Wednesday, November 17, 2010

After the Nov 9th hearing in Philly, what does Mumia face, what do we need to do?

WHAT DOES MUMIA FACE LEGALLY AFTER THE NOVEMBER 9, 2010 HEARING BEFORE THE THIRD CIRCUIT?

The only legal options that were considered by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal court immediately below the US Supreme Court, at the November 9 hearing were whether Mumia Abu-Jamal is to be executed or get life in prison without parole. The question of Mumia's guilt or innocence and the opportunity of a new trial was not part of this hearing. The Third Circuit decided that issue in March 2008 in a decision made by the same three judges who conducted this hearing.

To grasp the significance of this hearing, one needs to revisit Federal District Court Judge William Yohn, Jr.'s decision of December 18, 2001. In that ruling the judge upheld Mumia's conviction but at the same time threw out his death sentence on the grounds that the verdict form used by the jury for sentencing at his trial violated the U.S. Supreme Court's Mills precedent, thereby prejudicing the jury toward the death penalty rather than life in prison. Yohn then gave the state 180 days to convene a new jury trial only on the issue of Mumia's penalty, in which the choices would be either death or life in prison without parole. On the other hand, if the state did nothing, Yohn ruled that Mumia would automatically be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

At the time he made this decision, Judge Yohn stayed his ruling on overturning the death sentence while the prosecution appealed his decision to the next higher level of federal court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. (At the same time Mumia appealed Judge Yohn's decision upholding his conviction). Mumia was therefore never removed from Death Row and remains there to this day.

On March 27, 2008, the Third Circuit upheld Yohn's decision on the death penalty in a 3-0 vote. Again the decision was stayed while the state appealed to the highest federal level, the Supreme Court. (In the same decision, the Third Circuit rejected Mumia's appeal on the conviction by 2-1 that is, finding him guilty and, as before, Mumia appealed that ruling.)

On April 6, 2009 the US Supreme Court refused to hear Mumia's appeal of the Third Circuit's decision upholding his conviction.

On January 10, 2010, the Supreme Court ordered the Third Circuit to reconsider its decision on the death sentence in light of its unanimous rejection of an appeal from a white-supremacist named Spisak. That man admitted to killing at least two people in Ohio and openly stated that he wished to have murdered more. He had appealed his death sentence also as a violation of the Mills precedent, but involving a different aspect of it than Mumia's case. The Sixth Circuit, as did the Third Circuit in Mumia's case, ruled that the death sentence should be thrown out. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the Mills precedent did not apply in Spisak's case, and therefore execution rather than life in prison was the appropriate penalty. Based on that decision, the Supreme Court questioned the Third Circuit's ruling in Mumia's case, and asked it to reconsider the issue of execution for him as well.

Thus, the hearing on November 9th was on Mumia's penalty only. The choices before the court were either to sustain Yohn's and its own earlier decisions or to reinstate the death penalty. According to those in the courtroom, the attorney who represented Mumia on this issue, Judith Ritter, argued the applicability of the Mills precedent very convincingly. On that basis Mumia's death sentence should not be reinstated. The history of Mumia's case, however, has shown that precedent and effective arguments, as in the argument of racial bias in jury selection made before the same three judges three years ago, are often ignored by the court in favor of a political agenda at least to keep Mumia locked up if not executed and completely silenced. That racial bias issue easily could have resulted in Mumia's conviction being thrown out, but in a split 2-1 vote, the judges established a new precedent just for Mumia. (All three judges blew off the question of Mumia's innocence).
After hearing the arguments and asking questions, Chief Judge Scirica said that the court would 'take the matter under advisement'.) It may be months before a decision is announced.

If the Third Circuit reaffirms its earlier decision to sentence Mumia to life in prison without parole, the state will most likely appeal to the Supreme Court. If that court agrees with the Third Circuit, or in the unlikely event that the state doesn't appeal at all, the state then will have 180 days to implement Judge Yohn's decision.

In that case the prosecution would have to decide whether to do nothing and let the life sentence
stand or ask for a new penalty trial (which would take place in a Pennsylvania state court) in the hope of "winning" a death sentence again. Mumia would certainly want the latter to happen since it would give him some opportunity to introduce new evidence challenging the prosecution's version of what happened on December 9, 1981, which was the basis for the jury's guilty verdict at his 1982 trial. Thus, while this proceeding would not be a trial on the question of guilt or innocence, but only a hearing on the sentencing issue, new evidence that could undermine Mumia's conviction itself might be introduced.

If the Third Circuit rules against Mumia, Mumia will surely appeal to the Supreme Court. But the odds for the Supreme Court to overturn the Third Circuit's decision favoring execution are very small given the reactionary composition of that court.

However, even if the Supreme Court rules for a death sentence, Mumia would still have some legal options. Back in 2001, when Yohn threw out the death penalty based on the Mills precedent, he did not deal with several other issues raised by the defense. Therefore, Mumia would have the right to go back before Judge Yohn and ask him to address these other significant issues related to the improper sentencing process at his trial. Such a hearing, though limited to life in prison or execution, would inevitably also include challenges to the prosecution's version of what happened at the crime scene. This would especially be true if grassroots work continues to expose the fraudulent nature of the trial and appeals process as has been done dramatically in the last few years; for example, through the release of the long hidden photographs of the crime scene, and the evidence that four people, not three, were present at that scene. This would also be true if grassroots work continues to press for a Department of Justice civil rights investigation and draws greater support and activism. Not only might the death penalty be once again overturned, but Mumia's conviction itself might get thrown out.

Mumia's legal situation remains extremely dangerous as the re-imposition of the death sentence would surely be a big setback in his struggle to demonstrate his innocence. The authorities in Philadelphia are mobilizing for Mumia's execution, and the Supreme Court seems likely to be sympathetic to that agenda. But even with that being said, the right that remains for Mumia to go back to Judge Yohn is very important for opening up space to expose the level of injustice, the violation of due process, and the racism that has permeated the entire history of this case. While the US legal system looks very powerful and impenetrable to justice, the grassroots movement in the US combined with international pressure could force the courts to make decisions that they otherwise would not. Surely Mumia's being alive today, despite three attempts to kill him, twice with scheduled execution days, is a tribute to the massive struggles waged by people across this globe.

The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal

Tigre Hill in Trouble with "Barrel of the Gun"

In the middle of the Abu-Jamal case

Philadelphia Business Journal - by Jeff Blumenthal
Thursday, November 11, 2010

David Wolfsohn spends his days representing clients in intellectual property litigation. The Woodcock Washburn partner most recently represented Philadelphia's largest insurance broker, The Graham Co., in a copyright case involving a trade secret dispute.

But earlier this week, Wolfsohn was caught up in the middle of the protracted case of one of the world's most controversial death row inmates — Mumia Abu-Jamal. After participating in a debate about the Abu-Jamal case, pro-Mumia activist Michael Coard handed local filmmaker Tigre Hill a letter from Wolfsohn demanding that he "immediately cease all screenings" of his new documentary, "The Barrel of a Gun," which concludes Abu-Jamal was justly convicted for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police office Daniel Faulkner.

Wolfsohn represents filmmaker Hugh King, who claims that without permission, Hill used an interview with Abu-Jamal from his film about Philadelphia Police brutality in the 1980s, "Black and Blue."

But don't expect Wolfsohn to start protesting outside the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office or come to Woodcock's Cira Centre offices in a "Free Mumia" T-shirt. Nor was Wolfsohn one of the majority pro-Mumia crowd shouting down Hill and the Philadelphia district attorney when they tried to tell their side of the Mumia saga Monday evening at the National Constitution Center.

"I'm not taking sides in this," Wolfsohn said. "But it was a clear copyright violation. Mr. Hill should have asked for a license [to use King's footage]."

Wolfsohn said his client wants Hill and his production company, Dacua Communications of Havertown, to pay restitution. If there is no response, Wolfsohn said the filing of a copyright infringement lawsuit could be in the offing.

Hill could not be immediately reached for comment.

Read more: In the middle of the Abu-Jamal case | Philadelphia Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blogs/law/2010/11/in-the-middle-of-the-abu-jamal-case.html

RT News reporting on Mumia

From freemumia.com:
Thanks to Betsey Piette for sharing this:

This is a good piece that RT News did on Mumia, the Third Circuit Court hearing and the Tues demonstration in Philadelphia.

http://www.youtube.com/rtamerica#p/search/1/YUJJr-s-4ro

Vietnam Vet Witnessed Faulkner's Shooting!

From V. Alba:

..Vietnam veteran William Singletary said he witnessed the shooting and Abu-Jamal was not the shooter but police forced him to hightail it out of town before the trial began...

http://atlantapost.com/2010/11/12/revisiting-the-injustice-of-the-justice-system-the-case-of-mumia/

Revisiting The Injustice of The Justice System: The Case of Mumia
NOVEMBER 12, 2010 12:02 PM

On December 9, 1981, in Philadelphia, near the intersection of 13th and Locust Streets, police officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and murdered and Mumia Abu-Jamal was shot and injured.

Albert Magilton, a pedestrian, said he didn't see the murder but witnessed Faulker pull over Mumia Abu-Jamal's brother, William Cook, who reportedly told police at the crime scene " I ain't got nothing to do with this."

A drunken cab driver who said he'd been parked behind the officer's vehicle fingered Mumia Abu Jamal as the shooter, begging the question; how many cab drivers with D.U.I.s voluntary roll up on the police?

A garden variety prostitute testified that a man (presumably Jamal) emerged from a parking lot and shot Faulker.

