News Conference to Release Petition Asking the Supreme Court to Review The Constitutionality of the Denial of Death Row Inmate Mumia Jamal’s 6^th Amendment Rights to a Fair Trial

April 22, 1999

Remarks of Sam Jordan, Director, Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, Amnesty International USA

Good morning and thank you. I am Sam Jordan, Director of the Program to Abolish the Death Penalty at Amnesty International USA.

During over thirty (30) years as advocates of full respect for human rights, Amnesty International USA has concluded that the death penalty is racist, arbitrary, a symbolic display of brutal state power absent any social necessity or benefit.

We are as convinced in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal as with any other person threatened with execution that there is no sound rationale for any process of the criminal justice system to end in legal murder. This theme has been echoed over the years in countless letters and calls to governors, attorneys general and Boards of Pardon and Clemency around the country.

Our plea is added to that of millions around the world who have witnessed the hardened intent of the state of Pennsylvania to kill Mumia Abu-Jamal. It is of particular interest to us that Abu-Jamal’s case exhibits all the indicia of the pattern of wrongful convictions that have altered the public debate on capital punishment.

Falsely reported or uncorroborated confessions, removal or alteration of crime scene evidence, perjured police testimony, mistaken identification of persons charged with capital crimes, opportunistic prosecutorial misconduct, are all elements of the 78 cases of persons released from death rows since 1976 when capital punishment was resumed in the US. There are substantial indications that these same elements are present in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

It is for this reason that we join in demanding that the US Supreme Court order appropriate relief for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Questions of fact and procedural issues must be resolved.

In 1995, Amnesty International wrote to the Pennsylvania State Attorney General urging the government to commute Mr. Abu-Jamal’s death sentence. The following is an excerpt from that letter: "International standards require that in countries which retain capital punishment the highest standards of fairness must prevail in trials involving the death penalty. In our view such standards have not been met in this case."

In today’s filing of a petition for certiorari, Mr. Abu-Jamal insists that he too enjoy the most basic of rights guaranteed by the US Constitution found in the Sixth Amendment, the right to representation. For much of his trial, Mr. Abu-Jamal was not permitted to represent himself after having proven himself capable of understanding the charges against him and capable of assisting in his defense. He was also ordered from the court during periods of his trial and held in an area in which the proceedings could not be monitored. Many basic safeguards of due process may have been ignored recently in the exercise of authority by the presiding jurist.

We urge the Justices of the US Supreme Court to grant Mr. Abu-Jamal’s petition and to order a full examination of all outstanding matters that may permit Mr. Abu-Jamal the full exercise of those rights to fairness upon which jurisprudence in this country is founded.

From: "C. Clark Kissinger" <cck1@earthlink.net>

To: <cck1@earthlink.net>

Subject: New Amnesty International Statement on Mumia Abu-Jamal

Date sent: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 20:09:44 -0400

Remarks of Sam Jordan

Director, Program to Abolish the Death Penalty

Amnesty International USA

News Conference to Release Petition Asking the Supreme Court to Review

The Constitutionality of the Denial of Death Row Inmate Mumia Jamal’s

6^th Amendment Rights to a Fair Trial

April 22, 1999

Good morning and thank you. I am Sam Jordan, Director of the Program to Abolish the Death Penalty at Amnesty International USA.

During over thirty (30) years as advocates of full respect for human rights, Amnesty International USA has concluded that the death penalty is racist, arbitrary, a symbolic display of brutal state power absent any social necessity or benefit.

We are as convinced in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal as with any other person threatened with execution that there is no sound rationale for any process of the criminal justice system to end in legal murder. This theme has been echoed over the years in countless letters and calls to governors, attorneys general and Boards of Pardon and Clemency around the country.

Our plea is added to that of millions around the world who have witnessed the hardened intent of the state of Pennsylvania to kill Mumia Abu-Jamal. It is of particular interest to us that Abu-Jamal’s case exhibits all the indicia of the pattern of wrongful convictions that have altered the public debate on capital punishment.

Falsely reported or uncorroborated confessions, removal or alteration of crime scene evidence, perjured police testimony, mistaken identification of persons charged with capital crimes, opportunistic prosecutorial misconduct, are all elements of the 78 cases of persons released from death rows since 1976 when capital punishment was resumed in the US. There are substantial indications that these same elements are present in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

It is for this reason that we join in demanding that the US Supreme Court order appropriate relief for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Questions of fact and procedural issues must be resolved.

In 1995, Amnesty International wrote to the Pennsylvania State Attorney General urging the government to commute Mr. Abu-Jamal’s death sentence. The following is an excerpt from that letter: "International standards require that in countries which retain capital punishment the highest standards of fairness must prevail in trials involving the death penalty. In our view such standards have not been met in this case."

In today’s filing of a petition for certiorari, Mr. Abu-Jamal insists that he too enjoy the most basic of rights guaranteed by the US Constitution found in the Sixth Amendment, the right to representation. For much of his trial, Mr. Abu-Jamal was not permitted to represent himself after having proven himself capable of understanding the charges against him and capable of assisting in his defense. He was also ordered from the court during periods of his trial and held in an area in which the proceedings could not be monitored. Many basic safeguards of due process may have been ignored recently in the exercise of authority by the presiding jurist.

We urge the Justices of the US Supreme Court to grant Mr. Abu-Jamal’s petition and to order a full examination of all outstanding matters that may permit Mr. Abu-Jamal the full exercise of those rights to fairness upon which jurisprudence in this country is founded.

C. Clark Kissinger cck1@earthlink.net

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