, but it doesn't mean there is a substantial change. The rules of the game haven't changed. And unless those change, nothing will. It's time to get back to discovering where we want to go, and while we're discovering that, just start walking.
Do you have hope for the Chavez/Morales movement in Latin America, the threat of having a unified Latin American bloc that could potentially create solidarity among Latin American countries? What do you think about that?
I think it's important that there be solidarity. But I don't have enough information to know what they are really doing or not. What is clear to me is that it is still not possible to change the rules of the game. That's the issue. You have to get to that place. It's good that they feel this way. Certainly here in Peru the leaders seem to be afraid of something about the Chavez movement. What are they so afraid of? And the Peruvians are very afraid. And much of the U.S. is too. Actually, I think that they are giving us a hand on that. By making bigger deals out of things, they are actually unifying the left on certain things. Well, thank you!
What is your opinion of the war on Iraq, and do you see that fitting into the history of imperialism in Latin America?
I don't know enough about history to give a historical background, but I think it's more complicated in the sense that the economic interests are very big. It's not only the interest in petroleum–it's the interest in making a war and making peace-so that a lot of money is invested in destruction and the rest invested in reconstruction, which is disgusting. But then on social terms, I would say that they saw fighting as a way of uniting the U.S. after September 11th and making it feel strong. The heroes and Rambos–I'm not sure if that's the correct name in today's movies–but that kind of figure that's going to go in there and kill all the bad guys. I also think the whole "hyping up" on nationalism is the other thing they intended to do.
You saw, because of your involvement with struggles in El Salvador, what happens when damaging policy is directed at a specific group of people. I'm curious if you see the war on Iraq as a parallel to that, as part of U.S. expansion and hegemony?
I think it is, but I wouldn't make a parallel with Central America. I think Iraq is a much more powerful country, and I think there are other issues involved, like pride of the nations that are situated close to Iraq. I think it's a much more complicated issue. And I don't think the United States really took that into account. Vietnam, for example, was more isolated, whereas Iraq is not. And Vietnam didn't have petroleum.
What is horrifying as well in Iraq is that so many historical relics and architecture have been destroyed–and no one seems to care. That's never mentioned, ever, just as all the civilians killed are never mentioned. I think the U.S. has opened a big can of worms and they don't know how to close it; at this point, they don't know how to pull out.
Do you expect to be paroled in 2010, and what is your hope for your future?
I should be paroled but I'm not sure. I think many things can happen. The only thing that's been constant over the last sixteen to twenty years is that the terrorists are the bad people. During the ten-year regime of Fujimori, Alan GarcÃa was in exile for corruption – and now he is president again. Who knows how Fujimori's trial will be, and how he will be regarded in about five years. But what has been a constant is that terrorists are terrorists, at least in the media. If it is really perceived as a danger, then political prisoners who are higher profile won't be released, and I won't be released on parole when I become eligible.
What tactics do you use to stay sane?
I was once asked a similar question: "How do people cope with prisons?" There are a variety of tactics. One is escaping from it in your mind – people get high, people do a whole bunch of things. In the case of myself, and most political prisoners I have known, the thing would be the confidence that whatever you believed in was right. So I think that has not changed. And you might have a good day or a bad day, I mean, when it rains everyone gets sort of gloomy, but even so, you don't forget that you have that.
What messages do you have for Mumia?
My greatest respect to him and to all the political prisoners I've read so much about over these last several years. Keep struggling, because you're right! This isn't just a message for him, but to those who need to move on such issues so that his situation, and the situation of others like him, can change. There needs to be knowledge and consciousness of the need for these things to change. These are people who are victims of a state's oppressive ways.
Do you think labeling people `terrorists' will get old, like labeling people as `Communists' did?
I still have the pieces that we wrote on this three or four years ago, saying `No, we're subversives, we're political prisoners, we are not terrorists. Terrorism means actions that cause terror, that try to create terror.' I think I spent so much time trying to explain it to people, where it got to the point, after years of that, that I realized people still use the word terrorist and it doesn't really change anything. Those who will feel deterred by the word might feel deterred by it anyway, and those who can see through the paint will do so as well. So this is a point on which I've definitely changed over the last three or four years, in the sense that it really doesn't matter. You want to call me a terrorist? Call me a terrorist! It really doesn't change anything. I know I am not a terrorist.
Yes! I remember growing up in a peak period of the Cold War, in an era when they would say the Russians are going to invade and whatnot, and all these communists, they are doing this and that. And you know? People became immune to that.
How do you see consumer culture affecting the types of crimes that are committed, and the aspirations that young people have?
Cajamarca, where this prison is located, used to be a small town, but since '94 became a tremendous mining center. So it has grown but has not developed. All of the wonders of capitalist society have come here: the people now have giant shopping centers, filled with all sorts of junk that no one really needs, but they don't have the education, the other side of development here. And that creates `created needs'. I would say, in general, in all of the societies that follow the model of the U.S. there are consumer cultures. Many people rob because they want what's in style. They are taught since they are kids they need to consume; they need to be stylish; that these objects are a necessity. So what is a necessity is no longer food and water, but a whole bunch of junk. And those created needs are what drive people to different kinds of crimes, combined with the fact that there is no way of making enough money legally to get those kinds of things.
In that same vein, what has the mine brought here or not brought here? Has the promise of having industry in the town delivered or not delivered? What do people think of the mines?
Very mixed. Cajamarca doesn't have industry related to the mine. What they have is a lot of services. The whole service sector in Cajamarca is related to the mine. Which means that most people, indirectly, might be providing for someone who works at the mine, or whatever. It's very hard to do anything that is totally isolated from the mine. It's everywhere. You hear it on the radio: they have paid ads talking about the environment. That's what they do.
A woman in the line outside said that the only crime people in prison here have committed is de ser pobre, to be poor. What do you think of that?
I think that's true on different levels. There are actually cases of police picking people up for stealing pañales [diapers]. In order for someone to give birth in a hospital they need to have their diapers, they need to have syringes, and surgical gloves. There have been people caught stealing diapers so that their wives can give birth. So that is an example of people stealing to meet their needs in a crude sense.
People are in here because of poverty on many levels: they don't have enough money to buy off a judge, or enough money for a decent defense, though a decent defense is almost irrelevant with this legal system. In a good number of cases people without knowledge – poor in the sense that they don't have a good education because wherever they are from doesn't have a good enough education system, or because they've worked since they were kids – say things wrong when they talk to the police. They don't answer the questions right because they were never educated to answer those kinds of questions. They get surprised by the authorities, or physically brutalized by them, which is always helpful in having them sign whatever they [the police] want. And this happens because people don't know.
It's poverty in the sense that you can't do anything with your case, you can't help out in the moving of papers from one desk to the next. This is often the case in the judicial system and the prison system in terms of benefits, like parole. They can take forever if you don't have money.
How does the prison climate shift and change as there are fewer political prisoners in here with you?
It's interesting because the last year that there were a fair amount of political prisoners in here was probably 2004. There have been other types of changes. For example, in 2003 the government replaced the police in internal control of the prison system. At the end of 2003 other types of prisoners started to be brought here from coast jails. In the last two or three years, however, prisoners brought here are often people being caught in Cajamarca who are not from Cajamarca. This has to do with the accelerated growth in Cajamarca, unrelated to development; so the city doesn't develop its own criminals, it imports people to rob! I'm totally serious! People plan to come and rob here because they know so few people are doing this here. And so there have been a whole lot of people detained here who are not from this region in the last two or three years. It's a very new experience.
The Cajamarca mines have created new needs, like drugs and prostitution. They always mix prostitution in there. These things create other kinds of violence. Now there are people here for drugs because Cajamarca is part of a drug route.
The other point to make is that there have been some crime categories for which prison benefits such as parole and work equivalence have been removed. In the case of rape, the sentences have been made much more drastic, and prison benefits have been removed from most if not all cases. The same has occurred in the cases of kidnapping and extortion. So now there is a greater number of crime categories that don't have the right to benefits. The prison population is growing just on the fact that there are people who would have gotten out in the past but are not anymore.
I assume that women are in the minority here. What is it like being one of the only women in this prison?
Here I would say it's actually a privilege. In this prison, the women have been treated well. Generally, treatment of women is much harsher. But the difference here is that there are so few of us. For instance, we have a sewing workshop that none of us can use because we don't know how to work the machines, but it was donated to the women because there are few of us, so we could benefit from it. So in that sense we actually benefit because we are only a few. Sometimes the doctor won't attend the men because there are 500 of them, but they will attend the women because there are approximately thirty women here.
Why is treatment generally harsher in women's wings, and how has that been your experience?
I am sure that if you speak to other women prisoners they will say the same things. I think it has to do with a lot of idiosyncrasies. One is the way the authorities see women: once you leave the roles that were given to you by society, then you have to accept what you get. With women, the treatment usually is very demeaning. I remember when I was in Arequipa they called us hijas (daughters). "I look at you as if you are my daughters." That is very offensive! It's very demeaning. The worst thing in the treatment of women is that they don't treat you like adults. Men can be roughened up a lot, mistreated, spoken too grotesquely, but they are never treated like children. And women always are. That's the biggest difference.
The other thing is, in terms of political prisoners, I definitely think that female political prisoners are seen as a greater threat.
Why do you think that is?
One of the things they always say, and you can read this in cases, particularly in the case of the Shining Path, they always say, "Oh, the ones from the assassination squadrons are cold blooded, and they are always women." I remember hearing something similar when I lived in El Salvador. I think it's this fear that a woman, when she is politically clear on things, is supposedly firmer in her beliefs. The torture of women has been horrendous- how many women have had kids in jail because of rape? It has to do with revenge. They committed the crime of leaving the roles that were given to them, and then on top of that being subversives, and on top of that, being firm in their beliefs.
I remember a woman who was recently sentenced to thirty years for something she didn't do. I think it was largely because of the fact that when she was detained by the police she refused to speak, she refused to self–incriminate, and they said, "She's too strong, she's got to be a leader." She withstood the torture, withstood everything. And that was probably the reason she got a thirty-year sentence.
For more information, visit the Committee to Free Lori Berenson: http://www.freelori.org/
Thursday, 25 September 2008
American activist Lori Berenson was pulled off a bus in Peru in November of 1995, detained by anti-terrorist police, and tried for treason against the Peruvian state by a hooded military tribunal. A gun was held to her head as she received her sentence: life in prison. Accused of being a leader of the MRTA (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement), Lori was one of thousands of people kidnapped, tortured, disappeared, and/or imprisoned during then-president Alberto Fujimori's campaign to defeat rebel groups.
At the time of Lori's first "trial," Peru was emerging from over a decade of bloody civil war, fought between leftist guerillas and the Peruvian military. Two major armed movements fought the Peruvian government, the MRTA and Sendero Luminoso, the Maoist Shining Path. Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has estimated that approximately 70,000 people were killed between 1980 and 2000. Seventy–five percent of the victims were indigenous people, mostly Quechua, a number vastly out of proportion to their 16% share of the national population. The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds the government (through its military, police and intelligence apparatus along with paramilitary units) responsible for at least 45% of those deaths–compared to the MRTA who caused less than 2% of mortalities during the civil war. The Shining Path was deemed responsible for the majority – 53%.
This interview with Lori Berenson took place shortly before the first of a series of trials of Alberto Fujimori began in Lima. Last December, the former president was sentenced to six years in prison for abuse of authority, the first of three charges. His second trial, for human rights abuses including homicide and kidnapping, resumed July 14th, 2008. Ironically, if he is found guilty on all counts, Fujimori could serve up to 30 years in prison–just ten years more than Lori Berenson is currently serving. However, since Fujimori turns seventy this year, he is eligible under Peruvian law for a reduced sentence served under house arrest.
In this interview, Lori discusses how she maintains her hope while in prison, what she believes it takes to effect real and lasting social change, the emerging `New Left' in Latin America, and why women political prisoners are perceived as a threat to social stability.