But wait, it was later discovered that the prostitute's eyewitness descriptions of the crime scene were found to be inconsistent. Apparently, her descriptions of the crime scene described a scene in which Abu-Jamal's car was both present and absent (I guess it's hard out there for both the pimp and prostitute).

Vietnam veteran William Singletary said he witnessed the shooting and Abu-Jamal was not the shooter but police forced him to hightail it out of town before the trial began. In the end, journalist and Black Panther Mumia Abu Jamal was convicted of murder via unanimous verdict. The "voice of the voiceless" was silenced, sentenced to the death.

I don't know who's on second, who's on third, or who shot Officer Faulker on that night in Philly. But the fact that I don't know and worse, have no idea, speaks to the fact that Mumia Abu Jamal deserves a new trial.

Before you pummel me with stones, let me say that I am not mocking the complexities of this case, or Mumia Abu-Jamal's life behind bars.

To the contrary, I am highlighting the inefficacy of a judicial system unable to make the most logical choice available when faced with an accumulation of new evidence and the weakened veracity of old evidence.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday over jury instructions given during Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial. Jury instructions? Our judicial system sometimes sweats the small stuff; jury instructions, jury sequestering, sentencing guidelines and the like. But where the over-arching questions of guilt and innocence are concerned, our system is overwhelmingly inept.If Abu-Jamal is guilty, no one cares about the jury's instructions, or whether he gets life or the death penalty? The people who are spending every ounce of energy defending him are doing so because they believe him innocent. This is the central question that must be asked and answered. Everything else is just playing with inconsequential moving parts, putting in miles on the gerbil wheel.

Abu-Jamal has modeled himself as the mythical American revolutionary. A young, bright, enigmatic rebel wrongfully convicted while poised on the precipice of a movement. It is time to separate mythology from history. Time for a once and for all verdict on Abu-Jamal's guilt or innocence. Everything else is just vacuous posturing.

Yvette Carnell is a former Capitol Hill Staffer turned political blogger. She currently publishes two blogs, Spatterblog.com and GoGirlGuide.com.

http://atlantapost.com/2010/11/12/revisiting-the-injustice-of-the-justice-system-the-case-of-mumia/

The Voice of Detroit Coverage of November 9 Actions

From freemumia.com:

Nice piece and photos on 11/9 for Mumia at http://voiceofdetroit.net/

November 9 actions in Brazil and Guadaloupe

From freemumia.com:
Brazil

The comrades in Brazil now have a blog and propaganda for their December 9 event. Actually, they're going to do their demonstraton at the U.S. Consulate on December 10 at 10 o'clock in the morning and then do some film showings on the 11th and 12th. They also have a Black Consciousness event on November 20, where information about Mumia's case is a major theme.

The address of their blog is http://anarcopunk.org/mumialivre/ and the mailing address is mumialivreja@riseup.net

(CHECK OUT THEIR BEAUTIFUL MATERIALS, Y'ALL!)

http://anarcopunk.org/mumialivre/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cartaz-mumia_pb_v1.jpg
http://anarcopunk.org/mumialivre/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cartaz-mumia_pb_v2.jpg
http://anarcopunk.org/mumialivre/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cartaz-mumia-2_v2.jpg

Support from Guadaloupe!

FREEDOM FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!

On November 9, 2010, the Federal Court of Appeals in Philadelphia will again review the situation of Mumia Abu-Jamal. This hearing will determine the final verdict for Mumia -- either execution or life imprisonment.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black American journalist and renowned author, has been on Death Row for 28 years, accused of murdering a white policeman. He has always affirmed his innocence. The trial of Abu-Jamal, which was held in 1982, was tainted by police corruption and racial discrimination.
There were a multitude of irregularities during the trial -- including the sentencing pronounced by a judge belonging to a white racist organization. Yet despite these documented violations of Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights, the U.S. court system has continuously rejected the demand for a new trial.

This case therefore highlights the violation of basic constitutional rights and racism in the United States.

The struggle for freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal is part and parcel of the fight for dignity of workers and peoples and for abolishing the death penalty in the United States and in all countries that still practice it. It should remind us that in a country that prides itself on being the world's largest democracy, a man can rot in jail and be sentenced to death because of the color of his skin color and his political views.

The LKP (Collective Against Exploitation) supports Mumia Abu-Jamal and his legal defense team. The LKP joins the international campaign to demand justice and freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

FREEDOM FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!

For the Collective Liyannaj KONT pwofitasyon (LKP
signed/
Elie Domota

Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
November 6, 2010

Saturday, November 13, 2010

U.N. Human Rights Council Urges the Release of Mumia and Peltier

From Free Mumia Coalition NYC:

Here is link to the Human Rights Council draft report on U.S. UPR (Universal Periodic Review): http://www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/default/files/101109%20USA%20UPR%20draft%20report%20primo.pdf

U.N. Human Rights Council Recommends U.S.
"End the unjust incarceration of political prisoners, including
Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu Jamal"

To "Lead by example," U.S. Must Heed Recommendations, Use "Exisitng" or Create Other Mechanisms to Release Imprisoned COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era Political Activists, Says USHRN Political Prisoner and State Repression Working Group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Efia Nwangaza,
November 10, 2010 (864) 901-8627; enjericho@gmail.com

Greenville, SC – The U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) issued a set of recommendations for the United States to bring its human rights policies and practices in line with international standards. The recommendations are the result of the first-ever participation by the U.S. in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, which involves a thorough assessment of a nation's human rights record. USHRN Political Prisoner and State Repression Working Group, which was in Geneva last week to observe the UPR process, welcomed U.S. participation as an important step toward establishing human rights at home and deeply appreciates the call for the release of U.S. political prisoners.

"The UPR process has provided the Obama administration an opportunity to identify U.S. human rights violations, develop real solutions and bring U.S. policies in line with international human rights standards, as symbolized by its "multi-racial, gendered, and religious" Geneva delegation. The Obama administration should set a good example by using its executive authority, clemency powers, and working with Congress and state and local governments to translate human rights commitments into domestic laws and policies to complete the unfinished business of the COINTELPRO/Civil Rights era and release political activists held longer than Nelson Mandela for the same reasons Mandela was imprisoned," stated Efia Nwangaza, Group Leader and Director, African American Institute for Policy Studies & Planning.

The USHRN Political Prisoner and State Repression Working Group calls on the U.S. government to heed the recommendations of the HRC, and:

That the U.S. Department of Justice review the convictions of all COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era activists in federal or state custody for civil and human rights violations.

President Obama use his clemency power and/or executive authority to create or establish mechanisms, e.g. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to commute the sentences and expedite release of all COINTELRO/Civil Rights Era political activists currently held as prisoners in U.S. federal and state custody.

Human Rights Council draft report on U.S. Universal Periodic Review is available here:

http://www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/default/files/101109%20USA%20UPR%20draft%20report%20primo.pdf

--
In Unity and Struggle,
Kali

Visit:
http://www.mxgm.org
http://www.ushrnetwork.org
http://navigatingthestorm.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/kaliakuno
http://www.facebook.com/kali.akuno

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Report from London on 11/9 Mumia Demonstration

From Mumia NYC:

Report received from Brother Omowale in London
London Demonstration at US Embassy to free Mumia Abu Jamal on 9th November 2010 continues the momentum for the UK Campaign to Free Mumia

The sound of Afrikan drums set the tone for a vibrant demonstration at the US Embassy in London to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal and demand his release. Hundreds of people were in attendance united in their demand to Free Mumia! End the racist death penalty! and Free all political prisoners!

Organisations in attendance at this important protest included the Global Afrikan Congress, the Pan Afrikan Society Community Forum, the George Jackson Socialist League, the Haiti First! Haiti Now! Reparations Campaign, the Uhuru Organisation, the Alkebulan Revivalist Movement, the All-Afhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=26810129rikan People's Revolutionary Party, the Pan-Afrikan Congress Movement, the New Black Panther Party, the Pan-African Voice, the Rail Maritime and Transport Union, the National Union of Teachers, the Crossroads Women's Group, the Coordination Committee of the Revolutionary Communists of Britain, the Partizan Defence Committee, the International Bolshevik Tendency as well as many who came as individuals.

There was a live link up with Mumia's supporters outside the Philidelphia Third Circuit Court House via Sadiq Sundiata one of the co-chairs of the New York branch of the Free Mumia Campaign (see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVtR28oPqGA) . There were solidarity messages from Ramona Afrika of the Move Organisation, from the Poor Righteous Party of the Black Nation, the Grenada 17 and Angola 3 political prisoners, messages of support from the Free Mumia organisations in Germany and France, Democracy and Class Struggle from Wales and a solidarity message from the people of Haiti. The London demonstration was part of a growing worldwide movement which held sychronised protests in France, Germany, Holland, Jamaica, the US, Canada and even Iran and New Zealand.

The evidence pointing to Mumia's innocence is so persuasive that organisers are also urging concerned members of the public to fill in online petitions to:

(i) US President Barak Obama (www.mumialegal.org) and;

(ii) US Attorney General Eric Holder (www.freemumia.com). People in pursuit of truth and justice are also asked to ring Eric Holder's office on 001-202-353-1555 or 001-202-514-2000 and write to him at: FMAJC, PO Box 16, College Station, New York, NY 10030 or webmaster@usdoj.go, asking for a `Civil Rights Investigation' into Mumia's case.

There will be a follow up meeting with the co-chairs of the New York branch of the Free Mumia campaign Sadiq Sundiata and Suzanne Ross hosted by the Pan-Afrikan Society Community Forum at 44-46 Offley Road, The Oval, London SW9 0LS on Friday 19th November 2010 at 6.30pm. A full update on the issues in Mumia's case will be given, including the reasons behind the recent replacement of his lawyer Robert Bryan.

