Political prisoners
On Dec. 9, 1981, Abu-Jamal was driving a taxi when he saw that police had stopped his brother. He got out of the car to make sure police were not
violating his brother's civil rights.In the altercation that followed, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed. Witnesses saw a man flee the scene who did not look like Abu-Jamal. But when police arrived, they arrested Mumia Abu-Jamal, who had also been shot....
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Leonard Peltier will be 63 years old on September 12, 2007. It's an international day for demanding the immediate, unconditional freedom of this Native American artist, writer, and activist--one of the most widely recognized political prisoners in the world....
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Educators for Mumia, Millions for Mumia, the
International Action Center and other grassroots organizations joined Concerned
Family and Friends at the Calvary Church in Philadelphia to discuss the next
steps to win Abu-Jamal’s release from prison. Major initiatives have been
established for local, national and international actions around the Free Mumia
Campaign....
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We believe that the message of the postcard will be an attractive one for US
audiences and will be stronger if the same message gets multiplied all over the
world. We will make the PDF available for you to print them locally....
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Since December 14, Mumia has been kept in solitary in SCI Mahanoy's dungeon. Its restrictions and conditions belie its modern construction. On January 6 Mumia told us that he wants all of his supporters to broaden this call, to not just focus on his case, but to understand that all torture units must be shut down....
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Mumia is being kept in solitary in SCI Mahanoy's dungeon. Its restrictions
and conditions belie its modern construction. Mumia just told us on Friday
[Jan. 6] that he wants all of his supporters to broaden this call, to not just
focus on his case, but to understand that all torture units must be shut
down....
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Although Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams dropped the death
sentence on Dec. 7, Mumia Abu-Jamal remains in administrative custody since
being transferred from SCI Greene to SCI Mahanoy on Dec. 14. He has been kept
isolated from the general population, with limited phone access and visits with
family still conducted behind glass walls....
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I visited Mumia Dec. 15, in the new prison that houses him, SCI Mahanoy. Even though he has been released from death row, he remains in Administrative Custody while he awaits transfer to general population. Because he is still in Administrative Custody and not yet in general population, visits still take place behind the plexiglas barrier characteristic of the no-contact visits to prisoners on death row....
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After nearly three decades on Pennsylvania’s death
row, former Black Panther Party member and world-renowned journalist, Mumia
Abu-Jamal, was moved into transitional area at SCI Greene maximum security
prison on Dec. 11, following an announcement by Philadelphia District Attorney
Seth Williams earlier in the week that he would no longer seek
Abu-Jamal’s execution....
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"Now that it is clear that Mumia should never have been on death row in the first place, justice will not be served by relegating him to prison for the rest of his life"yet another form of death sentence. Based on even a minimal following of international human rights standards, Mumia must now be released. I therefore join the call, and ask others to follow, asking District Attorney Seth Williams to rise to the challenge of reconciliation, human rights, and justice: drop this case now, and allow Mumia Abu-Jamal to be immediately released, with full time served."...
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Having survived two execution orders and 30 years on death
row in solitary confinement, never being able to touch his dying mother or
sister, his spouse, children or grandchildren (let alone anyone else, other
than the prison guards who handcuff and shackle him), Mumia Abu-Jamal, an
innocent man, now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in
prison....
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The 7th International Colloquium for the freedom of the
Cuban Five concluded in this eastern Cuban city on Nov. 19. Representatives
from international committees that have mobilized parliaments, unions, Nobel
laureates and millions over the past 13 years of unjust U.S. incarceration of
these five heroic Cuban men planned the next phase in a week of
events....
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ALL OUT FOR MUMIA ON FRIDAY, DEC. 9, THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS
INCARCERATION AND FRAMEUP...
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Once again, the organizers of the National Day of Mourning
dedicated the day to Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier. Peltier was
framed up by the FBI and has been wrongfully imprisoned since 1976....