What's the hardest thing for you about being in prison?
Frustration! You don't have control of your own life. People don't treat you like an adult. People are afraid to tell you that someone's sick. You are unable to deal with your own problems, either economic or otherwise. You feel sort of – in Spanish it would be impotencia – you can't do anything. The prison authorities beat someone up, you can't do anything. Someone's sick, you can't do anything. You need to write a letter to someone and you can't mail it. Frustration.
How do you maintain your hope and political conviction in a place as oppressive and confining and limiting as prison? What can you say about the prison system?
Each of the prisons I've lived in has provided a direct experience of why I think this prison system needs to change. Certainly, the first years I was in jail were very repressive years. Even in the last few years, you can still see the mistreatment of poor people. You can see it when they are presented before the judges, and you can see it in daily treatment. It's money: those who don't have money are not equal citizens. It's a very defined class differentiation.
What advice do you have for young people who want real and lasting change?
I think that today's young people have a really strong responsibility upon them. I'm no expert in any topic, but what I've heard about the environment is that there won't be much water in Peru in 20 years. Unless people start changing the way they live day to day, and unless people dedicate themselves to making superpowers change their environmentally destructive habits, then things will be hell on earth in 5 to 10 years. And that's just about the environment! Every war that superpowers like the U.S. wage mainly for economic interest is harmful on many levels – including mass killing of people. We're seeing a drastic situation, basically.
What do you think are the major components of a successful political movement?
At this point, I think there are two things. One is that you have to decide what "star" you are looking to follow. I think most of the left (i.e., "progressive people") have a lot of confusion as to where they are going right now. And that is not helpful. What I find very negative, and what I've certainly seen here and in El Salvador, is that when you have a very divided left and progressive circle you go nowhere. You just wind up with everyone in their own little cube doing nothing. At least for me, if you want to be in your little cube, just fight your own struggle, don't fight your struggle on the basis of saying, "Oh, so and so is worse." In the presidential campaign here in Peru, the most pathetic thing I've seen was one segment of the left criticizing other segments.
You've been outlining your first point about a successful social movement. What is your second point about?
On certain issues, it is important that there be unity among progressives and leftists. For example, in the U.S., what might be a principal point is to stop the war in Iraq immediately and not permit that there be another war like that. From what I hear on the radio, that's something that the left has in common with many from the Democratic Party. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. What issues are big enough? Protecting the environment! These are things that a lot of sectors can unite to do.
The other thing is that the left needs to look for where to go. I don't think we need to look for a guide, someone who is going to say, "Do this." We need to sit down and think: What was good about what used to be regarded as the standards of the left before the falling of the Soviet block? What things were good, what things were not? What things need to be changed, what things shouldn't exist? That kind of thing. We must learn from what was good and what was bad. But it's time to do it, because I think we're sitting around too long – myself included, by the way.
What lesson would you want to pass on to other activists, particularly young activists?
Go ahead with whatever you're doing. I admire and I'm proud of the fact that there are still people who think that there are streets in which other people roam, and that things are not really what the press says, and that it is necessary to look out farther than what you can see from the windowsill. This is in spite of the fact that I think there is a proliferating move throughout the world to create individuals that live in their own little cubes. You go, and you see, that the world isn't really what you think it is, and that it is that way maybe not for the reasons that the mainstream press says. It is necessary to think and to do – and not to sit and wait.
What is your hope for the future? Your future, and the future of movements you've been involved in?
I don't think the future is going to be better in the short term. I'm not that hopeful about the governments in power. Even the trend in this region doesn't give me much hope for solid structural change. You can have certain reforms that could be helpful, you can give spaces to the political or popular movement, allow them to do things they haven't been able to under very repressive regimes, but it doesn't mean there is a substantial change. The rules of the game haven't changed. And unless those change, nothing will. It's time to get back to discovering where we want to go, and while we're discovering that, just start walking.
Do you have hope for the Chavez/Morales movement in Latin America, the threat of having a unified Latin American bloc that could potentially create solidarity among Latin American countries? What do you think about that?
I think it's important that there be solidarity. But I don't have enough information to know what they are really doing or not. What is clear to me is that it is still not possible to change the rules of the game. That's the issue. You have to get to that place. It's good that they feel this way. Certainly here in Peru the leaders seem to be afraid of something about the Chavez movement. What are they so afraid of? And the Peruvians are very afraid. And much of the U.S. is too. Actually, I think that they are giving us a hand on that. By making bigger deals out of things, they are actually unifying the left on certain things. Well, thank you!
What is your opinion of the war on Iraq, and do you see that fitting into the history of imperialism in Latin America?
I don't know enough about history to give a historical background, but I think it's more complicated in the sense that the economic interests are very big. It's not only the interest in petroleum–it's the interest in making a war and making peace-so that a lot of money is invested in destruction and the rest invested in reconstruction, which is disgusting. But then on social terms, I would say that they saw fighting as a way of uniting the U.S. after September 11th and making it feel strong. The heroes and Rambos–I'm not sure if that's the correct name in today's movies–but that kind of figure that's going to go in there and kill all the bad guys. I also think the whole "hyping up" on nationalism is the other thing they intended to do.
You saw, because of your involvement with struggles in El Salvador, what happens when damaging policy is directed at a specific group of people. I'm curious if you see the war on Iraq as a parallel to that, as part of U.S. expansion and hegemony?
I think it is, but I wouldn't make a parallel with Central America. I think Iraq is a much more powerful country, and I think there are other issues involved, like pride of the nations that are situated close to Iraq. I think it's a much more complicated issue. And I don't think the United States really took that into account. Vietnam, for example, was more isolated, whereas Iraq is not. And Vietnam didn't have petroleum.
What is horrifying as well in Iraq is that so many historical relics and architecture have been destroyed–and no one seems to care. That's never mentioned, ever, just as all the civilians killed are never mentioned. I think the U.S. has opened a big can of worms and they don't know how to close it; at this point, they don't know how to pull out.
Do you expect to be paroled in 2010, and what is your hope for your future?
I should be paroled but I'm not sure. I think many things can happen. The only thing that's been constant over the last sixteen to twenty years is that the terrorists are the bad people. During the ten-year regime of Fujimori, Alan GarcÃa was in exile for corruption – and now he is president again. Who knows how Fujimori's trial will be, and how he will be regarded in about five years. But what has been a constant is that terrorists are terrorists, at least in the media. If it is really perceived as a danger, then political prisoners who are higher profile won't be released, and I won't be released on parole when I become eligible.
What tactics do you use to stay sane?
I was once asked a similar question: "How do people cope with prisons?" There are a variety of tactics. One is escaping from it in your mind – people get high, people do a whole bunch of things. In the case of myself, and most political prisoners I have known, the thing would be the confidence that whatever you believed in was right. So I think that has not changed. And you might have a good day or a bad day, I mean, when it rains everyone gets sort of gloomy, but even so, you don't forget that you have that.
What messages do you have for Mumia?
My greatest respect to him and to all the political prisoners I've read so much about over these last several years. Keep struggling, because you're right! This isn't just a message for him, but to those who need to move on such issues so that his situation, and the situation of others like him, can change. There needs to be knowledge and consciousness of the need for these things to change. These are people who are victims of a state's oppressive ways.
Do you think labeling people `terrorists' will get old, like labeling people as `Communists' did?
I still have the pieces that we wrote on this three or four years ago, saying `No, we're subversives, we're political prisoners, we are not terrorists. Terrorism means actions that cause terror, that try to create terror.' I think I spent so much time trying to explain it to people, where it got to the point, after years of that, that I realized people still use the word terrorist and it doesn't really change anything. Those who will feel deterred by the word might feel deterred by it anyway, and those who can see through the paint will do so as well. So this is a point on which I've definitely changed over the last three or four years, in the sense that it really doesn't matter. You want to call me a terrorist? Call me a terrorist! It really doesn't change anything. I know I am not a terrorist.
Yes! I remember growing up in a peak period of the Cold War, in an era when they would say the Russians are going to invade and whatnot, and all these communists, they are doing this and that. And you know? People became immune to that.
How do you see consumer culture affecting the types of crimes that are committed, and the aspirations that young people have?
Cajamarca, where this prison is located, used to be a small town, but since '94 became a tremendous mining center. So it has grown but has not developed. All of the wonders of capitalist society have come here: the people now have giant shopping centers, filled with all sorts of junk that no one really needs, but they don't have the education, the other side of development here. And that creates `created needs'. I would say, in general, in all of the societies that follow the model of the U.S. there are consumer cultures. Many people rob because they want what's in style. They are taught since they are kids they need to consume; they need to be stylish; that these objects are a necessity. So what is a necessity is no longer food and water, but a whole bunch of junk. And those created needs are what drive people to different kinds of crimes, combined with the fact that there is no way of making enough money legally to get those kinds of things.
In that same vein, what has the mine brought here or not brought here? Has the promise of having industry in the town delivered or not delivered? What do people think of the mines?
Very mixed. Cajamarca doesn't have industry related to the mine. What they have is a lot of services. The whole service sector in Cajamarca is related to the mine. Which means that most people, indirectly, might be providing for someone who works at the mine, or whatever. It's very hard to do anything that is totally isolated from the mine. It's everywhere. You hear it on the radio: they have paid ads talking about the environment. That's what they do.
A woman in the line outside said that the only crime people in prison here have committed is de ser pobre, to be poor. What do you think of that?
I think that's true on different levels. There are actually cases of police picking people up for stealing pañales [diapers]. In order for someone to give birth in a hospital they need to have their diapers, they need to have syringes, and surgical gloves. There have been people caught stealing diapers so that their wives can give birth. So that is an example of people stealing to meet their needs in a crude sense.
People are in here because of poverty on many levels: they don't have enough money to buy off a judge, or enough money for a decent defense, though a decent defense is almost irrelevant with this legal system. In a good number of cases people without knowledge – poor in the sense that they don't have a good education because wherever they are from doesn't have a good enough education system, or because they've worked since they were kids – say things wrong when they talk to the police. They don't answer the questions right because they were never educated to answer those kinds of questions. They get surprised by the authorities, or physically brutalized by them, which is always helpful in having them sign whatever they [the police] want. And this happens because people don't know.
It's poverty in the sense that you can't do anything with your case, you can't help out in the moving of papers from one desk to the next. This is often the case in the judicial system and the prison system in terms of benefits, like parole. They can take forever if you don't have money.
How does the prison climate shift and change as there are fewer political prisoners in here with you?
It's interesting because the last year that there were a fair amount of political prisoners in here was probably 2004. There have been other types of changes. For example, in 2003 the government replaced the police in internal control of the prison system. At the end of 2003 other types of prisoners started to be brought here from coast jails. In the last two or three years, however, prisoners brought here are often people being caught in Cajamarca who are not from Cajamarca. This has to do with the accelerated growth in Cajamarca, unrelated to development; so the city doesn't develop its own criminals, it imports people to rob! I'm totally serious! People plan to come and rob here because they know so few people are doing this here. And so there have been a whole lot of people detained here who are not from this region in the last two or three years. It's a very new experience.
The Cajamarca mines have created new needs, like drugs and prostitution. They always mix prostitution in there. These things create other kinds of violence. Now there are people here for drugs because Cajamarca is part of a drug route.
The other point to make is that there have been some crime categories for which prison benefits such as parole and work equivalence have been removed. In the case of rape, the sentences have been made much more drastic, and prison benefits have been removed from most if not all cases. The same has occurred in the cases of kidnapping and extortion. So now there is a greater number of crime categories that don't have the right to benefits. The prison population is growing just on the fact that there are people who would have gotten out in the past but are not anymore.
I assume that women are in the minority here. What is it like being one of the only women in this prison?