A follow up demonstration is scheduled to take place outside the US Embassy on Thursday 9th December 2010 at 5pm to co-incide with the 29th anniversay of the unjust arrest and incaceration of Mumia.

DAVE LINDORFF REPORTS ON NOV 9TH.....ROUND 2

Round Two: Third Circuit Court Panel Re-Hears Issue of Abu-Jamal's Death Penalty on Orders of Supreme Court

Wed, 11/10/2010 - 10:39 — Anonymous

Mumia Abu-Jamal, on Pennsylvania's death row for 29 years

by:

Dave Lindorff

The three-decades-long murder case of Philadelphia journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has sat in solitary in a cramped cell on Pennsylvania’s death row for 28 years fighting his conviction and a concerted campaign by the national police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, to execute him, was back in court Tuesday, with a three-judge federal Appeals Court panel reconsidering its 2008 decision backing the vacating of his death sentence, on orders of the US Supreme Court.

The three judges, Reagan-nominated Anthony Sirica, Bush Sr.-nominated Robert Cowen, and Clinton-nominee Thomas Ambro, two years ago agreed with a lower court judge, Federal District Judge William Yohn, that the jury in Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial had been provided with a poorly-worded and confusing jury ballot form and flawed instructions from the trial judge during the penalty phase. The confusion, they decided, could have misled jurors into thinking, incorrectly, that in order to consider a mitigating factor against voting for the death penalty, all 12 of the jurors would have had to agree to it. In fact, under the law, any individual juror can decide that there is a mitigating factor against a death sentence. Only aggravating factors that would argue for a death sentence have to be found by all members of the jury to be applicable.

The 2008 ruling was widely seen as a big victory for Abu-Jamal and his attorney Robert R. Bryan, as it meant either that he would avoid execution, instead serving a life sentence without possibility of parole, or that the Philadelphia district attorney would have to request a new penalty phase trial, with a new jury hearing arguments for and against imposition of a new death sentence.

Last January, however, the US Supreme Court threw a wrench into the case, ruling in an Ohio murder case involving Frank Spizak, a neo-Nazi (he sported a Hitler mustache at his trial) once sentenced to death for random killings of Jews and blacks, that a lower court order vacating his death sentence had been in error. That case had also focussed on the confusing language of a jury ballot form, and of the judge’s instructions to the jury.

The high court, which also had pending before it at the time an appeal by the Philadelphia DA of the Third Circuit decision in Abu-Jamal’s case, sent that case back down to the Third Circuit, asking Judges Sirica, Cowen and Ambro to review their decision in light of its decision in the Spizak case.
At Tuesday’s hour-long hearing, Assistant DA Huge Burns tried to make the case that the issues in the Abu-Jamal jury instructions and ballot form were “almost identical” to those in the Spizak case.

Abu-Jamal’s attorney, Widener University law professor Judith Ritter, who had argued the same issue of a confusing jury instruction and ballot form successfully before the same judges as an assistant counsel in the 2007 hearing, made the counter-argument that the problems with the judge’s instructions and the jury form in the Abu-Jamal case were “fundamentally different” from those in the Spizak case.
The three judges seemed, in their initial remarks and in their questions, to be leaning towards the defense view.

As Judge Cowen asked, following DA Burns’ argument, “Doesn’t the jury form in Spizak significantly differ from our form? I found six differences.” At another point in the hearing, he said, “Aren’t the cases different in more than degree, but in kind?”

Judge Ambro noted that in the Abu-Jamal case, Judge Albert Sabo had told the jurors, “Remember again, your verdict must be unanimous.” Ambro observed, “That’s sort of a general over-arching instruction.” He and Cowen both noted that the Spizak jury had never been told their decision had to be unanimous, while the word “unanimous” was used repeatedly in the Abu-Jamal case, both in the judge’s verbal instructions and on the jury form.

Burns tried to counter that while “unanimous” may not have been used in the Spizak case, the jury was addressed as a single entity, at least implying unanimity might be required for the finding of a mitigating factor.

Attorney Ritter homed in on the differences between the Spizak and Abu-Jamal cases, saying, “In Spizak, you had an absence of instructions regarding mitigation that could have confused the jury. Here (in the Abu-Jamal case), it’s not silent. Look at number 2 (in the jury ballot form). It starts, 'We the jury have found unanimously...'”

Ritter argued for Abu-Jamal alone at this hearing following the surprise departure of Abu-Jamal’s lead attorney Robert R. Bryan only days before the hearing. Abu-Jamal reportedly asked Bryan last week to simply attend the hearing, but to not address the court, leaving that job to Ritter. Bryan says Abu-Jamal apparently felt that since Ritter had won the argument in 2008, she was a better choice than Bryan himself, who many Abu-Jamal supporters felt was somewhat disorganized and less than incisive at the 2008 hearing. Bryan says his proposal that he make introductory remarks and respond to any questions from the judges at the conclusion of the hearing was rejected by Ritter and Abu-Jamal, so he submitted a brief to the court asking to be removed from the case. The judges agreed to his request last Friday. It is the second time Abu-Jamal has dumped his lead attorney on the eve of a critical hearing. In 2001, just as Judge Yohn was discussing dates for a hearing on his habeas appeal, Abu-Jamal fired lead attorney Leonard Weinglass and assisting attorney Dan Williams, angry over a book on the case that Williams had just published. He replaced them with two attorneys, Eliot Grossman and Marlene Kamish, who had little or no death penalty law experience, dropping them later in favor of Bryan.
In the end, while Presiding Judge Sirica was harder to read, Judges Cowen and Ambro, at least, didn’t seem to have been convinced by Burns. “You haven’t met Miss Ritter’s argument,” Cowen said. “She pointed out some differences between the (Spizak and Abu-Jamal) forms that are significant.”
After which Judge Ambro said, “For example, the word ‘unanimous’ was not used in Spizak.”
Judge Cowen added, “In our case, ‘unanimity’ was used time and time again, and in quite close proximity to where you find things about mitigating circumstances.”

Of course, even if the three-judge panel decides to reaffirm its 2008 decision, the DA’s office will almost certainly appeal again to the Supreme Court, where the same five judges who ruled against Spizak and referred the Abu-Jamal case back to the Third Circuit panel could vote to reverse the Third Circuit. In that event Abu-Jamal would have his death penalty reinstated.

If the high court agreed with the Third Circuit, or if it chose not to take the case and let the ruling stand, then the DA would have to decide whether to leave Abu-Jamal with a life sentence, or to ask for a new penalty phase trial, which would take place back in state court.

The defense is hoping for a retrial of the penalty, since that would at least offer Abu-Jamal the chance to introduce new evidence regarding the shooting of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. For example, the prosecution made a big point of highlighting the testimony of two witnesses, prostitute Cynthia White and taxi driver Robert Chobert, who both described the shooting of Faulkner by Abu-Jamal as an “execution,” with Abu-Jamal standing astride the fallen cop and firing repeatedly at him at nearly point-blank range. The problem with that story is that only one bullet--the one that struck Faulkner in the middle of his forehead--hit the officer, yet no bullet impacts can be seen in crime scene photos of the area on the sidewalk where Faulkner lay, and police investigators reported finding no such marks either.

A test of a gun similar to Abu-Jamal’s, firing similar metal-clad, high-velocity Plus-P ammunition at a section of old sidewalk concrete, proves that such impact marks should have been clearly visible. While a rehearing of the penalty phase of the trial would not be able to directly raise the issue of guilt, in a penalty phase re-hearing, the defense could be expected to present evidence that the “execution” scenario presented to the jury by the prosecution simply couldn’t have happened, and witnesses would likely be called to challenge the story. That in turn would raise the risk, for the prosecution, that evidence -- or a witness recantation -- could open the door to a new challenge to Abu-Jamal’s conviction.

Even if the Third Circuit or the US Supreme Court rules against Abu-Jamal, and his original death sentence is reinstated, it is not the end of the road in this long-running case, however.

Back on December 18, 2001, when Federal District Judge Yohn tossed out Abu-Jamal’s death penalty, he noted in his ruling that he had “mooted” four other defense claims of unconstitutional flaws in his death penalty hearing, on the grounds that there was no need to examine these, since he had already decided to vacate the penalty. As Abu-Jamal defense team attorney Christina Swarns notes, “We have an absolute right to have those claims considered.”

In other words, if the death penalty is reaffirmed, Abu-Jamal will be back before Judge Yohn again, where other powerful and compelling objections to the way his initial trial was conducted will have to be reviewed. Among the complaints:

* Prosecutor Joseph McGill’s use of a statement made by Abu-Jamal when he was only 15, quoting Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-tung that “Power flows from the barrel of a gun,” in an effort to sway jurors towards imposing a death penalty.

* The rushing of the case and the inadequacy of Abu-Jamal’s legal counsel, attorney Anthony Jackson, with Judge Sabo ordering the penalty phase hearing to begin the day following the jury’s guilty verdict, and Jackson not requesting a delay to allow him to prepare. As a result, Jackson called not one character witness to allow Abu-Jamal to develop a case for mitigating factors.

* Prosecutor McGill improperly advised jurors, with the approval of the judge, that they were “not asked to kill anybody,” because there would be “appeal after appeal after appeal.” The Supreme Court and the Third Circuit, as well as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, have all repeatedly overturned death sentences because of prosecutors making similar statements to juries, on the grounds that it tends to remove from jurors any sense of the moral consequences of their profound decision. (McGill himself had a death penalty he had won overturned for this exact reason.)

