Hey,
Saturday, April 24 has been declared an international Day of Solidarity
with US political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Actions involving hundreds of
thousands of people are being planned across the planet to aid this man of
conscience; in Philadelphia alone at least a quarter of a million are
expected to turn out. In Halifax there will be a rally at Cornwallis
Street Baptist Church (5457 Cornwallis) beginning at 13h00. For further
details contact Isaac Saney at 494-1531; Fiona York or Daren Okafo at
494-6479.
Abu-Jamal has been in custody for 18 years, most of this time on death
row, in connection with the shooting death of a Philadelphia police
officer in 1981. Had the prosecution shown that Abu-Jamal killed the
officer one could still point to exculpatory circumstances : it is agreed
that the fatal incident began when Abu-Jamal discovered the policeman
beating Abu-Jamal's brother and attempted to intervene, whereupon the
officer shot Abu-Jamal. Surely if Abu-Jamal then returned fire, killing
the constable, this is an instance of self-defence?
However, in point of fact the evidence in the case strongly suggests that
Abu-Jamal did not shoot the officer. To begin with, the gunshot wound he
sustained was nearly fatal, so it is unlikely that he would have been in a
fit state to discharge his own weapon. Beyond this, though, several
eyewitnesses - who had prior acquaintance neither with one another nor
with Abu-Jamal - averred that they saw another man shoot the constable,
then flee as police reinforcements arrived.
This testimony was suppressed at trial and instead the prosecution made
much of a "confession" made by Abu-Jamal while recuperating in hospital
after his having been shot (and then beaten by the police who subsequently
arrived at the scene of the shooting.) However, the report filed by
Abu-Jamal's police guard at the hospital clearly states that, far from
owning that he had shot the constable, Abu-Jamal remained silent
throughout his convalescence! The doctor who attended Abu-Jamal confirmed
this but the story of the anamnetic police officer - the partner of the
decedent - was accepted by the court. Even at that the policeman's revised
account was presented only in writing, the trial judge overruling a
defence request that the officer present himself for
cross-examination.
Other examples of corrupt practice abound in this case. For one, the
prosecution filed a ballistics report which purportedly matched the fatal
bullet to Abu-Jamal's gun but, as it emerged, the munitions round could
not even be located. For another, a key witness who had testified against
Abu-Jamal at the original trial later told an appeal hearing that she had
perjured herself under pressure from the police.
It is evident that Abu-Jamal was wrongfully convicted and this is terrible
enough in itself. However, it is abundantly clear that this is no mere
miscarriage of justice but a deliberate instance of state repression of
political dissent. Prior to his arrest Abu-Jamal worked as a print and
broadcast journalist. His outspoken defence of the oppressed - especially
of the indigent, and of African-Amercans - and his exposure of police
corruption and brutality gained him the title of "the voice of the
voiceless"; and the undying enmity of the Philadelphia judicial apparatus.
This came on top of his participation as a youth in the Black Panther
Party which brought him under the surveillance of the FBI at the age of
15!
As of October/98 Abu-Jamal has been denied any hope of a new trial; he
daily awaits news that his death warrant has been signed by the Governor
of Pennsylvania. If this happens, and if Mumia Abu-Jamal is executed, a
good man will have been brutally murdered : this alone is reason enough to
exert all our strength in support of Abu-Jamal. However, additionally this
case is about the ability of so-called democratic societies operating
under "the rule of law" to crush those who would question the existing,
grossly inequitable social order. If we want to work to better the world
we must make common cause in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
---Antoni
ps.
A good source of information on Abu-Jamal's case is the Refuse & Resist
site.