Here I would say it's actually a privilege. In this prison, the women have been treated well. Generally, treatment of women is much harsher. But the difference here is that there are so few of us. For instance, we have a sewing workshop that none of us can use because we don't know how to work the machines, but it was donated to the women because there are few of us, so we could benefit from it. So in that sense we actually benefit because we are only a few. Sometimes the doctor won't attend the men because there are 500 of them, but they will attend the women because there are approximately thirty women here.
Why is treatment generally harsher in women's wings, and how has that been your experience?
I am sure that if you speak to other women prisoners they will say the same things. I think it has to do with a lot of idiosyncrasies. One is the way the authorities see women: once you leave the roles that were given to you by society, then you have to accept what you get. With women, the treatment usually is very demeaning. I remember when I was in Arequipa they called us hijas (daughters). "I look at you as if you are my daughters." That is very offensive! It's very demeaning. The worst thing in the treatment of women is that they don't treat you like adults. Men can be roughened up a lot, mistreated, spoken too grotesquely, but they are never treated like children. And women always are. That's the biggest difference.
The other thing is, in terms of political prisoners, I definitely think that female political prisoners are seen as a greater threat.
Why do you think that is?
One of the things they always say, and you can read this in cases, particularly in the case of the Shining Path, they always say, "Oh, the ones from the assassination squadrons are cold blooded, and they are always women." I remember hearing something similar when I lived in El Salvador. I think it's this fear that a woman, when she is politically clear on things, is supposedly firmer in her beliefs. The torture of women has been horrendous- how many women have had kids in jail because of rape? It has to do with revenge. They committed the crime of leaving the roles that were given to them, and then on top of that being subversives, and on top of that, being firm in their beliefs.
I remember a woman who was recently sentenced to thirty years for something she didn't do. I think it was largely because of the fact that when she was detained by the police she refused to speak, she refused to self–incriminate, and they said, "She's too strong, she's got to be a leader." She withstood the torture, withstood everything. And that was probably the reason she got a thirty-year sentence.
For more information, visit the Committee to Free Lori Berenson: http://www.freelori.org/
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Kicking off The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal - Northern California Tour
For info on the film and the tour, check out the Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal blog at their MySpace page.
Jury of Peers? (Mumia's message to CR10)
Check out Mumia's new radio-essay on the issue of the fair jury, including this special message to the CR10 conference:
http://prisonradio.org/JuryofPeersMumia.htm
And read Journalists for Mumia's interview with CR10's Rose Braz:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/07/organizing-to-abolish-the-prison-industrial-complex/
http://prisonradio.org/JuryofPeersMumia.htm
And read Journalists for Mumia's interview with CR10's Rose Braz:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/07/organizing-to-abolish-the-prison-industrial-complex/
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Towards Justice and Freedom: with Pam Africa, Ramona Africa and more
Towards Justice and Freedom:
w/ Pam Africa, Ramona Africa, Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., JR, Julia
Wright (from Paris) and Leslie Jones
SATURDAY Night September 27th 6pm.
at
Black New World (no charge, donations gladly accepted)
863 Pine St.
West Oakland, CA
415-648-4505 for more information
There are many more events scheduled for this week long tour, email
info@prisonradio.org for a complete list.
w/ Pam Africa, Ramona Africa, Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., JR, Julia
Wright (from Paris) and Leslie Jones
SATURDAY Night September 27th 6pm.
at
Black New World (no charge, donations gladly accepted)
863 Pine St.
West Oakland, CA
415-648-4505 for more information
There are many more events scheduled for this week long tour, email
info@prisonradio.org for a complete list.
Warrens File Civil Lawsuit
PRESS RELEASE
September 16, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jonathan Moore (212) 490-0400
ATTORNEY JONATHAN MOORE, ELECTED OFFICIALS OF NEW YORK, AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE LEGAL COMMUNITY WILL HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE TO ANNOUNCE THE FILING OF A CIVIL LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY OF NEW YORK AND THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT ON BEHALF OF ATTORNEYS MICHAEL AND EVELYN WARREN
On September 18, 2008, attorney Jonathan Moore will file a lawsuit on behalf of attorneys Michael and Evelyn Warren against The City of New York, the New York City Police Department, Sergeant Steven Talvy and other officers for injuries arising out of an incident of police misconduct on June 21, 2007.
On June 21,2007, Sergeant Talvy of the NYPD SNEU beat and arrested attorneys Michael and Evelyn Warren after they questioned why the police were viciously kicking a young man they had already taken to the ground and handcuffed. For stepping forward to inquire into the welfare of the young man, Michael Warren received several blows to
the head and was charged with Obstructing Governmental Administration and Resisting Arrest; Evelyn was punched in the face and charged with Disorderly Conduct.
The Warrens were forced to appear in court on 7 occasions over the course of a year to defend against the false charges. On July 2, 2008, all charges against them were dismissed, due to insufficient evidence.
On August 13, 2008, the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) substantiated charges against Sergeant Steven Talvy for use of force against Michael Warren.
WHAT: Press Conference
WHEN: Thursday, September 18, 2008, at 10:00 AM
WHERE: Steps of City Hall
--
Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org
September 16, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jonathan Moore (212) 490-0400
ATTORNEY JONATHAN MOORE, ELECTED OFFICIALS OF NEW YORK, AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE LEGAL COMMUNITY WILL HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE TO ANNOUNCE THE FILING OF A CIVIL LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY OF NEW YORK AND THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT ON BEHALF OF ATTORNEYS MICHAEL AND EVELYN WARREN
On September 18, 2008, attorney Jonathan Moore will file a lawsuit on behalf of attorneys Michael and Evelyn Warren against The City of New York, the New York City Police Department, Sergeant Steven Talvy and other officers for injuries arising out of an incident of police misconduct on June 21, 2007.
On June 21,2007, Sergeant Talvy of the NYPD SNEU beat and arrested attorneys Michael and Evelyn Warren after they questioned why the police were viciously kicking a young man they had already taken to the ground and handcuffed. For stepping forward to inquire into the welfare of the young man, Michael Warren received several blows to
the head and was charged with Obstructing Governmental Administration and Resisting Arrest; Evelyn was punched in the face and charged with Disorderly Conduct.
The Warrens were forced to appear in court on 7 occasions over the course of a year to defend against the false charges. On July 2, 2008, all charges against them were dismissed, due to insufficient evidence.
On August 13, 2008, the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) substantiated charges against Sergeant Steven Talvy for use of force against Michael Warren.
WHAT: Press Conference
WHEN: Thursday, September 18, 2008, at 10:00 AM
WHERE: Steps of City Hall
--
Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Legal Update for Mumia Abu-Jamal
NOTE from ICFFMAJ: This is not the appeal to the US Supreme Court on the Batson issue for a new trial that will be filed later this year. This is a new very important legal initiative appealing to the US Supreme Court on the use of police-coerced testimony and fabricated confessions both by the Common Court of Appeals and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in convicting Mumia and sentencing him to death in clear violation of his constitutional rights.
Legal Update
Date: September 12, 2008
From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel
Subject: U.S. Supreme Court litigation on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row, Pennsylvania
Introduction
There has been extensive news attention to the ongoing federal proceedings concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, on the hotly contested issue of racism in jury selection and the ordering of a new jury trial on the question of life or death. (*Abu-Jamal v. Horn*, 520 F.3d 272 (3rd Cir. 2008).) The massive issue of racism will be presented to the U.S. Supreme Court later this year. However, few are aware that we have been actively litigating separate issues concerning fraud and the subornation of perjury by the Philadelphia Police Department and the District Attorney of Philadelphia. We are now before the Supreme Court regarding this governmental misconduct which resulted in Mumia being convicted and sentenced to death.
U.S. Supreme Court
On July 18, 2008, I filed on behalf of Mumia in the Supreme Court, a Petition for Writ of Certiorari. (*Abu-Jamal v. ** Pennsylvania*, U.S. Sup. Ct. No. 08-5456.) This arises from adverse rulings by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
The basis of the current litigation is that the prosecution persuaded witnesses to lie in order to obtain a conviction and death judgment against my client. The following are excerpts from what I have presented to the Supreme Court (without case citations and legal argument):
QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
I.
Whether a new trial is mandated where there is newly discovered evidence establishing that the police (a) persuaded a witness to falsely identify a defendant as having shot a police officer, and (b) induced another to falsely claim she heard him confess, in violation of rights guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
II.
Whether a new trial is required where there is newly discovered evidence which establishes that the prosecution used a fabricated confession and false identification testimony in a capital murder trial, in violation of the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
III.
Whether the prosecutorial suppression of exculpatory evidence including the fact that (a) a witness was persuaded to lie that she had witnessed the homicide and (b) another encouraged to manufacture a false confession attributed to Petitioner, contravened *Brady v. Maryland, *373 U.S. 83 (1963) and the right to a fair trial, due process of law, and a fair penalty trial guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
IV.
Whether it is error for a state court to deny a hearing on newly discovered evidence of prosecutorial fraud and innocence, where the new claims involving police-induced false testimony were previously unknown to a petitioner and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence because of state interference.
REASONS FOR GRANTING THE WRIT
I.
THE NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE ESTABLISHES THAT THE PROSECUTION MANIPULATED A PURPORTED EYEWITNESS TO FALSELY IDENTIFY PETITIONER AS THE SHOOTER, IN VIOLATION OF THE FIFTH, SIXTH EIGHTH, AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS
Petitioner was deprived of his right to a fair and reliable determination of guilt and penalty, as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution because the state's purported eyewitness, Cynthia White, was coaxed and coerced into providing false testimony against him. Her testimony was critical to the prosecution. If the jury had learned that her testimony was the product of threats and favors, there is a reasonable probability that the result of the trial would have been different. . . .
Newly discovered evidence from [Yvette} Williams establishes that White lied by falsely testifying that she observed Petitioner shoot police officer Daniel Faulkner. In fact, she did not see the shooting. White was threatened with imprisonment and in fear of being killed by the police if she did not help them by testifying against Petitioner. As Ms. Williams explained:
6. When [Cynthia White] told me she didn't see who shot Officer Faulkner, I asked her why she was "lying on that man" (Mumia Abu-Jamal). She told me it was because for the police and vice threatened her life. Additionally, the police were giving her money for tricks. "The way she talked, we were talking "G's" ($1,000.00). She also said she was terrified of what the police would do to her if she didn't say that Mumia shot Officer Faulkner. According to Lucky (White), the police told her they would... send her "up" . . . for a long time if she didn't testify to what they told her to say...
7. Lucky was worried the police would kill her if she didn't say what they wanted... She was scared when she told me all of this plus she was crying and shaking. Whenever she talked about testifying against Mumia Abu-Jamal, and how the police were making her lie, she was nervous and very excited and I could tell how scared she was from the way she was talking and crying.
8. Lucky told me that what really happened that night was that she was... in the area... when Officer Faulkner got shot, but she definitely did not see who did it. She also told me that she had a drug habit and was high on drugs when it happened. She tried to run away after the shooting, but the cops grabbed her and wouldn't let her go. They took her in the car first and told her that she saw Mumia shoot Officer Faulkner.
Declaration of Yvette Williams, Jan. 28, 2002 at 2-3.
The declaration of Ms. Williams does not merely provide direct contradiction of the prosecution's key witness at trial, but it also materially undermines the integrity of the case against Petitioner. The fact that the prosecution witness testified falsely as a result of police inducement taints all of the evidence upon which the prosecution relied at the original trial, and offends the Constitution. Such proof would not only have impeached White's testimony, but would have created doubt about the motives and trustworthiness of law enforcement personnel involved in this case. . . . The subornation of perjury from White results in the inescapable conclusion that the investigating officers caused other witnesses to lie, and that exculpa tory and impeachment evidence was suppressed. Evidence that White was coerced into lying would have been far more significance than simply canceling out her testimony, which in and of itself was of major significance. It would raise a host of questions regarding why the police felt the need to fabricate evidence. . . .
II.
NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE DEMONSTRATES THAT PETITIONER WAS FOUND GUILTY AND SENTENCED TO DEATH THROUGH THE USE OF A POLICE FABRICATED CONFESSION IN VIOLATION OF THE FIFTH, SIXTH EIGHTH, AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS
Petitioner was deprived of his right to a fair and reliable determination of guilt and penalty, as guaranteed by the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, because of the state's reliance on a fabricated confession and by its thwart ing of defense efforts to expose that falsehood. Newly discovered evidence has established that Priscilla Durham, a hospital security guard who testified at trial to hearing Petitioner allegedly confess, has since admitted to concocting the story. Declaration of Kenneth Pate, Apr. 18, 2003. She admitted to Mr. Pate that in fact she never heard Petitioner make any incriminating statements. He recalls:
...
2. Sometime around the end of 1983 or the beginning of 1984 I had a telephone conversation with Priscilla Durham in which the subject of Mumia Abu-Jamal came up.
...
5. Then Priscilla started talking about Mumia Abu-Jamal. She said that when the police brought him in that night she was working at the hospital. Mumia was all bloody and the police were interfering with his treatment, saying "let him die."
6. Priscilla said that the police told her that she was part of the "brotherhood" of police since she was a security guard and that she had to stick with them and say that she heard Mumia say that he killed the police officer, when they brought Mumia in on a stretcher.
7. I asked Priscilla: "Did you hear him say that?" Priscilla said: "All I heard him say was "Get off me, get off me, they're trying to kill me.
Declaration of Kenneth Pate, Apr. 18, 2003.
Ms. Durham was the only civilian to claim that Petitioner admitted the shooting. There is a reasonable probability that if the jury was informed that Durham was pressured by police into lying, it certainly would have disregarded the alleged confession. Without proof of a confession, there is a reasonable probability that the verdict would have been different. . . .
Moreover, as in the situation of the fabricated testimony of Cynthia White, disclosure of the pressure placed upon Durham to falsely claim she heard the confession, would likewise create a reasonable probability that the other witnesses and evidence presented would be viewed by the jury with skepticism. In effect disclosure that the police caused both Durham and White to lie, would have brought into question the credibility and legitimacy of the other evidence presented again Petitioner. In that even the prosecution case against Petitioner would have collapsed like a house of cards.
By the prosecution concealing evidence that two of its crucial witnesses lied, Petitioner was deprived of his right to a fair trial and due process of law under the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. The petition filed on behalf of him in the state court addressed both governmental interference and newly discovered evidence that could not have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence. Both claims allege violations of recognized constitutional rights under Amendments Five, Six, Eight and Fourteen. Both claims allege the prosecutorial suppression of exculpatory material evidence and the presentation of false evidence in contravention of the right to a fair trial and due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution...
The newly discovered facts establish that the police as part of the prosecution were involved in obtaining false material testimony against Petitioner at trial. The result compromised not only his fair trial rights, but led to a death judgment that violated the very essence of the Eighth Amendment.
CONCLUSION
The declaration of Yvette Williams discloses that Cynthia White told her that she lied on the stand because she feared reprisals from the police if she refused to do so. The declaration of Kenneth Pate reveals that Priscilla Durham lied in testifying against Petitioner because she was pressured to so by the police. The witnesses' fears, created by the prosecution through the police, not only explain the false testimony but also why the witnesses did not come forward. The prosecutor in Petitioner's trial had an absolute obligation to disclose the threats and efforts to suborn perjury. . . . By suppressing exculpatory evidence which included the fact that (a) a witness was persuaded to lie that she had witnessed the homicide, and (b)another was encouraged to manufacture a false confession attributed to Petitioner, contravened the right to a fair trial, due process of law, and a fair penalty trial, guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
On August 21, 2008, the Philadelphia District Attorney filed a brief in opposition to the relief we seek on procedural grounds, that prior counsel failed to raise the issues in a timely manner. Even though the Supreme Court considers only an incredibly small number of cases at this stage, we remain hopeful in view of the prosecution's egregious misconduct.
Later in the year we will be going separately before the Supreme Court concerning the denial of an entirely new trial by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Third Circuit. That court did grant a new jury trial on the question of penalty, life or death. Nonetheless, we are pursuing an entirely new trial. The issue of racism in jury selection will be presented, along with the fact that the prosecutor made misrepresentations to the jury in order to obtain a murder conviction against Mumia.
Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense in the U.S.
For tax deductible donations to the legal defense, please make checks payable to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation (indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left). They should be mailed to:
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
Conclusion
I will not rest until Mumia is free. That he remains in prison and on death row is a travesty of justice and an affront to civilized standards. We must all continue to fight for what is right, and not lose hope. Free Mumia.
Yours very truly,
Robert R. Bryan
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
RobertRBryan[AT]aol.com
Legal Update
Date: September 12, 2008
From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel
Subject: U.S. Supreme Court litigation on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row, Pennsylvania
Introduction
There has been extensive news attention to the ongoing federal proceedings concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, on the hotly contested issue of racism in jury selection and the ordering of a new jury trial on the question of life or death. (*Abu-Jamal v. Horn*, 520 F.3d 272 (3rd Cir. 2008).) The massive issue of racism will be presented to the U.S. Supreme Court later this year. However, few are aware that we have been actively litigating separate issues concerning fraud and the subornation of perjury by the Philadelphia Police Department and the District Attorney of Philadelphia. We are now before the Supreme Court regarding this governmental misconduct which resulted in Mumia being convicted and sentenced to death.
U.S. Supreme Court
On July 18, 2008, I filed on behalf of Mumia in the Supreme Court, a Petition for Writ of Certiorari. (*Abu-Jamal v. ** Pennsylvania*, U.S. Sup. Ct. No. 08-5456.) This arises from adverse rulings by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
The basis of the current litigation is that the prosecution persuaded witnesses to lie in order to obtain a conviction and death judgment against my client. The following are excerpts from what I have presented to the Supreme Court (without case citations and legal argument):
QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
I.
Whether a new trial is mandated where there is newly discovered evidence establishing that the police (a) persuaded a witness to falsely identify a defendant as having shot a police officer, and (b) induced another to falsely claim she heard him confess, in violation of rights guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
II.
Whether a new trial is required where there is newly discovered evidence which establishes that the prosecution used a fabricated confession and false identification testimony in a capital murder trial, in violation of the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
III.
Whether the prosecutorial suppression of exculpatory evidence including the fact that (a) a witness was persuaded to lie that she had witnessed the homicide and (b) another encouraged to manufacture a false confession attributed to Petitioner, contravened *Brady v. Maryland, *373 U.S. 83 (1963) and the right to a fair trial, due process of law, and a fair penalty trial guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
IV.
Whether it is error for a state court to deny a hearing on newly discovered evidence of prosecutorial fraud and innocence, where the new claims involving police-induced false testimony were previously unknown to a petitioner and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence because of state interference.
REASONS FOR GRANTING THE WRIT
I.
THE NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE ESTABLISHES THAT THE PROSECUTION MANIPULATED A PURPORTED EYEWITNESS TO FALSELY IDENTIFY PETITIONER AS THE SHOOTER, IN VIOLATION OF THE FIFTH, SIXTH EIGHTH, AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS
Petitioner was deprived of his right to a fair and reliable determination of guilt and penalty, as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution because the state's purported eyewitness, Cynthia White, was coaxed and coerced into providing false testimony against him. Her testimony was critical to the prosecution. If the jury had learned that her testimony was the product of threats and favors, there is a reasonable probability that the result of the trial would have been different. . . .
Newly discovered evidence from [Yvette} Williams establishes that White lied by falsely testifying that she observed Petitioner shoot police officer Daniel Faulkner. In fact, she did not see the shooting. White was threatened with imprisonment and in fear of being killed by the police if she did not help them by testifying against Petitioner. As Ms. Williams explained:
6. When [Cynthia White] told me she didn't see who shot Officer Faulkner, I asked her why she was "lying on that man" (Mumia Abu-Jamal). She told me it was because for the police and vice threatened her life. Additionally, the police were giving her money for tricks. "The way she talked, we were talking "G's" ($1,000.00). She also said she was terrified of what the police would do to her if she didn't say that Mumia shot Officer Faulkner. According to Lucky (White), the police told her they would... send her "up" . . . for a long time if she didn't testify to what they told her to say...
7. Lucky was worried the police would kill her if she didn't say what they wanted... She was scared when she told me all of this plus she was crying and shaking. Whenever she talked about testifying against Mumia Abu-Jamal, and how the police were making her lie, she was nervous and very excited and I could tell how scared she was from the way she was talking and crying.
8. Lucky told me that what really happened that night was that she was... in the area... when Officer Faulkner got shot, but she definitely did not see who did it. She also told me that she had a drug habit and was high on drugs when it happened. She tried to run away after the shooting, but the cops grabbed her and wouldn't let her go. They took her in the car first and told her that she saw Mumia shoot Officer Faulkner.
Declaration of Yvette Williams, Jan. 28, 2002 at 2-3.
The declaration of Ms. Williams does not merely provide direct contradiction of the prosecution's key witness at trial, but it also materially undermines the integrity of the case against Petitioner. The fact that the prosecution witness testified falsely as a result of police inducement taints all of the evidence upon which the prosecution relied at the original trial, and offends the Constitution. Such proof would not only have impeached White's testimony, but would have created doubt about the motives and trustworthiness of law enforcement personnel involved in this case. . . . The subornation of perjury from White results in the inescapable conclusion that the investigating officers caused other witnesses to lie, and that exculpa tory and impeachment evidence was suppressed. Evidence that White was coerced into lying would have been far more significance than simply canceling out her testimony, which in and of itself was of major significance. It would raise a host of questions regarding why the police felt the need to fabricate evidence. . . .
II.
NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE DEMONSTRATES THAT PETITIONER WAS FOUND GUILTY AND SENTENCED TO DEATH THROUGH THE USE OF A POLICE FABRICATED CONFESSION IN VIOLATION OF THE FIFTH, SIXTH EIGHTH, AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS
Petitioner was deprived of his right to a fair and reliable determination of guilt and penalty, as guaranteed by the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, because of the state's reliance on a fabricated confession and by its thwart ing of defense efforts to expose that falsehood. Newly discovered evidence has established that Priscilla Durham, a hospital security guard who testified at trial to hearing Petitioner allegedly confess, has since admitted to concocting the story. Declaration of Kenneth Pate, Apr. 18, 2003. She admitted to Mr. Pate that in fact she never heard Petitioner make any incriminating statements. He recalls:
...
2. Sometime around the end of 1983 or the beginning of 1984 I had a telephone conversation with Priscilla Durham in which the subject of Mumia Abu-Jamal came up.
...
5. Then Priscilla started talking about Mumia Abu-Jamal. She said that when the police brought him in that night she was working at the hospital. Mumia was all bloody and the police were interfering with his treatment, saying "let him die."
6. Priscilla said that the police told her that she was part of the "brotherhood" of police since she was a security guard and that she had to stick with them and say that she heard Mumia say that he killed the police officer, when they brought Mumia in on a stretcher.
7. I asked Priscilla: "Did you hear him say that?" Priscilla said: "All I heard him say was "Get off me, get off me, they're trying to kill me.
Declaration of Kenneth Pate, Apr. 18, 2003.
Ms. Durham was the only civilian to claim that Petitioner admitted the shooting. There is a reasonable probability that if the jury was informed that Durham was pressured by police into lying, it certainly would have disregarded the alleged confession. Without proof of a confession, there is a reasonable probability that the verdict would have been different. . . .
Moreover, as in the situation of the fabricated testimony of Cynthia White, disclosure of the pressure placed upon Durham to falsely claim she heard the confession, would likewise create a reasonable probability that the other witnesses and evidence presented would be viewed by the jury with skepticism. In effect disclosure that the police caused both Durham and White to lie, would have brought into question the credibility and legitimacy of the other evidence presented again Petitioner. In that even the prosecution case against Petitioner would have collapsed like a house of cards.