* Finally the defense made the claim that the prosecution withheld form the defense information it had that local police and the FBI had called off years of surveillance of Abu-Jamal after concluding that, as the FBI put it in a note calling off monitoring of Abu-Jamal, “”In March 1973, per bureau instructions, captioned subject (Abu-Jamal) was deleted from ADEX and no additional investigation conducted concerning his activities. Sources, however, have continued to report periodically on COOK (Abu-Jamal’s family name) and, although he has not displayed a propensity for violence, he has continued to associate himself with individuals and organizations engaged in Extremist activities.”

As Asst. DA Burns has said, “This case will go on for years.”

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Coverage of today's hearing in Philadelphia

From journalist Sally O'Brien:

Progressive coverage of the hearing can be found at:

FSRN.ORG - Listen to today's newscast (11/9). Good interview with Lin Washington - very short comments from Robert Bryan on his removal from case - and great report from Mumia supporters in London!

WBAI.ORG - Go to the archives for Tuesday 11/9 at 6PM "The Evening News". In the first 5 minutes begins Jose Santiago's interview with Lin Washington.

There will also be several pieces - including sound from Monday's debate between Johanna Fernandez, Tigre Hill and the Philadelphia DA - on WBAI's "Where We Live" (with hosts Sally O'Brien and Dequi Kioni-Sadiki) this Thursday, November 11th at 8PM. New Yorkers can tune into 99.5 FM and others can log onto wbai.org.

Mainstream coverage of the hearing:

NBC Philly: This link includes 5 photos in a slideshow: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Mumia-Abu-Jamal-Case-Back-in-Court-Today-106957074.html

"Judge Reviewing Mumia Abu-Jamal" sez decision could take a few days to several months - http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Mumia-Abu-Jamal-Case-Back-in-Court-Today-106957074.html

ABC Philly: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=7773086

Philly.com on today's activity: http://www.philly.com/philly/video/BC666124893001.html (includes video)

Philly.com on last night's debate: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20101109_Mumia__debate__more_like_a_jeer_summit.html

Monday, November 08, 2010

11/8 3:OO pm Mumia Press Conference in Philadelphia

From Hans Bennett:

From: Johanna Fernandez

For Immediate Release: November 8, 2010

Press Conference Announcement & Statement from the Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal on the Oral Argument in Mumia Abu-Jamal v. Beard

Contact: Professor Johanna Fernandez, 917-930-0804

New York. The Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal looks forward to Professor Judith Ritter's argument before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on November 9 in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal v. Beard. Professor Ritter has been Abu-Jamal's counsel for seven years and successfully argued the Mills v. Maryland claim before the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 2007.

On November 3, 2010, Mr. Abu-Jamal regretfully asked for the resignation of Robert Bryan, his lead attorney. Mr. Abu-Jamal did so only after Mr. Bryan refused to honor his numerous written and oral requests, spanning a year, that co-counsel Professor Ritter conduct the oral argument on the Mills/Spisak issue.

In his November 5, 2010 motion, Mr. Bryan claimed that Abu-Jamal supporters left a voicemail threatening him with public attacks and embarrassment, implicitly forcing him to resign. In fact, it was Mr. Bryan's refusal to honor his client's wishes that led Mr. Abu-Jamal to ask that Mr. Bryan tender his resignation.

As a long standing supporter of the appellee, the Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal, which was formed in the 1980s to raise funds for his legal support, felt it important to ensure that Mr. Abu-Jamal's wishes and best interests were carried out.

The Committee urges all concerned to focus on the salient issue at hand, namely how the jury was mis-instructed by the court during the sentencing hearing in 1982, a claim granted by Judge William Yohn of the Federal District Court in 2001 and by the Third Circuit panel in 2007.
______

Place : Front Entrance, National Constitution Center
Independence Mall, 525 Arch Street @ 6th & Arch St.

Date: Monday, November 8, 2010

Time: 3:00PM

Who:
Pam Africa, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Prof. Johanna Fernandez, Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal & Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Heidi Bogosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild & Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
Frances Goldin, Mumia Abu-Jamal's Literary Agent, Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
Suzanne Ross, Free Mumia Abu Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Martha Conley, Free Mumia Committee of Pittsburgh
Prof. Mark Taylor, Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Prof. Michael M. Schiffmann, Germany, Author of Race Against Death
International Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal
The French Collective

Monday, November 01, 2010

WHY THE NOVEMBER 9, 2010 HEARING ON MUMIA IS SO CRITICAL

From www.Freedomarchives.org

The only legal options to be considered at the Third Circuit's November 9 hearing are whether Mumia Abu-Jamal is to be executed or get life in prison without parole. Clearly neither of those two options is acceptable.

To fully grasp the significance of the hearing, one needs to revisit Federal District Court Judge William Yohn, Jr.'s decision of December 18, 2001. In that ruling the judge upheld Mumia's conviction but at the same time threw out his death sentence on the grounds that the verdict form used by the jury for sentencing at his trial violated the U.S. Supreme Court's Mills precedent and therefore entitled Mumia to have his death sentence overturned. Yohn then gave the state 180 days to convene a new jury trial only on the issue of Mumia's penalty, in which the choices would be either death or life in prison without parole. On the other hand, if the state did nothing, Yohn ruled that Mumia would automatically be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

At the time Judge Yohn stayed his ruling on the death sentence while the state appealed his decision to the next higher level of federal court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. (At the same time Mumia cross-appealed Judge Yohn's decision upholding Mumia's conviction.) Mumia was therefore never removed from Death row and remains there to this day.

On March 27, 2008, the Third Circuit upheld Yohn's decision on the death penalty on a 3-0 vote. Again the decision was stayed while the state appealed to the highest federal level, the Supreme Court. (In the same decision, the Third Circuit rejected Mumia's appeal on the conviction by 2-1 and, as before, Mumia cross-appealed that ruling.)

On January 10, 2010, the Supreme Court ordered the Third Circuit to reconsider its decision on the death sentence in light of its simultaneously-issued ruling unanimously rejecting an appeal from a white-supremacist named Spisak. That man admitted to killing at least two people in Ohio and openly wished to have murdered more. He had appealed his death sentence also as a violation of Mills, but involving a different aspect of it than Mumia's case. The Sixth Circuit, as did the Third Circuit in Mumia's case, ruled that the death sentence should be vacated, but the Supreme Court ruled that the Mills precedent did not apply in Spisak's case, and that therefore execution rather than life in prison was the appropriate penalty. Based on that decision, the Supreme Court immediately applied the same argument to Mumia's case and asked for the Third Circuit to reconsider the issue of execution for Mumia as well.

Thus, the hearing on November 9th is on Mumia's penalty only. The choices before the court are either to sustain Yohn's and its own earlier decisions or to reinstate the death penalty, clearing the way for Mumia's possible quick execution.

If the Third Circuit reaffirms its earlier decision to sentence Mumia to life in prison without parole, the state will most likely appeal to the Supreme Court. (This is exactly what happened with Spisak, after the Sixth Circuit upheld its own earlier ruling which had overturned the man's death sentence.) But in the unlikely event that the state doesn't appeal, it will then have 180 days to implement Judge Yohn's decision.

Of course if the Third Circuit rules against Mumia, he will appeal to the Supreme Court. However, the odds for relief are small, given the increasingly reactionary nature of that court.

Thus, Mumia's legal situation is extremely dangerous. His life truly is on the line, for no matter how the court rules, the only two choices under this legal system are either execution or life in prison without parole and, for the moment, the prosecution, with all its allies and backers, is fighting very hard for execution.

THAT'S WHY WE ARE CALLING FOR ALL THOSE WHO POSSIBLY CAN TO COME OUT TO PHILADELPHIA WITH US ON THE 9TH. WE MUST STAY THE HANDS OF THE EXECUTIONERS AND PRY OPEN THE PRISON GATES FOR MUMIA'S RELEASE.

FREE MUMIA!
ABOLISH THE RACIST DEATH PENALTY!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

To make reservations for bus tickets to Philadelphia on November 9th, call 212 330-8029.

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition
www.freemumia.com
info@freemumia.com (212)330-8029

Mumia Activities Round-up

From http://freemumianow.wordpress.com/

EDUCATE AND MOBILIZE FOR MUMIA'S NOVEMBER 9 COURT HEARING
REPOST!     SUPPORT!     PARTICIPATE!    REPRESENT!
------------------------------------

11/1 - DETROIT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MECAWI HOSTS SCREENING OF NEW DOCUMENTARY, JUSTICE ON TRIAL: THE CASE
OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL

What: First Detroit Screening on Mon. Nov. 1, 7:00 p.m.
Where: 5920 Second Ave. at Antoinette, North of WSU Campus
Cost:    Free Admission
Contact: 313.671.3715
E-mail: panafnewswire@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.mecawi.org

Important Meeting As the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal Takes on Renewed Urgency With Upcoming Court Hearing

As one of the nation’s most closely-watched death row cases heads to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on November 9, Baruch College Professor of American History Johanna Fernandez teams up with director Kouross Esmaeli of Big Noise Films to investigate the controversial case of Mumia Abu-Jamal in their new film, Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Fernandez wrote and produced the film, which Esmaeli directed. Justice on Trial will receive its first Detroit screening at the weekly meeting of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice on Mon., November 1 at 7:00pm.

Trailer: http://bignoisefilms.org/films/tactical-media/114-justice-on-trial

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/justiceontrialthemovie

To host a screening of the film, email: justiceontrialthemovie@gmail.com
-----------------------------------------

11/2 - NYC

A New Appeal for Mumia
A New Big Noise Film Laying out the Facts

NYC Preview of "Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"
Tuesday Nov. 2, 2010
Baruch Performing Arts Center
E25th St. Between Lexington & 3rd Ave.