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We’re sure you were relieved on October 11, 2011, as were we, when the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed several lower court rulings since 2001 that Mumia should never have been sentenced to death. That decision is a tribute to the amazing international movement that has fought all these years for justice for
Mumia. But wae write to you now calling on you to help in this critical next stage
of the struggle to gain Mumia’s final release from prison....
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Dr. Tarek Mehanna is a 28-year-old Muslim, an Egyptian-American and a
graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He has
been held in solitary confinement 23 hours a day since his arrest in 2009....
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The prisoner hunger strikers at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison
called off their protest action on Oct. 13. Two days later, prisoners at
Calipatria State Prison decided to “temporarily” end their hunger
strike....
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The federal trial of Paul Bergrin, the strong and
courageous attorney who took on the White House and US military for authorizing
abuses in Iraq, and who is wrongfully accused of murder, gets more and
more outrageous....
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Here's a prediction: Seth Williams, the district
attorney of Philadelphia, will decide not to seek to reimpose the death penalty
on Mumia Abu-Jamal, the world-famous journalist, former Black Panther and
condemned prisoner who has spent the last almost 30 years of his life on
Pennsylvania's overcrowded death row....
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Today the United States Supreme Court rejected a request from the
Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to overturn the most recent
federal appeals court decision declaring Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence
unconstitutional. The Court’s decision brings to an end nearly thirty
years of litigation over the fairness of the sentencing hearing that resulted
in Mr. Abu-Jamal’s being condemned to death. Mr. Abu-Jamal will be
automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
unless the District Attorney elects to seek another death sentence from a new
jury....
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Edward Asner, Jackson Browne, James Cromwell, Mike Farrell, Danny
Glover, Susan Sarandon, Peter Coyote, Bonnie Raitt, Elliott Gould, and
Others Send Letter to President Obama for the Safety and Immediate Return
of One of the Cuban 5, Rene Gonzalez to Cuba....
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Sept. 26 — The outrage over the state of Georgia’s execution of
Troy Davis at 11:08 p.m. on Sept. 21 has not abated. Rather, his name has
become a code word for resistance and struggle....
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On Sept. 16, Judge Joan Lenard refused to allow René González, one
of the five Cuban heroes unjustly held in U.S. prisons, to return to Cuba and
his family when he is released on Oct. 7....
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Sept. 22 — It is the morning after the cold-blooded, premeditated
murder of Troy Anthony Davis by the state of Georgia. The internet and other forms of social media — as well as newspapers,
radio and television — are filled with images of the thousands of people
who gathered in cities across the U.S., around the world and outside the walls
of the Jackson, Ga., prison that houses the death chamber. Millions of people made phone calls and sent letters, tweets and emails,
united in demanding that the execution of Davis be stopped. Appeals were made
to all and anyone to intervene, from the warden and guards at the prison to
President Barack Obama. The Supreme Court held up the execution for almost four
hours, but then sealed Davis’s death without comment....
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Davis, who was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of an off-duty
police officer, is scheduled to be executed in Georgia on Sept. 21. However, no
direct evidence was brought to convict Davis during his trial, and seven of the
nine witnesses who testified that Davis was the shooter have since recanted
their testimony, saying they were coerced by police into giving false
statements. Davis himself has consistently proclaimed his innocence....
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I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to human rights
and human kindness, in the past year. I have experienced such emotion, joy,
sadness and never-ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive
today. As I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me
and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the
eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to
the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime....
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Sept. 20 — The Georgia State Board of Parole and Pardons denied
clemency to death-row inmate Troy Davis this morning. With this latest decision
and all other legal channels seemingly exhausted, Davis faces imminent
execution on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification
Prison in Jackson, Ga....
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The International Action Center strongly condemns the state-sanctioned murder of inmate, Troy Davis, by the racist state of Georgia Sept. 21 at 11:08 p.m. Davis maintained his innocence while strapped to a gurney in the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer for which he was sentenced to death row in 1991....
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Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have voiced their opposition to the execution of Troy Davis. There were demonstrations, vigils and other forms of protest in some 300 locations on Sept. 16. 4000 people came out in Atlanta on Friday, the International Day of Solidarity with Troy Davis, overflowing the sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church and filling the outside space....