By the prosecution concealing evidence that two of its crucial witnesses lied, Petitioner was deprived of his right to a fair trial and due process of law under the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. The petition filed on behalf of him in the state court addressed both governmental interference and newly discovered evidence that could not have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence. Both claims allege violations of recognized constitutional rights under Amendments Five, Six, Eight and Fourteen. Both claims allege the prosecutorial suppression of exculpatory material evidence and the presentation of false evidence in contravention of the right to a fair trial and due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution...
The newly discovered facts establish that the police as part of the prosecution were involved in obtaining false material testimony against Petitioner at trial. The result compromised not only his fair trial rights, but led to a death judgment that violated the very essence of the Eighth Amendment.
CONCLUSION
The declaration of Yvette Williams discloses that Cynthia White told her that she lied on the stand because she feared reprisals from the police if she refused to do so. The declaration of Kenneth Pate reveals that Priscilla Durham lied in testifying against Petitioner because she was pressured to so by the police. The witnesses' fears, created by the prosecution through the police, not only explain the false testimony but also why the witnesses did not come forward. The prosecutor in Petitioner's trial had an absolute obligation to disclose the threats and efforts to suborn perjury. . . . By suppressing exculpatory evidence which included the fact that (a) a witness was persuaded to lie that she had witnessed the homicide, and (b)another was encouraged to manufacture a false confession attributed to Petitioner, contravened the right to a fair trial, due process of law, and a fair penalty trial, guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
On August 21, 2008, the Philadelphia District Attorney filed a brief in opposition to the relief we seek on procedural grounds, that prior counsel failed to raise the issues in a timely manner. Even though the Supreme Court considers only an incredibly small number of cases at this stage, we remain hopeful in view of the prosecution's egregious misconduct.
Later in the year we will be going separately before the Supreme Court concerning the denial of an entirely new trial by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Third Circuit. That court did grant a new jury trial on the question of penalty, life or death. Nonetheless, we are pursuing an entirely new trial. The issue of racism in jury selection will be presented, along with the fact that the prosecutor made misrepresentations to the jury in order to obtain a murder conviction against Mumia.
Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense in the U.S.
For tax deductible donations to the legal defense, please make checks payable to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation (indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left). They should be mailed to:
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
Conclusion
I will not rest until Mumia is free. That he remains in prison and on death row is a travesty of justice and an affront to civilized standards. We must all continue to fight for what is right, and not lose hope. Free Mumia.
Yours very truly,
Robert R. Bryan
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
RobertRBryan[AT]aol.com
Jericho 10th Anniversary National March
"One of the first steps we are going to become involved in as an Organization of Afro-American Unity will be to work with every leader and other organization in this country interested in a program designed to bring your and my problem before the United Nations ... We must take it out of the hands of the United States government."
– Malcolm X, Speech at Founding Rally of the OAAU,
28 June 1964
Jericho 10th Anniversary National March
Friday, October 10, 2008 @ 12 Noon
Moving Agitational Picket
1st Ave. from 42nd to 47th Sts.
Bring your banners, signs, noisemakers, drums, whistles, etc.
Simultaneous delegation to United Nations for meeting inside UN
Demand Freedom for Our Political Prisoners and POWs!
Evening Concert to Benefit the Prisoners
@ the Knitting Factory!
Saturday, October 11, 2008 @ 12 Noon
Rally at the Harlem State Office Building
@ 163 W. 125th Street (between Lenox & A.C. Powell)
March through Harlem @ 1 p.m.
Closing Rally Site TBA @ 3 p.m.
To download a pledge sheet with what YOU can do, click here!
– Malcolm X, Speech at Founding Rally of the OAAU,
28 June 1964
Jericho 10th Anniversary National March
Friday, October 10, 2008 @ 12 Noon
Moving Agitational Picket
1st Ave. from 42nd to 47th Sts.
Bring your banners, signs, noisemakers, drums, whistles, etc.
Simultaneous delegation to United Nations for meeting inside UN
Demand Freedom for Our Political Prisoners and POWs!
Evening Concert to Benefit the Prisoners
@ the Knitting Factory!
Saturday, October 11, 2008 @ 12 Noon
Rally at the Harlem State Office Building
@ 163 W. 125th Street (between Lenox & A.C. Powell)
March through Harlem @ 1 p.m.
Closing Rally Site TBA @ 3 p.m.
To download a pledge sheet with what YOU can do, click here!
9/19 Philly Memorial Tribute to Bro. Bashir Hameed!
LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF BASHIR HAMEED!
A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO A SOLDIER IN THE BLACK LIBERATION STRUGGLE
JOIN LOCAL PHILLY ACTIVISTS AS WE REMEMBER AND HONOR THE LIFE AND STRUGGLE OF BASHIR
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19TH
7:30PM
A-SPACE
4722 BALTIMORE AVE
BASHIR HAMEED was born and raised in New Jersey. In 1968, Bashir Hameed joined the Black Panther Party while residing in Oakland CA. Once he returned to New Jersey, he became Deputy Chairman of the New Jersey Chapter of BPP. FBI documents obtained during the 70's reveal that during this time Bashir became a COINTELPRO target. He was charged and convicted of the murder and the attempted murder of two police officers in April 1981. This conviction came as a direct result of his political activity. Bashir Hameed and his co-defendant, Abdul Majid were tried three times (Queens Two). Their first trial ended in a hung jury divided along racial lines, The second trial was declared a mistrial by the judge immediately after the jury rendered a decision that acquitted Bashir on the murder charge. At a third trial, they were eventually convicted for murder. Bashir was serving a sentence of 25 years to life, and recently suffered with pancreatic cancer.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:
KHALID 267-632-9036
TIM 717-917-1165
EMAIL: PHILLYJERICHO@RISEUP.NET
A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO A SOLDIER IN THE BLACK LIBERATION STRUGGLE
JOIN LOCAL PHILLY ACTIVISTS AS WE REMEMBER AND HONOR THE LIFE AND STRUGGLE OF BASHIR
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19TH
7:30PM
A-SPACE
4722 BALTIMORE AVE
BASHIR HAMEED was born and raised in New Jersey. In 1968, Bashir Hameed joined the Black Panther Party while residing in Oakland CA. Once he returned to New Jersey, he became Deputy Chairman of the New Jersey Chapter of BPP. FBI documents obtained during the 70's reveal that during this time Bashir became a COINTELPRO target. He was charged and convicted of the murder and the attempted murder of two police officers in April 1981. This conviction came as a direct result of his political activity. Bashir Hameed and his co-defendant, Abdul Majid were tried three times (Queens Two). Their first trial ended in a hung jury divided along racial lines, The second trial was declared a mistrial by the judge immediately after the jury rendered a decision that acquitted Bashir on the murder charge. At a third trial, they were eventually convicted for murder. Bashir was serving a sentence of 25 years to life, and recently suffered with pancreatic cancer.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:
KHALID 267-632-9036
TIM 717-917-1165
EMAIL: PHILLYJERICHO@RISEUP.NET
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Screening Mumia: The Suppression of Dissent in America
By Linn Washington, Jr.
September 11, 2008
In presenting a compelling examination of the plight of death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal the documentary “In Prison My Whole Life” also probes one of the deeper contradictions of America: persistent suppression of dissent.
For a nation that extols the provisions of the First Amendment, politicians and police have histories of running roughshod over the rights of citizens to exercise their constitutional freedoms of speech, assembly and presenting grievances to government.
The recent actions against peaceful demonstrators and non-mainstream journalists by federal and local law enforcement personnel during the Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota is yet another example of suppression of dissent.
Amnesty International is among the organizations condemning the assaults and arrests at the Republican Convention, terming that use of force and mass arrests excessive.
Amnesty International has officially endorsed “In Prison My Whole Life” – the first time this respected human rights organization ever placed its imprimatur on a film.
This well received documentary that premiered simultaneously last October 25th at the London and Rome Film Festivals focuses on the journey of one young man – William Francome – to discover more about the death row inmate arrested on the day he was born.
Francome’s birthday is December 9, 1981 – the day Abu-Jamal was arrested for murdering of a Philadelphia policeman. Francome’s American-born mother followed the Abu-Jamal case, reminding her son on each of his birthdays about the man languishing on death-row for a conviction based on what the AI report determined was a grossly unfair trial.
The film follows Francome across America from New York City to California’s Bay Area in his journey to discover more about the Abu-Jamal case and related issues like racism, class prejudice and suppression of dissent.
“In Prison My Whole Life” will have two screening in New York City at the Urbanworld Film Festival – on Thursday 9/11 and Saturday 9/13. Additionally, a screening is set for 9/26 at the CR10 Conference in Oakland, California.
The only previous US screening of this documentary occurred this past January during the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2000, Amnesty International authored the comprehensive yet concise report on the Abu-Jamal case that presented a unique examination of unethical and suspect conduct by the Pa Supreme Court in this controversial case – newsworthy material that the US news media buried.
Only two American daily newspapers carried articles on that news-laden AI report according to the NEXUS newspaper database and both of those articles were ‘news briefs.’ The news brief on the AI report published by the Philadelphia Inquirer in Abu-Jamal’s hometown was the fifth of six items in the B Section, listed below reporting on two non-fatal shootings, a small nightclub fire and a proposal to ban cell phone use while driving.
The Abu-Jamal case is fraught with suppression of dissent.
Incidents of suppression include the well publicized 1994 action by police and politicians forcing NPR to cancel airing prison commentaries by the award-winning journalist, the little known 2000 federal imprisonment of a leading Abu-Jamal activist for speaking at an anti-death penalty rally during the GOP national convention held that year in Philadelphia and 2007 strong-arming by Philadelphia’s police union to block a pro-Abu-Jamal program.
Francome’s “In Prison My Whole Life” interviews include Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Mos Def, Snoop Dog and Alice Walker – famed persons who’ve endured violations of their First Amendment rights.
This documentary also presents the first film interview with Abu-Jamal’s brother, Billy Cook. The slain officer’s beating of Cook during a traffic stop allegedly triggered the shooting. Cook shows a head scar he still carries from that beating. Cook also confirms the presence of his close friend long suspected by some as the person who fatally shot the officer.
Producers for the documentary are acclaimed British actor Colin Firth and his wife Livia Giuggioli who enlisted renowned director Marc Evans.
Producer Livia Giuggioli, during a recent interview with Hans Bennett, said intense passions displayed by advocates and enemies of Abu-Jamal is one of the things that interested them about pursuing this project.
“This is what really fascinated us all when we started to approach the subject and research,” said Giuggioli who lives in London.
“If you detach everything from this “figure” you just find a man who has been a victim of politics more than anything else,” Giuggioli noted echoing a conclusion of the 2000 AI report that politics had polluted judicial rulings in the Abu-Jamal case.
“In Prison” presents extraordinary evidence pointing to Abu-Jamal’s innocence inclusive of crime scene photographs discovered in 2006 that contradict core elements of the prosecution’s case against the man whose written five books while on death row.
The photos, for example, show no bullet marks in the sidewalk where prosecutors declared Abu-Jamal shot into the sidewalk around the fallen officer three times before shooting him once in the face. The photos show no cab behind the officer’s squad car where prosecutors told jurors a cab driver observed the murder. Additionally, the photos show police tampering with evidence at the crime scene.
A consultant for the documentary, German professor Dr. Michael Schiffmann, located these photos shot by a Philadelphia news photographer who arrived at the shooting scene minutes after the crime.
Schiffmann published the 2006 book “Race Against Death” one of the two most thorough examinations of the Abu-Jamal case. The other book is “Killing Time” by Philadelphia-area investigative reporter Dave Lindorff. Both Schiffmann and Lindorff have “In Prison” appearances, walking Francome through various aspects of the Abu-Jamal case in Philadelphia.
“Hopefully the film will help people to think and realize that maybe there is more to the story,” Giuggioli said. “Until there is a proper new trial – Mumia is just a man who has been sitting in solitary confinement for 27-years and it is a disgrace.”