6:00 pm Reception
7:00 pm Screening
afterwards: Q&A with the Filmmakers &
Christina Swarns of NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund

On Nov. 9, under orders from the Supreme Court, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals will reconsider reinstating Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence. Mumia might still be executed.

"Justice on Trial" a new documentary by Big Noise Films lays out the facts of the case, looks at recently discovered photographs of the crime scene and speaks to both sides of the case in order to understand the ongoing controversy around the world's best-known death row inmate. In the process, the film looks at what this case says about the US criminal justice system and why it continues to mobilize millions of people, here in the US and internationally.

This is a film for people who need an update on the facts and for those who need an introduction to the case.

Come and bring your friends.

11/2 - ALBANY

JUSTICE ON TRIAL SHOWING

Tuesday, November 2 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm

The Social Justice Center
33 Central Ave.
Albany, NY

A BRAND NEW FILM about the case of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal will be shown at the Social Justice Center on Nov. 2 and across the world. This film showing falls just days before a major hearing in Abu-Jamal's case on Nov. 9. The film will be followed by a brief discussion.

Albany Political Prisoner Support Committee

albanypoliticalprisonersupport@gmail.com
Office: 518.434.4037

------------------------------------

11/4 - OAKLAND

Thursday, Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m., Black Dot Café, 1195 Pine St., West Oakland: Screening of the explosive new film ‘Justice On Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.’ Get ready for the court showdown Nov. 9 in Philly that could mean a new death sentence for Mumia by seeing this film, which points to new evidence of Mumia’s innocence. Presented by Minister of Information JR,blockreportradio@gmail.com.
------------------------------------

11/5 - PHILADELPHIA

Who is Mumia Abu Jamal and Why 11/09 is So Critical

International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal (ICFFMAJ) invites the community out to:

TEACH-IN/Informational Session

--Who is Mumia Abu Jamal?

--What are the facts surrounding his case?

--Why are we, on *11/9 demanding

“No Execution/No Life” for Mumia Abu Jamal?
(11/9, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, will be deciding whether Mumia Abu Jamal will be executed or remain in prison for the rest of his life)

--How can you get involved?

Q & A with Pam Africa

Come out to be informed, take important information back to your community, and organize on behalf of Mumia Abu Jamal!

Friday, November 5, 2010

6-8pm

A-Space

4722 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19143

WE MUST STAY THE HANDS OF THE EXECUTIONERS AND PRY OPEN THE PRISON GATES FOR MUMIA'S RELEASE.

www.freemumia.com

For more information, contact us, Iresha.Picot@gmail.com
------------------------------------

11/8 - PHILADELPHIA DEBATE!!

THE FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION NYC IS TRAVELING TO PHILLY FOR THIS DEBATE ... YES, THE NIGHT BEFORE THE US THIRD CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS WILL BE HOLDING HEARINGS ON WHETHER MUMIA SHOULD BE RESENTENCED TO EXECUTION OR BE GIVEN LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE! JOIN US FOR THIS HISTORIC EVENT IN PHILADELPHIA WHERE OUR BRILLIANT, STRONG, AND COMMITTED REPRESENTATIVES, ATTORNEY MICHAEL COARD AND PROFESSOR JOHANNA FERNANDEZ, WILL BE TAKING ON THE ENEMY -- PROSECUTOR SETH WILLIAMS AND FILM MAKER TIGRE HILL. CALL US FOR TICKETS AND TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS. ONA MOVE!

Mon, Nov 8 2010, 6:30p.m. - 9:30p.m.

National Constitution Center - Kirby Auditorium - 6th & Arch, Philadelphia

While we would usually never ask people to shell out cash to see Tigre Hill's documercial "The Barrel of a Gun" financed by the Philadelphia FOP to promote their line on Mumia's case, this screening will be followed by a debate between Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams and attorney/activist Michael Coard as well as a debate between Hill and Professor Johanna Fernandez, producer of the new documentary Justice for Mumia.

We want as many supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal in the hall who can make it to support Attorney Coard and to make sure the truth get's out.

Tigre Hill asserts the December 1981 shooting of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was premeditated despite ample evidence to the contrary. The premise of Hill's film is a rehash of the same arguments used by Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner in their book, and also the same theme raised in the sentencing phase of Mumia's 1982 hearing by the prosecutor which will be central to Mumia's appeals hearing before the Third Circuit Court on Tuesday, November 9.

Lynn Doyle, Emmy award winning host of the Comcast Network’s “It’s Your Call” will moderate the discussion.

This showing of “The Barrel of a Gun” and subsequent dialogue between Williams and Coard are purposely planned a day prior to the arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for a new sentence hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal. On January 19, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a federal appeals court ruling that threw out Abu-Jamal's death sentence because of a confusingly worded verdict instruction that arguably led the jury to a sentence of death over life in prison.

Let's pack the house with Mumia support! We have been able to purchase blocks of tickets at $13 each so we can make sure Mumia supporters are in the audience, and not just the FOP. If you want to purchase one of these tickets, please contact International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal at 215-476-8812.
------------------------------------

11/9 - WORLDWIDE!

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL faces his likely last court hearing on November 9th, 2010, at the Third Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia. The US Supreme Court has already thrown out Mumia's last appeal against his kangaroo-court conviction before a racist judge in 1982. Now, the Third Circuit is to decide between reinstatement of Mumia's death sentence, or life in prison without the possibility of parole. These are the only two possible outcomes in the courts at this time. We have no confidence in the corrupt, racist US court system!

We need mass actions, and labor actions, to say: Mumia Is Innocent! Free Mumia Now! End the Racist Death Penalty!

EAST COAST -- PHILADELPHIA: Demonstrate to Free Mumia Now! Come to the Third Circuit Court, 6th and Market, Philadelphia, at 12 Noon on Tuesday November 9th. (The hearing starts at 2 PM.)

EAST COAST -- NEW YORK CITY: Get on the bus to Philadelphia! Call the Mumia hotline at: 212 330-8029. Leave a message to request a seat on the bus to Philadelphia.

BAY AREA -- OAKLAND: 12 Noon on Tuesday November 9th: Come to 14th and Broadway in downtown Oakland.   Demonstrate to say: Mumia Is Innocent! Free Mumia! End the Racist Death Penalty! Called by the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, and supported by Campaign To End The Death Penalty, Mobilization To Free Mumia, Revolution Books of Berkeley, and Peoples Radio (partial list -- call to endorse). 510 763-2347.

BAY AREA -- SAN FRANCISCO: 7 PM on Tuesday November 9th: Come to Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia St. The new film, JUSTICE ON TRIAL, the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, will be screened. Hans Bennett of Abu-Jamal News, and other speakers. Donation. Called by the Mobilization To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. Info: 510 268-9429.
***
HAMBURG - The following rally for Mumia has been called for November 9, 2010, 5:30 p.m.,
Hamburg-america-center Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Am
Sandtorkai 48, 20457 Hamburg. The rally is endorsed by the International Bolshevik Tendency and the
Antikrisen-Bündnis Hamburg.

LONDON -

DEMONSTRATE
Outside the
US EMBASSY
24 GROSVENOR SQ
LONDON W1
NOVEMBER 9th 5-7PM

FOR FREEDOM FOR MUMIA
Mumia’s case returns to court on the 9th November 2010 at stake is whether he will be

Murdered by the State or
Granted a new jury trial
Mumia is innocent
He is a political prisoner
Mumia should be released unconditionally immediately

FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW
BRING FLASHLIGHTS
Contact:ThePanAfrikanVoice@gmail.com 07597078221/07949738851
***
The French National Collective just announced that there will be demonstrations
on November 9 at the US Consulates in the following cities: PARIS, BORDEAUX,
LYON, MARSEILLE, NICE, RENNES, STRASOURG, AND TOULOUSE!!!

***
TORONTO - U.S. Consulate—- 360 University Avenue (between Dundas and Queen)
At a meeting on Wednesday 27 October representatives of a number of organizations met and formed a committee to organize a united front demonstration for Mumia Abu-Jamal on 9 November.

The following organizations have endorsed the demonstration to date: Angola 3 Support Committee, Black Action Defense Committee, Fightback, Ginger Project, International Bolshevik Tendency, OPIRG (UofT), Socialist Action, Socialist Alternative, Toronto Young New Democrats.*

*Other endorsements are expected, and all defenders of Mumia are welcome.

Tuesday, November 9th, 6 pm
U.S. Consulate—- 360 University Avenue (between Dundas and Queen)
TORONTO

Free Mumia! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!
==================================

URGENT UPDATES - STAY TUNED - CHECK OUT WWW.FREEMUMIA.COM REGULARLY
MOBILIZE NOW FOR NOVEMBER 9TH IN PHILADELPHIA!
RALLY AT 12 NOON AT 6TH AND MARKET STS.
MUMIA'S HEARING IS AT 2PM AT 601 N. MARKET ST. AND THE STREETS MUST BE
PACKED WITH SUPPORTERS!!
D.A. SETH WILLIAMS STATED VERY CLEARLY THAT WHEN THE TIME COMES, HE WILL DEFINITELY ASK FOR THE DEATH SENTENCE FOR MUMIA.

THAT TIME IS HERE -- NOVEMBER 9!

We have very few days to do what is necessary to bring thousands of people to the streets of Philly. People must begin organizing NOW to get there -- schools, colleges, labor unions, churches, mosques, temples and every group and individual that can be reached.

As part of the organizing efforts, Johanna Fernandez is working to get her brilliiant film "Justice on Trial,' which premiered the same day as the FOP propaganda hit piece on Mumia, shown in colleges and by organizers everywhere so that people can understand the importance of being in Philadelphia on November 9.

