JOIN THE IAC IN PHILADELPHIA ON DECEMBER 8TH TO DEMAND THE FREEDOM OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
December 9th, 2001, will mark the 20th anniversary of the unjust arrest and incarceration of African American journalist and political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal.
For 20 years, Mumia’s case has symbolically represented resistance against every form of racist and political repression. And today, his case cannot be separated from the reactionary atmosphere created by the U.S. government following the attacks on September 11th.
Thousands of unknown Arab and South Asian young men, falsely accused of being “terrorists”, are being detained indefinitely and tortured by the FBI and INS. At the same time, thousands of unknown black and Latino prisoners are languishing on U.S. death row, a great majority of them for the “crime” of being poor.
As long as one person’s civil liberties and civil rights are under attack, all of our civil liberties and civil rights are under attack. This is an important aspect of Mumia’s case.
Join the international concerned family and friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and others on Saturday, December 8 for a mass demonstration beginning at 12 noon at Philadelphia City Hall (Broad and Market) to demand:
- stop the legal lynching of Mumia
- grant a new post conviction relief hearing to allow all the evidence proving Mumia’s innocence to finally be heard in state court
- end racist profiling including mass detentions, police brutality and the death penalty
Bus transportation will be leaving from the International Action Center office at 9am and leaving Philly at 4pm
Round trip tickets are $15 and $20 (if you cannot attend, please make a donation to help subsidize seats for those on a fixed income). Purchase your bus ticket no later than Friday, December 7th.
Free Mumia and all political prisoners!
IAC, 39 w. 14th st. Room 206,
NYC, NY 10011,
212-633-6646.
Fax: 212-633-2889
www.iacenter.org
ALL OUT FOR MUMIA DEC. 7-9: PRISONER FIGHTS WALL OF SILENCE
By Greg Butterfield
Mumia Abu-Jamal's name has all but disappeared from the big- business media since Sept. 11. But that doesn't mean federal, state and local authorities have halted their plans to kill this Black freedom fighter and revolutionary journalist.
In response, Abu-Jamal's supporters have called on people of conscience worldwide to rally on the weekend of Dec. 7-9, the 20th anniversary of the incident that led to his frame- up.
On Oct. 15, U.S. District Court Judge William H. Yohn denied a request by Abu-Jamal's new legal team to suspend federal appeals proceedings as they seek to reopen his state appeal in the Pennsylvania courts.
The political prisoner, his lawyers and defense committee didn't learn of the judge's decision until Oct. 27, when a report was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper.
"Judge Yohn has denied the request to suspend federal appeals, again using the Herrara case and the Effective Death Penalty Act as an excuse to murder an innocent man," said Kevin, a member of International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal. "Yohn has shown that he has absolutely no intention of doing justice, so people must get moving now to expose this conspiracy to murder."
In the Herrara case--one of the first applications of the Effective Death Penalty Act signed by Bill Clinton--federal courts allowed an execution to proceed despite new evidence of the prisoner's innocence. The excuse? The new evidence had emerged after a strict time limit prescribed by the Effective Death Penalty Act had expired.
But death-penalty foes argue that it's never too late to save an innocent person.
Abu-Jamal's defense team wants the Pennsylvania courts to enter into evidence the confession of Arnold Beverly--a self- described mob hit man who in a videotaped deposition says he killed Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981. Abu-Jamal was convicted and sentenced to death for Faulkner's killing, but has always maintained his innocence.
He has spent over 19 years on death row.
Getting the state court to accept Beverly's confession as part of the legal record is the only way to ensure that Yohn must acknowledge this crucial new evidence. In August, attorneys Marlene Kamish and Elliot Grossman filed a motion with state Judge Pamela Dembe for a hearing to present the confession. Prosecutors replied Oct. 12, claiming it was "too late" for new evidence.
Dembe could make a ruling soon.
GOV'T COULD 'CAPITALIZE ON REACTIONARY CLIMATE'
"The possibility is very real that those government and judicial officials who are attempting to hold Mumia's life in their hands will try to capitalize on the current reactionary, jingoistic, racist climate," warned an Oct. 28 ICFFMAJ statement. "In one quick motion, they could deny Mumia's appeals and set his date for death.
"It unfortunately may not be a hard sell for many in this nation ... a Black man with long dreadlocks, a revolutionary belief, and an Arabic-sounding name could be seen as just another enemy casualty in Bush's 'crusade' on terror."
The already tense atmosphere in Philadelphia has been further charged by District Attorney Lynn Abraham's re- election campaign. The "deadliest D.A. in the U.S." has run radio ads citing her opposition to a new trial for Abu-Jamal to bolster her appeal to local racists.