The Abu-Jamal case is presently heading for an appeal to the US Supreme Court after the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year rejected a request for a new hearing, principally on the issue of racial discrimination during the selection of the jury at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial.
That Third Circuit ruling created new standards for jury discrimination appeals that are more stringent than standards established by the US Supreme Court. That 2000 Amnesty International report faulted courts for improperly creating new legal standards to deny justice to Abu-Jamal.
Linn Washington Jr. is a Philadelphia journalist who’s followed the Abu-Jamal case since 1981. Washington appears briefly in the “In Prison” documentary talking about police brutality in Philadelphia.
September 11, 2008
In presenting a compelling examination of the plight of death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal the documentary “In Prison My Whole Life” also probes one of the deeper contradictions of America: persistent suppression of dissent.
For a nation that extols the provisions of the First Amendment, politicians and police have histories of running roughshod over the rights of citizens to exercise their constitutional freedoms of speech, assembly and presenting grievances to government.
The recent actions against peaceful demonstrators and non-mainstream journalists by federal and local law enforcement personnel during the Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota is yet another example of suppression of dissent.
Amnesty International is among the organizations condemning the assaults and arrests at the Republican Convention, terming that use of force and mass arrests excessive.
Amnesty International has officially endorsed “In Prison My Whole Life” – the first time this respected human rights organization ever placed its imprimatur on a film.
This well received documentary that premiered simultaneously last October 25th at the London and Rome Film Festivals focuses on the journey of one young man – William Francome – to discover more about the death row inmate arrested on the day he was born.
Francome’s birthday is December 9, 1981 – the day Abu-Jamal was arrested for murdering of a Philadelphia policeman. Francome’s American-born mother followed the Abu-Jamal case, reminding her son on each of his birthdays about the man languishing on death-row for a conviction based on what the AI report determined was a grossly unfair trial.
The film follows Francome across America from New York City to California’s Bay Area in his journey to discover more about the Abu-Jamal case and related issues like racism, class prejudice and suppression of dissent.
“In Prison My Whole Life” will have two screening in New York City at the Urbanworld Film Festival – on Thursday 9/11 and Saturday 9/13. Additionally, a screening is set for 9/26 at the CR10 Conference in Oakland, California.
The only previous US screening of this documentary occurred this past January during the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2000, Amnesty International authored the comprehensive yet concise report on the Abu-Jamal case that presented a unique examination of unethical and suspect conduct by the Pa Supreme Court in this controversial case – newsworthy material that the US news media buried.
Only two American daily newspapers carried articles on that news-laden AI report according to the NEXUS newspaper database and both of those articles were ‘news briefs.’ The news brief on the AI report published by the Philadelphia Inquirer in Abu-Jamal’s hometown was the fifth of six items in the B Section, listed below reporting on two non-fatal shootings, a small nightclub fire and a proposal to ban cell phone use while driving.
The Abu-Jamal case is fraught with suppression of dissent.
Incidents of suppression include the well publicized 1994 action by police and politicians forcing NPR to cancel airing prison commentaries by the award-winning journalist, the little known 2000 federal imprisonment of a leading Abu-Jamal activist for speaking at an anti-death penalty rally during the GOP national convention held that year in Philadelphia and 2007 strong-arming by Philadelphia’s police union to block a pro-Abu-Jamal program.
Francome’s “In Prison My Whole Life” interviews include Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Mos Def, Snoop Dog and Alice Walker – famed persons who’ve endured violations of their First Amendment rights.
This documentary also presents the first film interview with Abu-Jamal’s brother, Billy Cook. The slain officer’s beating of Cook during a traffic stop allegedly triggered the shooting. Cook shows a head scar he still carries from that beating. Cook also confirms the presence of his close friend long suspected by some as the person who fatally shot the officer.
Producers for the documentary are acclaimed British actor Colin Firth and his wife Livia Giuggioli who enlisted renowned director Marc Evans.
Producer Livia Giuggioli, during a recent interview with Hans Bennett, said intense passions displayed by advocates and enemies of Abu-Jamal is one of the things that interested them about pursuing this project.
“This is what really fascinated us all when we started to approach the subject and research,” said Giuggioli who lives in London.
“If you detach everything from this “figure” you just find a man who has been a victim of politics more than anything else,” Giuggioli noted echoing a conclusion of the 2000 AI report that politics had polluted judicial rulings in the Abu-Jamal case.
“In Prison” presents extraordinary evidence pointing to Abu-Jamal’s innocence inclusive of crime scene photographs discovered in 2006 that contradict core elements of the prosecution’s case against the man whose written five books while on death row.
The photos, for example, show no bullet marks in the sidewalk where prosecutors declared Abu-Jamal shot into the sidewalk around the fallen officer three times before shooting him once in the face. The photos show no cab behind the officer’s squad car where prosecutors told jurors a cab driver observed the murder. Additionally, the photos show police tampering with evidence at the crime scene.
A consultant for the documentary, German professor Dr. Michael Schiffmann, located these photos shot by a Philadelphia news photographer who arrived at the shooting scene minutes after the crime.
Schiffmann published the 2006 book “Race Against Death” one of the two most thorough examinations of the Abu-Jamal case. The other book is “Killing Time” by Philadelphia-area investigative reporter Dave Lindorff. Both Schiffmann and Lindorff have “In Prison” appearances, walking Francome through various aspects of the Abu-Jamal case in Philadelphia.
“Hopefully the film will help people to think and realize that maybe there is more to the story,” Giuggioli said. “Until there is a proper new trial – Mumia is just a man who has been sitting in solitary confinement for 27-years and it is a disgrace.”
The Abu-Jamal case is presently heading for an appeal to the US Supreme Court after the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year rejected a request for a new hearing, principally on the issue of racial discrimination during the selection of the jury at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial.
That Third Circuit ruling created new standards for jury discrimination appeals that are more stringent than standards established by the US Supreme Court. That 2000 Amnesty International report faulted courts for improperly creating new legal standards to deny justice to Abu-Jamal.
Linn Washington Jr. is a Philadelphia journalist who’s followed the Abu-Jamal case since 1981. Washington appears briefly in the “In Prison” documentary talking about police brutality in Philadelphia.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Benefit Birthday Bash for Leonard Peltier
From the Free Mumia Coalition NYC:Join Friends of Leonard at the Brecht Forum on September 12 to celebrate his birthday!
We have it from a good source that Leonard will attempt to phone in during the festivities.
Food, cake, ice cream, t-shirt designs*, and fun with friends.
Friday Sept. 12, 7-10 pm
The Brecht Forum
451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets)
*Bring your own t-shirt (not the one you are wearing!) to paint on
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Save December 6th for an International Day of Solidarity with Mumia!
Save December 6th for an International Day of Solidarity with Mumia!
"I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents. Why we pick this case to depart from that reasoning I do not know."
- Judge Thomas Ambro
Once again the courts have ignored and changed precedents to illegally continue the imprisonment of Mumia Abu-Jamal. In July the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against three issues that could have led to a new trial. One of the three judges on the panel, Judge Thomas Ambro, dissented against one of the rulings pointint out that it ignores precedent.
Other than the US Supreme Court this was the last appeal to have his conviction overturned. Without an outpouring of public protest, Mumia will either be executed or will spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.
International Day of Action on December 6th!
(December 9th marks 27 years of unjust imprisonment).
Save the date! Mass action in Philly on December 6th!
There will be actions in cities internationlly. Email icffmaj@aol.com and join the list serv to find out how to become involved.
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
www.freemumia.com 215.476.8812 icffmaj@aol.com
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC
P.O. Box 16, College Station, New York, NY 10030
212.330.8029 info@freemumia.com
"I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents. Why we pick this case to depart from that reasoning I do not know."
- Judge Thomas Ambro
Once again the courts have ignored and changed precedents to illegally continue the imprisonment of Mumia Abu-Jamal. In July the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against three issues that could have led to a new trial. One of the three judges on the panel, Judge Thomas Ambro, dissented against one of the rulings pointint out that it ignores precedent.
Other than the US Supreme Court this was the last appeal to have his conviction overturned. Without an outpouring of public protest, Mumia will either be executed or will spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.
International Day of Action on December 6th!
(December 9th marks 27 years of unjust imprisonment).
Save the date! Mass action in Philly on December 6th!
There will be actions in cities internationlly. Email icffmaj@aol.com and join the list serv to find out how to become involved.
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
www.freemumia.com 215.476.8812 icffmaj@aol.com
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC
P.O. Box 16, College Station, New York, NY 10030
212.330.8029 info@freemumia.com
Friday, September 05, 2008
Mumia Prepares new appeal
From InterPress Service:
RIGHTS-US: Death Row Activist Prepares New Appeal
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43773
By Adrianne Appel
BOSTON, Sep 3 (IPS) - Mumia Abu-Jamal rallied thousands of protesters in the U.S. city of Denver last week who were calling for the release of U.S. political prisoners.
In a recorded message for the crowds protesting outside the Democratic National Convention, journalist Abu-Jamal attacked U.S. foreign policy, the protection of "foreign despots" and war for "foreign pipelines".
Abu-Jamal made the recording from his death row prison cell at a time when his 26-year battle for freedom has reached a critical point.
He and his lawyer are preparing to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court to ask it to rule on whether the lower courts have denied him justice because of racial bias.
The decision to go to the Supreme Court was taken after a federal appeals court in Philadelphia in July refused to reconsider an application for a new trial about his guilt or innocence, Robert R. Bryan, the head of Abu-Jamal's legal team, told IPS.
The application was first turned down by the appeals court last March.
Abu-Jamal, a journalist and political activist, was sentenced to death 26 years ago after being convicted of shooting dead a white Philadelphia police officer in 1981.
His case has been taken up by rights activists in the U.S. and abroad who have contested much of the evidence that was presented to secure his conviction. Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence.
"Racism continues to raise its ugly head in this country, and should have no place in our legal system," Bryan said after the appeal court's decision.
"Bigotry lingers [on] today in Philadelphia. It would be naive not to realise that this case continues to reek of politics and injustice."
"In America... people often go to the death chamber because of the incompetence of their lawyers," Bryan said.
"The indisputable facts are that the prosecutor [in the 1982 trial] engaged in racism in selecting the jury in this case," Bryan said. "We will not rest until Mumia is free."
Abu Jamal's Supreme Court petition will focus on a number of issues, including that black jurors were intentionally excluded from his [1982] trial. Studies have shown that white jurors are more ready to pass death sentences than jurors of colour.
It is uncertain whether the court will agree to hear the case, since only between 1 and 2 percent of petitions are heard each year.
But because the three appeal court judges were split two to one on the issue of racism in the jury selection, the Supreme Court might be more likely to hear the case to resolve the differences of opinion.
A Supreme Court ruling in favour of Abu-Jamal would mean that the appeals court would have to reconsider his request for a new trial about his guilt or innocence.
At the same time that the appeals court turned down Abu-Jamals's request for a new trial, it ruled that he deserved a trial limited to determining whether his sentence should be changed from death to life without the possibility of parole.
This appeals court ruling removed the immediate threat that Abu-Jamal will be executed, but it could be overturned.
Bryan is not satisfied with the narrow ruling of the appeals court. He wants a re-trial to prove Abu-Jamal's innocence.
The prosecution is also unhappy and is likely to file its own petition to the Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the appeals court ruling and order Abu-Jamal's sentence remains as death.
In an interview with IPS, Philadelphia district attorney Hugh Burns, the chief prosecutor, said he had not yet made a decision whether to petition the Supreme Court to send Abu-Jamal back to death row to await execution.
Burns said he was confident that racial bias had not influenced Abu-Jamal's original trial. He said it was "not possible" that significant errors had occurred during the trial.
If the Supreme Court refused to hear Abu-Jamal's appeal and agreed to the prosecution's request to reinstate the death penalty, the execution clock would start ticking again, Bryan said.