CONTACT JOHANNA AT johanna.fernandez@baruch.cuny.edu ASAP!

WE NEED ORGANIZING ON A MASSIVE LEVEL, ALL HANDS PULLING TOGETHER!

DARBY TILLIS AND LAWRENCE HAYES, DEATH ROW EXONEREES were present on
October 9 and are organizing within the anti-death penalty movement to educate them as to
what is really going on with Mumia and to try and get as many exonerees as possible to
Philadelphia on NOVEMBER 9, along with DR. SANDY JONES, who also presented at the
program.

THE UNIA HELPED ORGANIZE TO GET PEOPLE THERE
THE IAC HELPED ORGANIZE TO GET PEOPLE THERE
THE JERICHO MOVEMENT HELPED ORGANIZE TO GET PEOPLE THERE
HAKIM FROM CHANNEL LIVE OUT OF NEW YORK IS HELPING ORGANIZE THE HIP HOP GENERATION TO GET ON BOARD
ORGANIZERS IN FRANCE AND LONDON WERE THERE ON OCTOBER 9TH AND ARE ORGANIZING TO RETURN ON NOVEMBER 9TH

... AND THAT'S JUST TO NAME A FEW, SO EACH AND EVERYBODY CAN DO EVERYTHING THAT THEY CAN DO!

CALL-IN ON RADIO STATIONS!
CALL D.A. SETH WILLIAMS' OFFICE AT 215-686-8000 AND TELL HIM HANDS OFF MUMIA!!
CALL/FAX/E-MAIL THE NEWS MEDIA ABOUT THE NEW EVIDENCE W/THE PICTURES (see http://www.freemumia.com)

Sunday, October 24, 2010

London 11/9 Pan-Afrikan Demo for Mumia Abu-Jamal

DEMONSTRATE
Outside the
US EMBASSY
24 GROSVENOR SQ
LONDON W1
NOVEMBER 9th 5-7PM

FOR FREEDOM FOR MUMIA
Mumia’s case returns to court on the 9th November 2010 at stake is whether he will be Murdered by the State or Granted a new jury trial

Mumia is innocent

He is a political prisoner

Mumia should be released unconditionally immediately

FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW
BRING FLASHLIGHTS
Contact:ThePanAfrikanVoice@gmail.com

Sunday, October 17, 2010

10/31 Film Showing: Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal

From The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) :

The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, in collaboration with the Riverside Church Prison Ministry, is very happy to announce that we will be showing the excellent new film produced by Johanna Fernandez of Baruch College and Educators for Mumia and directed by Kouross Esmaeli, Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Packed with exciting new interviews with Mumia's sister, Lydia Barashango, and journalist Linn Washington, the film presents the recently discovered evidence that totally challenges the prosecution's version of what happened on December 9, 1981, and thus exposes the lies perpetrated by the prosecution in collaboration with the police in their determination to kill Mumia.

A panel discussion about the film and the new evidence of Mumia's innocence will follow the approximately one hour film. Producer Johanna Fernandez will participate in that panel. The other panelists will be announced shortly.

Because of limited space, we ask that you call 212 330-8029 and leave your name and phone number if you are sure you are planning to attend. We will be keeping a list which will give those who made reservations priority.

DATE: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31
TIME: 1 PM
PLACE: THE RIVERSIDE CHURCH, ROOM 411

This film showing and many others to follow is part of our intense campaign building up to November 9, when the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments for Mumia's execution.

FREE MUMIA! ALL OUT TO PHILADELPHIA'S COURT HOUSE ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 9, AT N00N AT 6TH AND MARKET STREET! LET'S STAY THE HANDS OF THE KILLERS! NOW IS THE TIME, SISTERS AND BROTHERS, TO COME OUT FOR MUMIA. WE DID IT IN 1995 AND 1999. LET'S DO IT AGAIN NOW!

For justice,and for the freedom of all our political prisoners,

The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)

www.FreeMumia.com

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

International Struggle to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal: EU Asked to Address Political Prisoner’s Plight

From freedomarchives.org:
From: Pan-African News Wire

Hearing set for November 9 while supporters remain on world-wide alert
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
News Analysis

On November 9, 2010 a critical hearing is scheduled in the nearly three decade-old case of journalist and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who still sits on death row in the state of Pennsylvania. Mumia was severely wounded and arrested on December 9, 1981 in Philadelphia and was later charged, tried and convicted of the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner.

A grossly unjust prosecution was carried out against Mumia in 1982 and he was convicted of murder and given the death penalty. His case has been appealed over the years, where although the death sentence was overturned, repeated efforts by the prosecution have attempted to re-institute the penalty and carry out an execution.

Resulting from a January 19, 2010 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Third Circuit was ordered to reconsider the 2001 and 2008 decisions that rescinded the death penalty in Abu-Jamal’s case. There is an ongoing campaign by law-enforcement agencies across the country to pressure the court system into carrying out the execution of Mumia.

An international defense campaign for both the freedom of Abu-Jamal and for the elimination of the death penalty in the United States has grown since the early 1980s. The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, MOVE and other organizations have been consistent over the years in not only saving the life of this award-winning writer and hero to millions around the globe, but in raising the profile of other political prisoners incarcerated in the U.S.

There were two death warrants signed against Mumia: one in 1995 and another in 1999. Both warrants were stayed by the courts after both national and international campaigns were waged to save the life of this former Black Panther Party leader and supporter of the MOVE organization.

During the struggle to stop the execution of Mumia in 1995 and 1999 people were mobilized in his defense from all over the U.S. and the world. A key element in building massive support for overturning the death sentence and demanding his release was the role played by activists, journalists, trade unionists, intellectuals and political officials in Western Europe, Africa, Japan and other parts of the globe.

Leading figures such as former South African President Nelson Mandela and his ruling African National Congress, along with former Archbishop Desmond Tutu, came out in support of Mumia and demanded that the scheduled execution be stopped. These developments took place in the immediate aftermath of the defeat of the racist apartheid systems in South Africa and Namibia in which people in the U.S. and all over the world had participated.

Mumia’s articles, interviews and books were published in numerous countries and served to win further support for his release as well as the abolition of the death penalty in the United States, which has for over a century been implemented in a racist and class-oriented manner. In specific reference to Mumia’s case, the fact that he had been a leading member of the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia was used in the penalty phase of his trial in order to place him on death row in Pennsylvania.

Mumia had also been a staunch critic of the police in Philadelphia where numerous complaints of brutality and misconduct were leveled over the years. On August 8, 1978, when the MOVE organization was attacked at their residence, he sought through his journalism to vindicate the 9 members who had been arrested, charged and convicted in the murder of a police officer killed in the law-enforcement operation.

European Union Discusses Mumia’s Case

The death penalty in the United States has gained attention in recent weeks due to the execution of two mentally-disabled inmates Teresa Lewis of Virginia and Holly Wood of Alabama. At present 35 states in the U.S. still have the death penalty, although 4 have not carried out any executions since 1976 when the practice was re-instituted after it was overturned in 1972.

In 2009 there was an increase in executions in the U.S. to 52 persons killed by the state through capital punishment. The Obama administration is not opposed to the death penalty and has not spoken out in regard to the most recent executions in Alabama and Virginia.

The European Union foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton was urged recently to raise the death penalty in the United States along with the current plight of Mumia Abu-Jamal. In a European Parliamentary debate on October 6, Danish MEP Soren Sondergaard stated that he “deplored “ the execution of defenseless inmates including Mumia
Abu-Jamal.

Sondergaard also noted that “The death penalty itself is a crime. But it is often more than that; waiting on death row in miserable conditions for years is torture. Capital punishment is also a form of terror, used to frighten people from resisting oppression and dictatorship.”

The European Parliament member went on to say that “African-American journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal -- the voice of the voiceless—is a key symbol of struggle against the death penalty. For nearly 30 years he has sat on death row, convicted in a trial notable for its errors and racism.

“High representative Ashton should raise the case with U.S. authorities—in the fight against the death penalty there is no room for double standards. In the fight against the death penalty there applies only one standard: unconditional rejection.” (Article by Martin Banks, October 7)

In a resolution that had already passed on October 2, the European Parliament went on record opposing the executions of both Mumia Abu-Jamal and Troy Davis of Georgia. Davis’ case has also won international support. Nonetheless, Davis too remains on death row for a crime he did not commit.

German Left Party delegate Sabine Loesing, who was active in passing the October 2 resolution opposing the death penalty and specifically mentioning Mumia Abu-Jamal and Troy Davis, was pleased that the document was adopted with broad support. Losesing also said that she would make sure that adequate pressure be placed on the EU foreign affairs office of Catherine Ashton to raise this issue during meetings with the Obama administration.

Distributed By: THE PAN-AFRICAN RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION PROJECT--
E MAIL: panafnewswire@gmail.com

Strange Bedfellows: The Death Penalty, Mumia Abu-Jamal and the European Parliament

Published on This Can't Be Happening ( http://www.thiscantbehappening.net)
Created 10/12/2010 - 08:20
by: Victor Grossman
Berlin -- What do the USA, China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and North Korea have in common?

The answer may surprise you.

The European Parliament answered this question on October 2nd with passage of a resolution singling out that seemingly disparate list for criticism.

The embarrassing common thread among these six countries: an obsession with putting lots of people to death. The US, its key oil ally Saudi Arabia, its major trading partner China, its targeted enemies of Iran and North Korea, and its puppet ally Iraq all endorse the barbaric state-sanctioned practice of the death penalty, and lead the world in applying that terrible and irreversable sanction.

