RIGHTS-US: Supporters of Death Row Inmate Wrap Up Week of Protest

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

NEW YORK, Sep 24 1999 (IPS) - Defenders of African American journalist and convicted murderer Mumia Abu Jamal have used an array of tactics this past month, from rock concerts to marches, to build pressure to prevent his impending execution.

As Abu Jamal’s lawyers prepare a ‘habeas corpus’ appeal this month against his conviction for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, activists have stepped up their efforts to draw attention to the Death Row inmate’s case.

On Saturday, Abu Jamal’s supporters have planned to cap a week of protests with a march in New York City, a demonstration outside the US Embassy in Paris and dozens of other marches across the United States.

Earlier this month, several musicians, including Gil Scott- Heron and the group ‘Rage Against the Machine’, also participated in efforts to raise awareness about flaws in Abu Jamal’s 1982 trial.

The activists are asking for the same thing that Abu Jamal’s legal team, led by Leonard Weinglass, are pressing for in the courts: a new trial for someone who they believe did not receive a fair trial 17 years ago.

“We want to have a situation where you can’t turn around without having to deal with Mumia in one way or another,” said Robert Meeropol, an Abu Jamal supporter and son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – who were executed by the US government on treason charges in 1953 in an equally controversial case.

Abu Jamal’s accusers, including the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), a 283,000-member police union, contend that the black journalist shot and killed Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981, when the two men were both found in a Philadelphia alley with gunshot wounds. Abu Jamal had been shot and injured, with his gun having been used; Faulkner was dead.

Abu Jamal’s defenders, however, blame the killing on another person, noting some eyewitness accounts that claimed that another man fled the alley after the shooting. Abu Jamal has maintained his innocence and argued that he was unfairly accused because of his leftist and black nationalist political views.

His defenders have drawn attention to contradictory testimony from witnesses and the heavy-handed efforts of the trial judge, Richard Sabo – a longtime FOP member – to discourage evidence helpful to Abu Jamal.

“The pattern that Mumia’s case fits is a pattern that includes…conflicts in identification, falsely reported or uncorroborated confessions, prosecutorial misconduct, official mishandling of evidence from the crime scene, perjured police testimony, (and) a so-called prison snitch,” said Sam Jordan, director of Amnesty International’s US Programme to Abolish the Death Penalty.

“These are the six elements that are present in almost every case of the 82 men and women who have been released from Death Row due to wrongful convictions,” Jordan argued. “Mumia is most likely a wrongfully convicted person.”

That is an argument the FOP has rejected, and the police union has repeatedly urged boycotts of concerts and events staged to support the attempt to win a new trial for Abu Jamal. In one of their more controversial tactics, the FOP printed the names of people who have signed petitions for Abu Jamal under the heading ‘Supporters of Daniel Faulkner’s Killer.’

In one recent statement, the FOP called Abu Jamal’s supporters “blind and uninformed” and said the inmate was “a stone cold killer.” This week, the union declared that securing Abu Jamal’s execution was a top priority.

Yet Abu Jamal remains the centre of attention for many human rights activists worldwide, with supporters ranging from Amnesty International to noted authors E.L. Doctorow and Alice Walker.

Abu Jamal has increasingly become the focus of national attention, particularly after his book ‘Live from Death Row’ focused on the problems of capital punishment and the US justice system.

But Abu Jamal has also faced a considerable backlash from prison officials for his new fame, with Pennsylvania officials pushing for new laws designed to discourage access to Death Row inmates – regulations which some activists contend target Abu Jamal’s outspoken attitude.

This year’s campaign could be the final major push to spare Abu Jamal from execution. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last year denied his previous request for a new trial, and he now has one final appeal to make before the procedures to clear the way for his execution begin.

If the appeal to be filed by his lawyers within the next month is rejected, Abu Jamal may soon face a new phase of his existence on Death Row – the countdown to an actual execution date.

RIGHTS-US: Supporters of Death Row Inmate Wrap Up Week of Protest

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

NEW YORK, Sep 24 1999 (IPS) - Defenders of African American journalist and convicted murderer Mumia Abu Jamal have used an array of tactics this past month, from rock concerts to marches, to build pressure to prevent his impending execution.
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