"Mumia remains very much on death row because this is still under review."
Mark Taylor, a coordinator of Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal and professor of theology and culture at Princeton Theological Institute, said the Abu-Jamal case was a potential embarrassment to important state officials.
The Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell, who would order the death warrant for Abu Jamal's execution, was a former chief prosecutor on the case. Ronald Castille, chief justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, is a former prosecutor who worked to keep Abu-Jamal in prison. He did not remove himself when the state Supreme Court ruled on Abu-Jamal's case in February.
Taylor said his organisation would continue to hold workshops and teach-ins to keep the public informed and rally support for Abu-Jamal's release.
"We have to continue doing what we have been doing, educating the public about the details of the case and its significance to issues like the death penalty in America, and racism and police brutality and prisons," he said.
RIGHTS-US: Death Row Activist Prepares New Appeal
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43773
By Adrianne Appel
BOSTON, Sep 3 (IPS) - Mumia Abu-Jamal rallied thousands of protesters in the U.S. city of Denver last week who were calling for the release of U.S. political prisoners.
In a recorded message for the crowds protesting outside the Democratic National Convention, journalist Abu-Jamal attacked U.S. foreign policy, the protection of "foreign despots" and war for "foreign pipelines".
Abu-Jamal made the recording from his death row prison cell at a time when his 26-year battle for freedom has reached a critical point.
He and his lawyer are preparing to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court to ask it to rule on whether the lower courts have denied him justice because of racial bias.
The decision to go to the Supreme Court was taken after a federal appeals court in Philadelphia in July refused to reconsider an application for a new trial about his guilt or innocence, Robert R. Bryan, the head of Abu-Jamal's legal team, told IPS.
The application was first turned down by the appeals court last March.
Abu-Jamal, a journalist and political activist, was sentenced to death 26 years ago after being convicted of shooting dead a white Philadelphia police officer in 1981.
His case has been taken up by rights activists in the U.S. and abroad who have contested much of the evidence that was presented to secure his conviction. Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence.
"Racism continues to raise its ugly head in this country, and should have no place in our legal system," Bryan said after the appeal court's decision.
"Bigotry lingers [on] today in Philadelphia. It would be naive not to realise that this case continues to reek of politics and injustice."
"In America... people often go to the death chamber because of the incompetence of their lawyers," Bryan said.
"The indisputable facts are that the prosecutor [in the 1982 trial] engaged in racism in selecting the jury in this case," Bryan said. "We will not rest until Mumia is free."
Abu Jamal's Supreme Court petition will focus on a number of issues, including that black jurors were intentionally excluded from his [1982] trial. Studies have shown that white jurors are more ready to pass death sentences than jurors of colour.
It is uncertain whether the court will agree to hear the case, since only between 1 and 2 percent of petitions are heard each year.
But because the three appeal court judges were split two to one on the issue of racism in the jury selection, the Supreme Court might be more likely to hear the case to resolve the differences of opinion.
A Supreme Court ruling in favour of Abu-Jamal would mean that the appeals court would have to reconsider his request for a new trial about his guilt or innocence.
At the same time that the appeals court turned down Abu-Jamals's request for a new trial, it ruled that he deserved a trial limited to determining whether his sentence should be changed from death to life without the possibility of parole.
This appeals court ruling removed the immediate threat that Abu-Jamal will be executed, but it could be overturned.
Bryan is not satisfied with the narrow ruling of the appeals court. He wants a re-trial to prove Abu-Jamal's innocence.
The prosecution is also unhappy and is likely to file its own petition to the Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the appeals court ruling and order Abu-Jamal's sentence remains as death.
In an interview with IPS, Philadelphia district attorney Hugh Burns, the chief prosecutor, said he had not yet made a decision whether to petition the Supreme Court to send Abu-Jamal back to death row to await execution.
Burns said he was confident that racial bias had not influenced Abu-Jamal's original trial. He said it was "not possible" that significant errors had occurred during the trial.
If the Supreme Court refused to hear Abu-Jamal's appeal and agreed to the prosecution's request to reinstate the death penalty, the execution clock would start ticking again, Bryan said.
"Mumia remains very much on death row because this is still under review."
Mark Taylor, a coordinator of Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal and professor of theology and culture at Princeton Theological Institute, said the Abu-Jamal case was a potential embarrassment to important state officials.
The Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell, who would order the death warrant for Abu Jamal's execution, was a former chief prosecutor on the case. Ronald Castille, chief justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, is a former prosecutor who worked to keep Abu-Jamal in prison. He did not remove himself when the state Supreme Court ruled on Abu-Jamal's case in February.
Taylor said his organisation would continue to hold workshops and teach-ins to keep the public informed and rally support for Abu-Jamal's release.
"We have to continue doing what we have been doing, educating the public about the details of the case and its significance to issues like the death penalty in America, and racism and police brutality and prisons," he said.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
PACK the Courtroom for Rebel Diaz this Wednesday!
THE FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION AND INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL STRONGLY URGE ALL WHO CAN TO ATTEND THE COURT HEARING FOR BROTHERS G1 AND RODSTARZ OF REBEL DIAZ, WHO WERE BRUTALLY ASSAULTED BY THE POLICE IN JUNE, WHILE THEY WERE QUESTIONING THE POLICE'S HARASSMENT OF A NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING IMMIGRANT STREET VENDOR. THE BROTHERS RECENTLY PERFORMED IN PHILADELPHIA ON JULY 4TH, IN SOLIDARITY WITH MUMIA, ONLY ADDING TO THEIR LONG LIST OF PERFORMANCES IN WHICH THEY ALWAYS MAKE CLEAR "WHICH SIDE" THEY ARE ON.
--------------------------------
This Wednesday September 3rd:
Support G1 and Rodstardz of Rebel Diaz
take a stand against police brutality and come out on
Wednesday September 3rd at 9 a.m.
Part MCP (Room 2-11C -
look them up under Venegas
Pack the
court room of the Bronx Criminal Court House
on 215 E. 161st St.
Bronx New York
Thank you
--------------------------------
This Wednesday September 3rd:
Support G1 and Rodstardz of Rebel Diaz
take a stand against police brutality and come out on
Wednesday September 3rd at 9 a.m.
Part MCP (Room 2-11C -
look them up under Venegas
Pack the
court room of the Bronx Criminal Court House
on 215 E. 161st St.
Bronx New York
Thank you
FILM ON MUMIA FEAT. MOS DEF, SNOOP DOG, ANGELA DAVIS AND OTHERS SCREENING IN NYC
In Prison My Whole Life, a new documentary on the case of Mumia, featuring:
Mumia, Mos Def, Alice Walker, Snoop Dog, Angela Davis, Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky and MANY MORE!
will be screening in NYC this month of September.
Screening 1:
Thursday, Sept 11, 1:45pm
AMC Loews 34th St, Theatre # 11
Screening 2 (spotlight):
Saturday, Sept 13, 6:15pm
AMC Loews 34th St, Theatre # 9
Mumia, Mos Def, Alice Walker, Snoop Dog, Angela Davis, Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky and MANY MORE!
will be screening in NYC this month of September.
Screening 1:
Thursday, Sept 11, 1:45pm
AMC Loews 34th St, Theatre # 11
Screening 2 (spotlight):
Saturday, Sept 13, 6:15pm
AMC Loews 34th St, Theatre # 9
LONG LIVE BROTHER BASHIR HAMID! LONG LIVE REVOLUTION!
It is with great sadness that we join the different organizations that have paid tribute to Brother Bashir Hameed who made his transition this past Saturday night, August 29th. Some of us first met Bashir in these last months of his life and were moved by his spiritual strength, intellectual clarity, and love for his family and people. We had hoped that the video that Bashir so wanted to do would be approved by the Department of Corrections before he passed, but that was not to happen.
Bashir's history as a militant activist in the Black Panther Party parallels so many of the other histories of our political prisoners of African descent. Born in New Jersey, after confronting the racism of the colleges he attended and that of the US Army, he moved to the Bay Area and in his own words "fell in love with the Black Panther Party". Later, he was sent back to New Jersey to try to rebuild the BPP which had already been decimated by the US government and local police. Within two years, he was either in jail or facing imprisonment for up to 20 years, all for doing regular BPP work, distribution of the party newspaper, the breakfast program, and political education. He ended up spending four years in Trenton State Prison and upon release was immediately again targeted. The Queens 2 case, which included Abdul Majid and himself, involved the alleged killing of two policemen in Queens. Their first trial ended in a hung jury, the second was declared a mistrial with 8 to 4 for "not guilty", and the last involved very questionable witnesses and finally led to the conviction the state wanted, and a sentence of 30+ years to life, with the recommendation that Bashir and Abdul never be paroled.
We say to Bashir's family, to his wife, and to all those who loved and admired him, that Bashir will not be forgotten. Just this past Sunday, at the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement hip hop concert, hundreds of young people learned about who Bashir is, were very moved by Brother Dhoruba's tribute to him, and cheered with great respect as each hip hop artist began his/ her performance with an individual dedication to Bashir. Would that Bashir had heard this in his lifetime, but he knew he would be remembered, and showed that confidence in his last days. Revolutionaries never die!
We extend our condolences to Bashir's devoted mother, Mrs. York, to his son, his sister, his niece (who became a doctor with the encouragement and prodding of her incarcerated uncle and who monitored his medical care in the last years of his life when he faced several serious medical conditions), and to his wife, Florence, who left her home in Texas to spend these last months by her husband's side.
In loving revolutionary memory,
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Bashir's history as a militant activist in the Black Panther Party parallels so many of the other histories of our political prisoners of African descent. Born in New Jersey, after confronting the racism of the colleges he attended and that of the US Army, he moved to the Bay Area and in his own words "fell in love with the Black Panther Party". Later, he was sent back to New Jersey to try to rebuild the BPP which had already been decimated by the US government and local police. Within two years, he was either in jail or facing imprisonment for up to 20 years, all for doing regular BPP work, distribution of the party newspaper, the breakfast program, and political education. He ended up spending four years in Trenton State Prison and upon release was immediately again targeted. The Queens 2 case, which included Abdul Majid and himself, involved the alleged killing of two policemen in Queens. Their first trial ended in a hung jury, the second was declared a mistrial with 8 to 4 for "not guilty", and the last involved very questionable witnesses and finally led to the conviction the state wanted, and a sentence of 30+ years to life, with the recommendation that Bashir and Abdul never be paroled.
We say to Bashir's family, to his wife, and to all those who loved and admired him, that Bashir will not be forgotten. Just this past Sunday, at the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement hip hop concert, hundreds of young people learned about who Bashir is, were very moved by Brother Dhoruba's tribute to him, and cheered with great respect as each hip hop artist began his/ her performance with an individual dedication to Bashir. Would that Bashir had heard this in his lifetime, but he knew he would be remembered, and showed that confidence in his last days. Revolutionaries never die!
We extend our condolences to Bashir's devoted mother, Mrs. York, to his son, his sister, his niece (who became a doctor with the encouragement and prodding of her incarcerated uncle and who monitored his medical care in the last years of his life when he faced several serious medical conditions), and to his wife, Florence, who left her home in Texas to spend these last months by her husband's side.
In loving revolutionary memory,
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Bro. Bashir Hameed is now among the ancestors
via: Queen Sis. Iyaluua Ferguson
-------------
The news of Bashir's passing is too sad for me to comprehend. It saddens me but it also angers me. We have said over and over again that the beast intends to only release our political prisoners in a pine box. And what is our response? We don't have yet a coordinated plan to bring about their release on our terms. We continue to be static, to treat gov. paterson with kid gloves, and to make speeches, but have no real plan for action. MalcolmX has told us that it is not sadness that will free us, but legitimate, heartfelt anger (and rage) that leads to action that will set us free.
I mourn the passing of my brother. My prayers and my heart go out to the Hameed family and particularly to Mrs. York, that very courageous woman who never stopped working for the release of her son. But my sympathy and condolences also go out to all of us who have lost a warrior, a brother in our struggle, who we cannot replace and who we are not yet able to redeem.