In a long, detailed EU Parliament resolution, approved almost unanimously by 574 members (only 25 opposed and 39 abstained), the members from all over Europe named people languishing on death rows and threatened with execution in several countries.

That EU resolution specifically highlighted two American death row inmates: Mumia Abu-Jamal in Pennsylvania and Troy Davis in Georgia. Both of these black men were convicted of killing white police officers in trials marred by ineffective defense and gross misconduct by police and prosecutors. The twin defects of ineffectiveness and misconduct are a common feature in many of the three-thousand-plus persons on death rows across America, and especially in the nearly 140 cases that have been overturned thanks to DNA testing or other belatedly discovered proof of innocence.

In the Abu-Jamal and Davis cases, federal and state appeals courts in America have dismissed compelling new evidence of innocence and documented legal improprieties violating the constitutional rights of these two inmates.

In the Davis case, a federal judge in June 2010 rejected professions from four persons who said they lied during Davis’ 1991 trial and also rejected testimony from three witnesses who named the real killer, including one witness who testified to seeing the real killer shoot the policeman.

Both Abu-Jamal and Davis has consistently maintained their innocence.

True, as this EU resolution pointed out, the USA cannot match China, which killed about 5000 inmates last year, but it is was still near the top behind Iran, with 402, Iraq at least 77 and Saudi Arabia with at least 69. In the USA the number executed was 52. The EU delegates also voiced regret at the recent executions of Holly Wood in Alabama and Teresa Lewis in Virginia despite both women being mentally retarded.

It was noted that 154 countries have abolished the death penalty completely or almost completely (with occasional exceptions such as for wartime treason). In Europe only Belarus has failed to do so, while the new constitution of far-off Kyrgyzstan just joined the ranks of those countries which generally agree, as the resolution points out, that “the death penalty is the ultimate cruel and inhuman and degrading punishment, which violates the right to life as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, and “detention conditions created by the death penalty decision amount to torture that is unacceptable to states respecting human rights.”

The EU Parliament resolution reports that “various studies have shown that the death penalty has no effect on trends in violent crime…whereas evidence shows that the death penalty affects first and foremost underprivileged people.”

That conclusion in the EU resolution concerning the class nature of the death penalty mirrors findings of a study on death penalty practices in the USA released in April 1932. This study by then noted statistician Dr. Frederick Hoffman documented how capital punishment was “enforced chiefly against Negroes, aliens and the poor, while the rich and influential succeed for the most part in escaping” execution. Not much has changed since then, with 35% of the 3260 people currently on death row in the US being black and 7% percent being Latino, while nearly all, regardless of race, are from low-income backgrounds.

The EU delegates, after listing cases in other countries where pressure is needed, noted that “35 states in the USA still have the death penalty, although 4 of them have not held executions since 1976” and that while executions increased to 52 in 2009, “some states have moved against the death penalty through measures including a moratorium on executions or its abolition”.

The gradual abolition of the death penalty in the USA relates more to money than morality, as cash-starved states can no longer afford the enormous cost of capital prosecutions and specialized death row prison units. The state of New Jersey, for example, halted death penalty proceedings in 2007 upon discovering that it cost $253 million dollars to secure 60 death sentences, fifty of which were later reversed by courts due to various improprieties.

The double reference to the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal indicates the level of concern in many European countries about his case, considered typical for many others. Abu-Jamal’s case, now 29 years old, is nearing some kind of decision, possibly a fatal one. On November 9, 2010 the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals will conduct a hearing to determine if Abu-Jamal will again face execution or will spend the rest of his life in prison. The court system has already rejected all of Abu-Jamal’s appeals seeking to overturn his conviction.

A delegate of Germany’s LEFT party, Sabine Loesing, who was particularly active in getting this resolution passed, told how happy she was that so many from a wide range of political parties had voted for the resolution and added that she would see to it that the pressure on Catherine Ashton, foreign minister of the European body, would not let up so that she raises the position of the resolution whenever she meets with leaders of states – like the USA – where capital punishment still prevails.

VICTOR GROSSMAN is an American expatriat living in Germany. He contributes occasionally to ThisCantBeHappening!

Source URL: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/248

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Ex political prisoner Jacobo Silva Nogales speaks at Mumia event in Mexico

During the ten years that Gloria Arenas and Jacobo Silva Nogales were political prisoners in Mexico, they wrote from their prison cells in support of Mumia. Since they were released almost a year ago, ARGUING THEIR RIGHT TO REBELLION, they've been consistent in support of Mumia and joined us at the event on September 21st in Mexico City. Jacobo's words follow:

WE’RE STANDING UP FOR MUMIA

We were asked if we could be here today to stand by Mumia. And how could we not be here when there is so much that moves us to stand by Mumia?

We’re on his side for a number of reasons:

Because he’s facing a death sentence, and this is unjust, just as any death sentence is, so it shouldn’t exist in any case whatsoever and should be abolished. The State that applies it is at least as criminal as anyone who is punished in this way. Nobody should be subjected to the death penalty. By struggling for Mumia, we’re struggling against capital punishment.

Because he´s not a criminal, but instead an activist in social struggles and as such, shouldn’t be confined in prison under any circumstances. He should be on the outside, with his people, where he wouldn’t be committing crimes, but instead doing what he always did: struggling for a better society than the one that now exists. A person like this should not be imprisoned. By struggling for him, we’re struggling for justice. We’re struggling along with him.

Because he’s a victim of racism and in his case, discrimination due to the color of his skin is all too clear. And such discrimination shouldn’t exist; it’s a curse on society that should have been left behind in history. By struggling for him, we’re struggling against racism and for equality.

Because evidence has been manipulated in his trial, which was totally rigged. In it, the rule of law did not prevail, but instead brute force. By struggling for him, we’re demanding the exact application of the law.

Because he’s not just any prisoner whose fate may not concern us so much since we’re not into crime. He’s a political prisoner as any one of us could be, especially in these times of heightened repression. By struggling for him, we’re struggling for ourselves. By standing up for him today, we know that others will do the same for us if the need
should arise.

Because he’s not a political prisoner who’s been defeated or who’s resigned himself to his situation, but instead one who struggles from his prison cell, and by doing so, sets an example of bravery and dignity. By struggling for him, we’re struggling for dignity, and we’re helping to strengthen him.

That’s why. Because we’re on the side of life itself, because we’re on the side of all social activists, because we’re against racism, because we’re for justice, because we’re with all political prisoners, because we’re with all those people who never give up. That’s why we stand by Mumia, that’s why we stand up for Mumia.

Because when people shout Viva Mumia Abu-Jamal! it’s not just one more joyous chant. It’s a shout for the life of someone who must live, for someone whose life is in danger. Viva Mumia Abu-Jamal!”

Jacobo Silva Nogales
September 21, 2010
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/26/18659970.php

From Mexico City - 150 People Standing Up for Mumia!

To see photos, check: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/23/18659632.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/23/18659622.php

From Mexico City: We're with Mumia all the way!

On Tuesday, September 21, around 150 people gathered at the Hemiciclo a Juárez in Mexico City to demand life and freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal, recognized internationally as a political prisoner. People expressed their support for him in spoken messages, song, dance and graphic art. The event was energized by the arrival of a large group of bicyclists riding in defense of the air we breathe and of all political prisoners.

A number of Mexico's ex political prisoners were present, including Jacobo Silva Nogales, Gloria Arenas, Mariana Selvas and Edith Rosales, along with the family of Victor Herrera Govea, who has been locked up for an entire year for marching against government repression.

Speaking for himself and Gloria, Jacobo Silva said: "We were asked if we could be here today to stand by Mumia. And how could we not be here when there is so much that moves us to stand by Mumia? We're on his side…because we're on the side of life itself, because we're on the side of all social activists, because we're against racism, because we're for justice, because we're with all political prisoners, because we're with all those people who never give up. That's why we stand by Mumia, that's why we stand up for Mumia. When people shout Viva Mumia Abu-Jamal! it's not just one more joyous chant. It's a shout for the life of someone who must live, for someone whose life is in danger. Viva Mumia Abu-Jamal!"

Among those who participated in the event were human rights observers from the Collective against Torture and Impunity (CCTI), along with individuals and collectives from the Other Campaign, Anarchist Black Cross, student groups, and collectives from the Ché Guevara Auditorium –especially the kitchen, which contributed a delicious vegetarian ceviche. Among the supportive free and independent media collectives were Cronopios, Ke Huelga Radio, CML, Regeneración Radio, Radio Okupa, Noticias de la Rebelión and Radio Zapote.

The event was lively with music by Emexce, Zona Norte and Kukulkan Sonido Anti-sistema, who presented their new song in support of Mumia, and by the b-boys and b-girls of Twisted Flavors and guests. We listened to the blues sound of La Otra Cultura Inlakech, and the original song in support of Mumia by La Otra Cultura del DF, who sing out for him wherever they go.

A representative of Amig@s de Mumia de México stated that it's clear that the government of the United States is not satisfied with the recent Supreme Court decisions leading to the death of Mumia Abu-Jamal; it's necessary to build up public animosity against him in order to justify his execution. It's clear from the trailers that the new documentary Barrel of a Gun (El cañón del fusil) by the supposedly independent filmmaker Tigre Hill, with backing from the Fraternal Order of Police, is nothing but an exercise in defamation. It both a personal attack against Mumia, and an attack against groups that have been important in his life history.