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Troy Davis's EXECUTION HAS BEEN SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. TELL THE GEORGIA GOV., LEGISLATURE, PARDONS AND PAROLE BOARD, PRESIDENT OBAMA, ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER, CONGRESS AND THE MEDIA: STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS. On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Anthony Davis, the Savannah, Ga. man whose scheduled execution has been halted three times in the past because of the growing evidence and public belief in his innocence. Troy Davis is an African American on death row in Georgia. Davis was convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt." No physical forensic evidence was presented at Davis' trial, and 7 of the 9 non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, with at least two saying they were pressured by police to finger Davis as the killer....
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More than 12,000 individuals have taken the time to sign this on-line
petition and it has generated more than 3 MILLION <3,000,000> email
messages to officials and media demanding STOP the Execution of Troy Davis....
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These PDFs are to be folded in half, placed on a copier
and and blown up to 200% of their original size. This will make two 11" x
17" panels, which together will make a 22" x 17" sign....
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Millions of U.S. and global activists are engaged in a massive effort to stop this legal lynching. They are signing petitions, organizing rallies and meetings, and contacting elected officials and other influential individuals. A Twitter account at hash tag Too Much Doubt is rapidly informing millions more. Every avenue is being pursued to mobilize public opinion to influence the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board — which meets on Sept. 19 — to grant Davis clemency. The governor-appointed five-member board has the authority to stop the execution. Although the board has previously denied Davis clemency, three new members have not heard all the details of his case....
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WE ARE JOINING FORCES!!!!
EMERGENCY RALLY TO STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS!!!!
Friday, SEPTEMBER 16TH 4:30 – 6:30!!!
TIMES SQUARE (42ND Street & 7th Avenue)
Please note the location change the rally will not be at Union Square!!!!!!
Amnesty International USA, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, New Yorkers for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty, The Brecht Forum, International Action Center,
Theater of the Oppressed Lab NY are joining forces!!!!!!
EMERGENCY RALLY TO DEMAND THAT THE GEORGIA BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES COMMUTE
TROY’S SENTENCE – A FINAL CHANCE TO PREVENT TROY DAVIS FROM BEING
EXECUTED!!!! ...
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All anti-death penalty activists in the U.S. and worldwide should prepare NOW to organize coordinated actions on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.
Plan an activity - a rally, demonstration, petitioning drive, teach-in, community leafletting, etc on that day in your city.
Post your event at iacenter.org/actions/troydavissept16listlocalaction and justicefortroy.org
In ATLANTA, at 6pm on September 16th there will be a March assembling at Woodruff Park, Peachtree and Edgewood and concluding at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 407 Auburn Ave with a service featuring national civil rights, community and religious leaders, Martina Correia and other family members of Troy Davis,and exonerated prisoners....
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All anti-death penalty activists in the U.S. and worldwide should prepare NOW to organize coordinated actions before Sept. 21. The IAC will send out a proposed date for these actions in conjunction with Georgia activists....
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Leaders of the hunger strike in the Security Housing Unit at
California’s Pelican Bay State Prison accepted an offer July 20 from the
California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation and have ended their
weeks-long action. Members of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition
confirmed reports of the hunger strike’s end after speaking with some of
the prisoners involved. ...
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Right now there are 200 prisoners at Pelican Bay on a hunger strike. They are experiencing life-threatening health conditions according to an urgent update received by the Hunger Strike Prisoner Solidarity Coalition and from medical personnel at the prison. The California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation continues to refuse to negotiate. It is urged that phone calls be made to the following authorities immediately, demanding they enter into negotiations before they have (more) deaths on their hands: ...
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Urgent bulletin: On July 13 it is reported by the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition that 200 of the Pelican Bay hunger strikers are experiencing life-threatening health conditions according to an urgent update received by the coalition from medical personnel at the prison. The California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation continues to refuse to negotiate. It is urged that phone calls be made to the following authorities immediately, demanding they enter into negotiations before they have (more) deaths on their hands:...