Bashir, I miss you. Jericho, we must not let his life be in vain. Please let us find a way to stop this genocide, this murder of our best and our bravest.
Iyaluua
Sunday 8/31
Dear Friends & Comrades;
I spoke with Florence this a.m. and she asked that all sympathy & condolence
cards be sent to the Hameed Family at 511 Winton Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Thank you
Paulette
-------------
The news of Bashir's passing is too sad for me to comprehend. It saddens me but it also angers me. We have said over and over again that the beast intends to only release our political prisoners in a pine box. And what is our response? We don't have yet a coordinated plan to bring about their release on our terms. We continue to be static, to treat gov. paterson with kid gloves, and to make speeches, but have no real plan for action. MalcolmX has told us that it is not sadness that will free us, but legitimate, heartfelt anger (and rage) that leads to action that will set us free.
I mourn the passing of my brother. My prayers and my heart go out to the Hameed family and particularly to Mrs. York, that very courageous woman who never stopped working for the release of her son. But my sympathy and condolences also go out to all of us who have lost a warrior, a brother in our struggle, who we cannot replace and who we are not yet able to redeem.
Bashir, I miss you. Jericho, we must not let his life be in vain. Please let us find a way to stop this genocide, this murder of our best and our bravest.
Iyaluua
Sunday 8/31
Dear Friends & Comrades;
I spoke with Florence this a.m. and she asked that all sympathy & condolence
cards be sent to the Hameed Family at 511 Winton Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Thank you
Paulette
Monday, August 25, 2008
Goddard IMA Commencement Speech by Alumni Mumia Abu-Jamal
By TaÃna Asili
This year's graduating class of the Individualized Master of Arts program at Goddard College proudly invited Mumia Abu-Jamal to be the keynote speaker of their commencement this past Sunday, August 10th 2008. It was a unanimous decision made by all of the graduates to invite Abu-Jamal, alumni of the college, to shed his wisdom and insight as a renowned journalist, freedom-fighter, and scholar.
Mumia Abu-Jamal first walked upon the grassy hills of Vermont's alternative college as a student working towards his BA in the 1970's. Unable to complete his degree work then, it was Goddard who he once again approached in the 1990's, yet this time as a U.S. political prisoner. He chose Goddard because, "Goddard was ahead of the curve, transforming individuals and their respective communities by expanding the realm of knowledge based on the fundamental principles of democracy."
It was during this work that he met his adviser and ally, Margo MacLeod, who guided Abu-Jamal through the difficult process of completing his BA degree from behind prison walls. Years later, MacLeod became the founder and Program Director of the IMA program, which these graduates have just completed, helping to support a unique form of education for hundreds of students, just as she had for Abu-Jamal. It is for this reason MacLeod, who is no longer working at the college as of this year, was chosen by the graduates to introduce Abu-Jamal during their commencement. In her introduction MacLeod shares, "It seems to me that Mumia has achieved the kind of integration of body, mind, and spirit that we strive for within this program, and that each graduate today has achieved in some measure in their work."
Following MacLeod's introduction, Abu-Jamal's voice rang strong through two large speakers facing the audience, a packed house of eleven graduates, their family members, fellow students and college faculty. Some graduates had worried that not having his physical body present might create a vacant atmosphere. However, this fear was dispelled, as evidenced by the resounding standing ovation following his speech by a great majority of those in attendance.
During this passionate speech Abu-Jamal shared his fond feelings towards the college, and his appreciation for what he termed "one of the finest and most unique colleges in the country." He also warned the graduates, "You leave Goddard at a time when the nation and the world faces serious challenges, as do indeed you all. What the nation needs, and indeed what the world needs as well, is new clear thinking about the challenges facing us." Later adding, "But as Goddard grads you are all fully equipped with the ability to think, a faculty I might add not much in evidence in our national political life I'm afraid. But this ability when used critically and flexibly may yet result in finding sane, humane solutions to our problems."
Read more
This year's graduating class of the Individualized Master of Arts program at Goddard College proudly invited Mumia Abu-Jamal to be the keynote speaker of their commencement this past Sunday, August 10th 2008. It was a unanimous decision made by all of the graduates to invite Abu-Jamal, alumni of the college, to shed his wisdom and insight as a renowned journalist, freedom-fighter, and scholar.
Mumia Abu-Jamal first walked upon the grassy hills of Vermont's alternative college as a student working towards his BA in the 1970's. Unable to complete his degree work then, it was Goddard who he once again approached in the 1990's, yet this time as a U.S. political prisoner. He chose Goddard because, "Goddard was ahead of the curve, transforming individuals and their respective communities by expanding the realm of knowledge based on the fundamental principles of democracy."
It was during this work that he met his adviser and ally, Margo MacLeod, who guided Abu-Jamal through the difficult process of completing his BA degree from behind prison walls. Years later, MacLeod became the founder and Program Director of the IMA program, which these graduates have just completed, helping to support a unique form of education for hundreds of students, just as she had for Abu-Jamal. It is for this reason MacLeod, who is no longer working at the college as of this year, was chosen by the graduates to introduce Abu-Jamal during their commencement. In her introduction MacLeod shares, "It seems to me that Mumia has achieved the kind of integration of body, mind, and spirit that we strive for within this program, and that each graduate today has achieved in some measure in their work."
Following MacLeod's introduction, Abu-Jamal's voice rang strong through two large speakers facing the audience, a packed house of eleven graduates, their family members, fellow students and college faculty. Some graduates had worried that not having his physical body present might create a vacant atmosphere. However, this fear was dispelled, as evidenced by the resounding standing ovation following his speech by a great majority of those in attendance.
During this passionate speech Abu-Jamal shared his fond feelings towards the college, and his appreciation for what he termed "one of the finest and most unique colleges in the country." He also warned the graduates, "You leave Goddard at a time when the nation and the world faces serious challenges, as do indeed you all. What the nation needs, and indeed what the world needs as well, is new clear thinking about the challenges facing us." Later adding, "But as Goddard grads you are all fully equipped with the ability to think, a faculty I might add not much in evidence in our national political life I'm afraid. But this ability when used critically and flexibly may yet result in finding sane, humane solutions to our problems."
Read more
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Support Parole Transfers for Herman & Jalil
Contact Governors of NY & CA (SF-8 case)
Herman & Jalil are issuing this urgent message requesting friends and supporters to contact the Governors of New York and California to expedite the signing and execution of amended Executive Agreements, which will allow Judge Moscone to issue an order to return them both to NY State to attend their parole hearings.
In 2007, Herman and Jail were extradited from New York State to California to face charges in the SF8 case. Both were scheduled for parole hearings on their New York sentences in the spring of 2008. It would have been their third appearance before the board. Under a New York parole regulation, however, no hearing can be held unless they are physically present.
On May 18, 2008, SF Judge Moscone agreed with the consent of the state prosecutor and the SF County Sheriff to return them both to NY State for parole hearings--their legal right after more than 35 years of imprisonment.
On June 16th, Judge Moscone rescinded his May 18th order due to pressure from the CA Attorney General's office, and held the transfer in abeyance until new language was adopted to conform with the concerns of the Attorney General. The Attorney General's office has drafted an amended Executive Agreement which would allow the brothers to return to New York, although the Attorney General has refused to disclose the text of the amended agreement to the brothers or their attorneys. According to the Attorney General's office the amended Executive Agreements have been sent to California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York's Governor Paterson to be signed.
Herman and Jalil have a liberty interest in returning to New York. If these brothers were granted parole, then it is likely that they would also be granted bail in the SF8 case. All other brothers in the SF8 case are out on bail despite the severity of the charges. The Attorney General's tactics to prevent Herman and Jalil from returning to New York to attend their parole hearings infringes upon the brothers right to liberty.
If parole hearings await the resolution of the SF8 charges, it could be another year or two before Herman and Jalil are given hearings.
Please contact the Governors of New York and California by phone, letter or email
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160
Email: http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email
David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
518-474-8390
Email: http://161.11.121.121/govemail
Urge them to sign the amended Executive Agreements which will allow Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim (Anthony Bottom) to return to New York State to attend their rightful parole hearings.
Herman & Jalil are issuing this urgent message requesting friends and supporters to contact the Governors of New York and California to expedite the signing and execution of amended Executive Agreements, which will allow Judge Moscone to issue an order to return them both to NY State to attend their parole hearings.
In 2007, Herman and Jail were extradited from New York State to California to face charges in the SF8 case. Both were scheduled for parole hearings on their New York sentences in the spring of 2008. It would have been their third appearance before the board. Under a New York parole regulation, however, no hearing can be held unless they are physically present.
On May 18, 2008, SF Judge Moscone agreed with the consent of the state prosecutor and the SF County Sheriff to return them both to NY State for parole hearings--their legal right after more than 35 years of imprisonment.
On June 16th, Judge Moscone rescinded his May 18th order due to pressure from the CA Attorney General's office, and held the transfer in abeyance until new language was adopted to conform with the concerns of the Attorney General. The Attorney General's office has drafted an amended Executive Agreement which would allow the brothers to return to New York, although the Attorney General has refused to disclose the text of the amended agreement to the brothers or their attorneys. According to the Attorney General's office the amended Executive Agreements have been sent to California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York's Governor Paterson to be signed.
Herman and Jalil have a liberty interest in returning to New York. If these brothers were granted parole, then it is likely that they would also be granted bail in the SF8 case. All other brothers in the SF8 case are out on bail despite the severity of the charges. The Attorney General's tactics to prevent Herman and Jalil from returning to New York to attend their parole hearings infringes upon the brothers right to liberty.
If parole hearings await the resolution of the SF8 charges, it could be another year or two before Herman and Jalil are given hearings.
Please contact the Governors of New York and California by phone, letter or email
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160
Email: http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email
David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
518-474-8390
Email: http://161.11.121.121/govemail
Urge them to sign the amended Executive Agreements which will allow Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim (Anthony Bottom) to return to New York State to attend their rightful parole hearings.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Special Radio Interview with Mike Africa
The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition urges you to listen in on Thursday, August 21st from 8-9 pm to "Where We Live" on WBAI-FM Radio (99.5 FM or streaming live at www.wbai.org). Host Sally O'Brien will be interviewing Mike Africa of the MOVE organization about next week's film screening of "The Bombing of Osage Avenue."
This movie is about the horrific murder-by-bombing of 11 MOVE women, men and children and many animals by the very same Philadelphia establishment that's murderously intent on shutting up Mumia Abu-Jamal. "Collateral damage" encompassed more than a city block and a half of homes and shocked the world. The movie won the 1986 Academy Award for best documentary; Ramona Africa, the only adult survivor of the massacre, will be present. It is directed by Louis Massiah and narrated by Toni Cade Bambara -- and you can see it on Thursday, August 28th, at 7:30 pm at the Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (between Bank and Bethune Streets.)
Thursday, August 21 @ 8PM
"Where We Live" Hosted by Sally O'Brien
WBAI Radio 99.5-FM
(streaming live @ www.wbai.org)
For more info call the Mumia Coalition Hotline: 212 330-8029
This movie is about the horrific murder-by-bombing of 11 MOVE women, men and children and many animals by the very same Philadelphia establishment that's murderously intent on shutting up Mumia Abu-Jamal. "Collateral damage" encompassed more than a city block and a half of homes and shocked the world. The movie won the 1986 Academy Award for best documentary; Ramona Africa, the only adult survivor of the massacre, will be present. It is directed by Louis Massiah and narrated by Toni Cade Bambara -- and you can see it on Thursday, August 28th, at 7:30 pm at the Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (between Bank and Bethune Streets.)
Thursday, August 21 @ 8PM
"Where We Live" Hosted by Sally O'Brien
WBAI Radio 99.5-FM
(streaming live @ www.wbai.org)
For more info call the Mumia Coalition Hotline: 212 330-8029
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)