The comrade said: "We're here today to say NO to the criminalization of Mumia Abu-Jamal and of his struggle. Just as Mumia writes in defense of the efforts of the Black Panthers and the MOVE organization to make necessary and positive changes in the world, we…recognize these efforts as valuable experiences. "The Mumia Abu-Jamal that we know through his weekly essays and the six books he's written from death row…is a brave and righteous man committed to social change. He's a writer who knows how to put any one of today's events in a historical context and untangle all that we're going through. We especially appreciate his solidarity with the struggles here in Mexico and in the world".

During the event, different people read Mumia's essays out loud, including one on the death penalty as a modern form of lynching and others on BP, Arizona, the MOVE organization, and the nature of the State.

People also read fragments of a report written by Michael Schiffman and Anton Reiner, published in Abu-Jamal News, of their recent visit with Mumia in which they were accompanied by Linn Washington. They talk about his contagious energy, clear thinking and love of life, even in the hell he lives in, surrounded by steel and razor wire with the lights always on, no physical contact with friends and loved ones, no fresh fruits and vegetables in a small cell with no color. He never leaves his cell without being chained hand and foot. Now he doesn't even have a typewriter; once again, he must write everything seated on his bed with the inner cartridge of a ball-point pen. One of the things he likes most is getting brightly-colored cards. The comrades say that during their visit, "Mumia repeatedly insists that the really important thing is to organize. `Nobody should underestimate what even a small number of organized people can achieve. My own survival is concrete proof for what organized action is capable of.'"

The event at the Hemiciclo reflected many of the current struggles in Mexico. As people expressed their support for Mumia, some urged everyone to join in the mobilizations against COP16 in Cancún this coming November and December and others called for support for the displaced Zapatista communities under attack, and for support of the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala, where people are living a day to day massacre. Some of those who spoke are resisting the destruction of the urban zones of Magdalena Contreras and Tlahuac on the edges of Mexico City, and others are resisting attacks on students by hired thugs at CCH Vallejo. People were urged to defend the indigenous land recoveries in Ostula, Michoacán, and to support the community police there and in Guerrero, where these groups practice the organized self defense of their communities.

A number of people expressed their support for the political prisoners of Mexico, and especially for young Victor Herrera Govea. His sister Mary said: "…Unjust trials… Yes, we know about them. Down here and up there, they're an everyday thing. They're one of the arms of the government against those bothersome people who never shut up in the face of all the absurd things going on in this unequal, devastating world. In addition to Mumia's case and many others in the world, we have the case of Víctor Herrera Govea, locked up since October 2, 2009 for the crime of going out to march in repudiation of a massacre committed 41 years ago, one that is still going on at this very moment in every corner of the Mexican territory… His trial is also marked by many irregularities… And through all this, we've come to understand that these trials aren't judicial. They're the desperate response of a tyrant whose interests are threatened. They're the smack of a Goliath defending itself against an upstart David … Mumia's vitality and the consistent denunciations that he makes from death row, along with his refusal to fall down or fall back during the last 29 years, is maddening to the United States government. Mumia's struggle is our struggle. His death is our death. His life is our life. His freedom is our freedom. Victor's freedom is our freedom".

Mexico's political prisoners include the indigenous comrades Alberto Patishtán in Chiapas, Abraham Ramírez Vazquez en Oaxaca, the Loxicha prisoners in Oaxaca, and the anarchists and eco-anarchists arrested in recent months. Support was expressed for international political prisoners, including Leonard Peltier, the MOVE 9, the Angola 3, the 5 Cubans jailed in the United States, the Palestinian prisoners, the Mapuche prisoners on hunger strike in Chile, and the anarchists recently arrested in Chile.

The representative of Amig@s de Mumia said: "We're here today to say NO to the death penalty for Mumia Abu-Jamal and to demand the abolition of the death penalty in the world. We also oppose long sentences, and especially life sentences. Now it is plain to see that the Mexican authorities intend to duplicate these aspects of the United States judicial system, which have only resulted in tremendous injustices and human suffering. We're here today because we want to live in a world without prisons. We are wholeheartedly opposed to the imposition in Mexico of the United States prison system, which has resulted in the massive construction of prisons, the privatization of prisons, and a tremendous explosion in the prison population. We're here today to demand freedom for all political prisoners in Mexico and the world. The recent triumph of the liberation of all the Atenco prisoners shows that it is possible to free all the rest".

It's reported that as the cyclists resumed their ride along Reforma, they didn't have it in them to pass by the United States Embassy without blocking the street for a little while and shouting ¡Free Mumia! again and again.

Amig@s de Mumia de México

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Democracy Now! on competing films and coverage of new forensic test in Mumia's case

Democracy Now! on competing Mumia films with Dave Lindorff and filmmaker Johanna Fernandez and
a whoooole lotta Maureen Faulkner clips. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals Nov. 9 hearing is also
discussed. Check it out.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/22/as_competing_films_offer_differing_views

New Mumia Video & Article from Linn Washington and Dave Lindorff!

From Sis. Fatirah:

Linn Washington and Dave Lindorff just released a video and an article in which they unveil the findings of two new tests that blow a huge hole in the case of the prosecution. Here's the link to the article: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/214

Pam Africa on the selling out of Mumia Abu Jamal by the anti-death penalty mov

The Minister of Information JR interviews to Pam Africa about members of the U.S. anti-death penalty movement sacrificing the life of political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal for an alliance with police and politicians.

http://www.blockreportradio.com/radio-mainmenu-27/939-pam-africa.html

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Important Mumia Legal News

There is a significant new development regarding my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the journalist and author who has been on Pennsylvania's death row for nearly three decades.

Oral argument scheduled, United States Court of Appeals

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has just granted oral argument in Mumia's case. (Abu-Jamal v. Beard, No. 01-9014.) The arguments will be before a three-judge panel on November 9, 2010, 2:00 pm. This will be in the Ceremonial Courtroom, U.S. Courthouse, 6th & Market Streets, Philadelphia.

Mumia & I spoke shortly after the order was received. He was humbled by the good news. We are cautiously encouraged that the federal court has taken this step.

This is significant in the ongoing litigation to save Mumia's life and win the case. At stake is whether he will be executed, or granted a new jury trial on the question of the death penalty. We previously won on this issue, but early this year the U.S. Supreme Court vacated that decision and ordered that the case be again reviewed by the federal court.

New movie

Justice On Trial: Yesterday Justice On Trial premiered in Philadelphia. It is by Johanna Fernandez, a professor at Baruch College, New York, and Kouross Esmaeli of Big Noise Films. The release of this superb film comes at a perfect time since it counters another movie,The Barrel of a Gun, that was also shown the same day. The Barrel production is replete with distortions and wild theories, and is supported by those who wish to see my client executed including the Fraternal Order of Police.

Petition to President Barack Obama (Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Global Abolition of the Death Penalty)

Over 24,000 people from around the world have signed the petition, including three Nobel Prize winners. We need many more for this to benefit Mumia. Some of the signers are: Desmond Tutu, South Africa (Nobel Peace Prize, 1984); Günter Grass, Germany (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1999); Elfriede Jelinek, Austria (Nobel Prize in Literature, 2004); Danielle Mitterrand, Paris (former First Lady of France); Fatima Bhutto, Pakistan (writer); Colin Firth (Academy Award Best-Actor nominee, 2010); Noam Chomsky, MIT (philosopher and author); Ed Asner (actor); Mike Farrell (actor); Robert Meeropol (son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953); Michael Radford (director of the Oscar winning film Il Postino); members of the European Parliament; members of the German Bundestag; European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights; and Reporters Without Borders, Paris.

How to Help

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

Conclusion

Mumia is in the greatest danger since being arrested in 1981. We will not stop until he is saved.

Yours very truly,

Robert R, Bryan

Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Monday, September 20, 2010

New Test Shows Key Witnesses Lied at Abu-Jamal Trial

From Sis Marpessa:

Thanks, Sis. Fatirah!

via Linn Washington and Hans Bennett:\
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/214

Exclusive! New Test Shows Key Witnesses Lied at Abu-Jamal Trial; Sidewalk Murder Scene Should Have Displayed Bullet Impacts

Mon, 09/20/2010
by Dave Lindorff and Linn Washington

During the contentious 1982 murder trial of Philadelphia radio-journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, a central argument of the prosecution in making its case for the conviction and for imposition of a death penalty was the trial testimony of two key eyewitnesses who claimed to have actually seen Abu-Jamal fire his pistol repeatedly, at virtually point-blank range, into the prone Officer Daniel Faulkner.
This testimony about Abu-Jamal’s shooting at the defenseless policeman execution-style solidified the prosecution’s portrayal of Abu-Jamal as a cold-blooded assassin.

There was however, always the lingering question, never raised at trial, or even during the subsequent nearly three-decades-long appeals process, of why, if Abu-Jamal had fired four bullets downward at Faulkner, only hitting him once with a bullet between the eyes on the morning of December 9, 1981, there was no evidence in the surface of the sidewalk around the officer’s body of the bullets that missed.

Now two independent journalists have raised further questions about that troubling lack of any evidence of missed shots by doing something that neither defense nor prosecution ever bothered to do, namely conducting a gun test using a similar gun and similar bullets fired from a similar distance into a slab of old concrete sidewalk similar to the sidewalk at the scene of the original shooting on the south side of Locust Street just east of 13th Street in Center City, Philadelphia.

Read complete article

Rev. Lucius Walker Speaks of Mumia

From the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC

Celebrate the Life of Rev. Lucius Walker, Free Mumia Abu Jamal!
Thanks to Johnnie Stevens for posting this wonderful, brief video of our beloved ancestor, Rev. Lucius Walker, speaking very movingly & powerfully on behalf of Bro. Mumia Abu-Jamal, please check it out right now and pass it on.