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Prisoners earning 23 cents an hour in U.S. federal prisons are manufacturing
high-tech electronic components for Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missiles,
launchers for TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank
missiles, and other guided missile systems. A March article by journalist and
financial researcher Justin Rohrlich of World in Review is worth a closer look
at the full implications of this ominous development. ...
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They couldn’t break Geronimo ji Jaga. The FBI and Los Angeles district attorney framed the Black Panther Party leader for murder and jailed him for 27 years....
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We, the undersigned, are alive today because some individual or small group of
individuals decided that our insistent and persistent proclamations of
innocence warranted one more look before we were sent to our death by
execution. We are among the 138 individuals who have been legally exonerated
and released from death rows in the United States since 1973. We are alive
because a few thoughtful persons – attorneys, journalists, judges,
jurists, etc. – had lingering doubts about our cases that caused them to
say "stop" at a critical moment and halt the march to the execution
chamber. When our innocence was ultimately revealed, when our lives were saved,
and when our freedom was won, we thanked God and those individuals of
conscience who took actions that allowed the truth to eventually come to
light....
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Troy Davis is an African American on death row in Georgia. Davis was
convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty
International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt." On March 28, 2011, the Supreme Court refused to take up his appeal, and he could be executed at any time....
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On April 26 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia unanimously issued a ruling upholding its earlier decision calling for a new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1982. On Pennsylvania’s death row for almost 29 years, Abu-Jamal — a world-renowned political prisoner and former Black Panther Party member — has consistently maintained his innocence....
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The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has unanimously
declared that Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence is unconstitutional. In
today's decision, the Court of Appeals reaffirmed its 2008 finding that Mr.
Abu-Jamal's sentencing jury was misled about the process for considering
evidence supporting a life sentence. The Court found that, in violation of the
United States Supreme Court's 1988 decision in Mills v. Maryland, the jury
was improperly led to believe that that it could only consider unanimously
agreed upon evidence favoring a life verdict. This mistake rendered Mr.
Abu-Jamal's death sentence fundamentally unfair. ...
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Carter, invited by Cuban President Raul Castro, on behalf of The Carter Center, is the first US President in 50 years to set foot on Cuban soil. He ended his three-day trip on March 30th by also calling to remove Cuba from the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, to lift the US blockade now having been imposed on Cuba for half a century, and to remove all restrictions imposed on its citizens regarding travel to Cuba....
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The recent visit to Cuba by former US President Jimmy
Carter, renews our hope. His positive statements calling for the
freedom of the Cuban 5 and the right of family visits during an interview
with Cuban television constitutes an encouraging sign for our struggle. In addition, his statements have appeared in media around the world, for many
of these news outlets this marks the first time they have mentioned the Cuban
5. But we can not sit still while the 5 continue to be imprisoned
and think it is over....
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In the most recent racist and reactionary link in the vicious chain of the politically motivated frame up of Boston African American City Councilor and community leader Chuck Turner, Federal Judge Woodlock denied Chuck's motion for a stay of execution of sentence pending the appeal of his conviction, effectively appointing himself judge jury and executioner, thus proving that Capitalist judges are always more class conscious than constitutionally minded....
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In the USA we hope we are experiencing that groundswell of a time when events and history come together; that the protest against what is happening to civil service workers will result in such a wave of people power that change will start breaking out for all of us....
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The following is a statement from Jason Campbell, an inmate in Ohio State Penitentiary, where Lucasville uprising prisoners Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Bomani Shakur and Jason Robb recently won significant improvements in the terms of their confinement through a 12-day hunger strike and an international campaign of support. ...
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Honor the right of Native American Prisoner Jason Campbell (Vo'kome Nahkohe) to practice his religion! All of his religious freedom hunger strike demands are just and legitimate. They must be granted immediately! His religious necklace, which was confiscated from him illegally, must be immediately returned. Remove him from isolation and restore all privileges. No reprisals for his just hunger strike action!...