As a judge in 1985 Abraham authorized the deadly police attack on the MOVE organization that left 11 people dead and an entire Black neighborhood destroyed.
"While the truth, and all that is right, screams out for Mumia to be spared the punishment imposed upon him by his racially-stacked jury," continued the defense committee's statement, "we know it is an axiom that in war, the first casualty is the truth.
"Those who are aware of Abu-Jamal's case must be more vigilant than ever and not allow themselves to be distracted or discouraged by the flag-waving, shallow, trendy patriotism that envelops this nation. ... Supporters of Mumia have not only an obligation to fight harder for freedom, we also have a new-found obligation to fight against this vicious war being waged against all of us."
Now more than ever, supporters say, it is crucial to draw public attention to Abu-Jamal's case, the racist injustice it represents and the political prisoner's courageous opposition to the U.S. war. Actions planned for Dec. 7-9 include:
- Student walkouts on Friday, Dec. 7
- A mass rally and march in Philadelphia on Saturday, Dec. 8, gathering at noon at Broad and Market streets
Protests, marches and teach-ins in cities around the globe on Dec. 8-9
A flier about the events can be downloaded from www.mumia.org . For those in the Philadelphia area, a planning and strategy meeting is scheduled for noon on Nov. 10 at 4601 Market St., 5th floor. For more information, call ICFFMAJ at (215) 476-8812.
ona move!
please help spread the word......
The Ithaca Chapter of Int'l Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal will have a MUMIA UPDATE meeting.....
Wednesday, November 28, 2001 Multicultural Resource Center 210 West State Street Ithaca 7 - 9 PM
We remain at a CRITICAL TIME in Mumia's case! This December 9th marks TWENTY YEARS LOST for Mumia on death row in Pennsylvania! There will be a MASS DEMONSTRATION in Philadelphia on December 8th, starting from City Hall and beginning at 12 noon.
This meeting will provide both a factual and legal update, with a showing of the VIDEOTAPED CONFESSION of Arnold Beverly to the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner which neither the state ot federal courts want to hear. Instead, they would rather murder an INNOCENT man because of time limits! Instead of EXPOSING the corruption in the city of Philadelphia which brought about the events on December 9, 1981, they would rather kill Mumia! WE WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!
Please join us to find out more about the latest developments in Mumia's case, and participate in our new postcard campaign. Remember Sacco and Vanzetti... (http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/oj/frankff.htm )
DON'T LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF!!! Arnold Beverly has CONFESSED!!! Why is Mumia STILL on death row? What does the system gain by NOT deposing and cross-examining Arnold Beverly? YOU be the JUDGE!
We will also talk about the latest facts that have come out about the then presiding judge, Albert Sabo. Two of his death penalty cases have recently been overturned for prosecutorial misconduct and judicial error. A court reporter has stepped forward to say that, in 1982, she overheard Sabo tell another man in court, off the record, that "Yeah, and I'm going to help 'em [prosecution/the state] fry the nigger."
PLEASE JOIN US! WHATEVER questions you have about the case... we CAN answer them. Mumia is ALL OF US, and he needs YOU right now!
for more info..... youth4mumia@hotmail.com 607-327-0735
take care......
DECEMBER 8TH--MOBILIZATION TO FREE MUMIA!
December 9th marks 20 years since the capture of Mumia Abu-Jamal in Philadelphia, framed for killing Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. On Death Row since convicted by a kangaroo court on July 3, 1982, Mumia gets out almost-daily written and spoken messages from behind the wall, keeping his voice at the forefront of the Anti-War and Anti-Racism Movement.
ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8th, IN PHILADELPHIA, activists from around the U.S. will converge to protest "20 Stolen Years" and demand Mumia's immediate release from prison.
DEMONSTRATE: 12 NOON CITY HALL (ON MARKET STREET)
The demonstration comes at a time when a key legal battle is taking place. Important new evidence has surfaced in recent months, including a signed confession to the murder by someone else (Arnold Beverly). Terri Maurer-Carter, a court reporter in 1982, has now come forward to state that she overheard the trial judge, Albert Sabo, during an informal conversation, say: "I'm going to help them fry the n----r."
BUT THERE IS NO LEGAL GUARANTEE that either the state or federal judges involved in the case will allow any of this new evidence to become part of the official record. Only loud and visible public mobilizations of Mumia's supporters can pressure them to do the right thing.
STAY ON ALERT! MORE TO COME!
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@action-mail.org
En Espanol: el_iac@yahoo.com
web: http://www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT SITE http://www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
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