Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 26, 2006 8:08:54 GMT -5
A renewed campaign has been launched calling for the release of a high-profile prisoner on Pennsylvania's death row. Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and former Black Panther, has spent the past 24 years on death row in the US, and could be executed within 6 months, despite calls for a retrial by international celebrities including Nelson Mandela and Whoopi Goldberg.
Mumia was convicted in 1982 of killing police officer Daniel Faulkner.
Campaigners have argued that his trial was grossly unfair and that Mumia was convicted because of his political affiliations and militant politics.
His death sentence was overturned in 2001, but the state has launched an appeal against that decision. Mumia's defence team have also appealed the court's decision to uphold his conviction.
Rachel Wolkenstein, a member of the Partisan Defence Committee and a former member of Mumia's defence team, told The Voice that the campaign was urgently needed now more than ever.
She said: "The Partisan Defence Committee has renewed the campaign for Mumia given that he is facing a soon decision from the court of appeal in the US.
That could lead to the upholding of the death sentence, as well as a possibility of him getting a new trial. We are afraid of the dangers posed by the court and want to ensure that there is pressure on the court to provide a favourable decision for Mumia."
The case began in 1981 when Mumia, a part-time radio talk show host and taxi driver, saw an argument between a policeman and black man, and stopped to intervene.
Following a heated argument, Mumia was left with a bullet in the stomach and officer Faulker was dead.
However Mumia has contended that his trial focused more on his political links rather than the facts of his case.
Wolkenstein has a fear that Mumia, convicted on his political beliefs, could be put to death.
"There are quite great chances [of the death penalty] because the entire history of the case shows how intent the forces of the state, the police who did the frame-up and the prosecution who participated and increased the frame-up, and the bias in the court, show that they are intent to see him executed," she said.
"It's a real fear that he will face the death sentence. They already have restricted his appeals. Over 25 issues including the bases for showing his innocence, have been restricted. The court is only hearing three issues that he has raised."
Wolkenstein added: "That has to do with the fact that Mumia has been prosecuted as a radical, opposed to the inequities and injustices of capitalism. He was prosecuted and framed because he was a Black Panther party member, a MOVE supporter, and a journalist who wrote about police abuse and continues to write from death row about the colonial deprivations of American imperialism."
Mumia's future bears striking parallels with the reformed former gang leader Stanley 'Tookie' Williams executed earlier this year in California.
Tookie had dedicated his book to Mumia among others and Wolkenstein believes that Tookie's execution was to pave the way for Mumia.
"The parallel is that Tookie Williams saw in Mumia among others, a person who understood that there was a need to fight against the social ills in society.
"When the publicity around Tookie was at its highest, Tookie's name was linked very much with Mumia's - Mumia was going to be next. There was no reason for Tookie to be executed. Even by the standards of the American system, here was a man who changed his life, wrote a book to encourage young people to turn away from gangs. Mumia made a point that what he saw
in Tookie's execution, was a message that young people should not turn to fighting against social injustices."
The legal papers in support of Mumia were filed in a US court last
Thursday and it is expected that the court will make a decision before the end of the year.
Wolkenstein added that support was needed now: "There must be a mobilisation of a mass number of people, to show strength for Mumia and to create pressure that the court might listen to. It will cost the system more to see Mumia executed than to see him free."
Other supporters of Mumia's campaign include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker, Paul Newman, Maya Angelou, and Danny Glover.
(source: The Voice (UK))
Mumia was convicted in 1982 of killing police officer Daniel Faulkner.
Campaigners have argued that his trial was grossly unfair and that Mumia was convicted because of his political affiliations and militant politics.
His death sentence was overturned in 2001, but the state has launched an appeal against that decision. Mumia's defence team have also appealed the court's decision to uphold his conviction.
Rachel Wolkenstein, a member of the Partisan Defence Committee and a former member of Mumia's defence team, told The Voice that the campaign was urgently needed now more than ever.
She said: "The Partisan Defence Committee has renewed the campaign for Mumia given that he is facing a soon decision from the court of appeal in the US.
That could lead to the upholding of the death sentence, as well as a possibility of him getting a new trial. We are afraid of the dangers posed by the court and want to ensure that there is pressure on the court to provide a favourable decision for Mumia."
The case began in 1981 when Mumia, a part-time radio talk show host and taxi driver, saw an argument between a policeman and black man, and stopped to intervene.
Following a heated argument, Mumia was left with a bullet in the stomach and officer Faulker was dead.
However Mumia has contended that his trial focused more on his political links rather than the facts of his case.
Wolkenstein has a fear that Mumia, convicted on his political beliefs, could be put to death.
"There are quite great chances [of the death penalty] because the entire history of the case shows how intent the forces of the state, the police who did the frame-up and the prosecution who participated and increased the frame-up, and the bias in the court, show that they are intent to see him executed," she said.
"It's a real fear that he will face the death sentence. They already have restricted his appeals. Over 25 issues including the bases for showing his innocence, have been restricted. The court is only hearing three issues that he has raised."
Wolkenstein added: "That has to do with the fact that Mumia has been prosecuted as a radical, opposed to the inequities and injustices of capitalism. He was prosecuted and framed because he was a Black Panther party member, a MOVE supporter, and a journalist who wrote about police abuse and continues to write from death row about the colonial deprivations of American imperialism."
Mumia's future bears striking parallels with the reformed former gang leader Stanley 'Tookie' Williams executed earlier this year in California.
Tookie had dedicated his book to Mumia among others and Wolkenstein believes that Tookie's execution was to pave the way for Mumia.
"The parallel is that Tookie Williams saw in Mumia among others, a person who understood that there was a need to fight against the social ills in society.
"When the publicity around Tookie was at its highest, Tookie's name was linked very much with Mumia's - Mumia was going to be next. There was no reason for Tookie to be executed. Even by the standards of the American system, here was a man who changed his life, wrote a book to encourage young people to turn away from gangs. Mumia made a point that what he saw
in Tookie's execution, was a message that young people should not turn to fighting against social injustices."
The legal papers in support of Mumia were filed in a US court last
Thursday and it is expected that the court will make a decision before the end of the year.
Wolkenstein added that support was needed now: "There must be a mobilisation of a mass number of people, to show strength for Mumia and to create pressure that the court might listen to. It will cost the system more to see Mumia executed than to see him free."
Other supporters of Mumia's campaign include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker, Paul Newman, Maya Angelou, and Danny Glover.
(source: The Voice (UK))