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It is with great excitement that we announce the formation of Mumia's new legal team. Both Christina Swarns and Judith Ritter have argued before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for Mumia. They are now formal co-counsel representing him in the ongoing appeal of his murder conviction and death sentence. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), as the premier legal organization in this country fighting for racial justice, has committed itself to "sweep the grave injustices embodied in this case into the dustbin of history." ...
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On Jan. 28, Mumia Abu-Jamal retained the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. to represent him in the ongoing appeal of his capital murder conviction and death sentence. LDF will serve as co-counsel in the case with Judy Ritter, Esq., of Widener Law School in Wilmington, Del., who has represented Mr. Abu-Jamal since 2003....
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On January 28, 2011, Mumia Abu-Jamal retained the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) to represent him in the ongoing appeal of his capital murder conviction and death sentence. LDF will serve as co-counsel in the case with Judy Ritter, Esq., of Widener Law School in Wilmington, Delaware, who has represented Mr. Abu-Jamal since 2003....
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Brother Bomani is one of three prisoners who went on hunger strike at
Ohio State Penitentiary to protest the conditions of their confinement and were
supported by a nationwide and international movement. OSP Warden David
Bobby brought the hunger strike to an end by offering the prisoners more than
they had asked for on 1/14/11....
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Comrades, as an Irish republican who spent 15 years in gaol I can fully understand the stance you are taking. I have spoken to many of my comrades who were in prison with me and they too send solidarity greetings....
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Cars piled into the parking lot of the church next to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown. The parked cars left just enough room for a contingent of friends and family members of the hunger strikers to defy the frostbite weather and gather with colorful banners and signs. The contingent drove to the prison to deliver nearly 1,200 names on a petition collected through the Internet, including more than 600 collected through www.iacenter.org....
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“So much energy coming is from all over. I’m just trying to hang
on and ride the wave,” wrote political prisoner Bomani Shakur Jan. 6, the
third day of his hunger strike at Ohio State Penitentiary. Convicted as Keith
LaMar, Bomani and two other death-sentenced prisoners started refusing food on
Jan. 3 to demand that they be treated like other prisoners facing
execution....
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On Jan. 3, four prisoners held in Ohio State Penitentiary, a supermax prison started a hunger strike to protest the highly restrictive conditions they have been subjected to since they were moved to the prison in 1998. These prisoners are Bomani Shakur aka Keith LaMar, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Namir Abdul Mateen aka James Were, all received death sentences as the result of wrongful convictions on charges related to the 1993 prison uprising in Lucasville, Ohio. Hasan and Robb helped negotiate the settlement of the Lucasville uprising, preventing a massacre such as the one in Attica in 1971 which resulted in more than forty deaths....
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The anti-racist movement celebrated an important victory when it was announced on Dec. 30 that the prison sentences of Jamie Scott and Gladys Scott would be suspended by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour....
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Dec. 30 — Gov. Haley Barbour calls the impending release of the Scott
Sisters an “early” release. A release from 16 years of wrongful
incarceration is most certainly not an “early” release....
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With the beginning of a new year and in coordination with committees and
friends from other countries, we propose to start a new and steady campaign on
behalf of the Cuban 5:...
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Four death-sentenced prisoners, wrongfully convicted of crimes following the 1993 prison rebellion in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, started a “rolling” hunger strike Jan. 3. The strike is to protest the highly restrictive solitary confinement where they have been placed in the supermax Ohio State Penitentiary, located in Youngstown, since 1998. These prisoners are starting to run out of appeals. They say they would rather die, if they must, on their own terms, rather than on a gurney by lethal injection. They intend the hunger strike to help strike a blow against confinement conditions so inhumane that they amount to torture....
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Before I speak my piece, let me make one thing perfectly clear: I don’t want to die. I want to live and breathe and strive to do something righteous with my life. Truly. For the past 16 years, however, I’ve been in solitary confinement, confined to a cell 23 hours a day for something I didn’t do and, speaking honestly, I have gone as far as I’m willing to go. Am I giving up? No....
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On Jan. 3, four prisoners held in Ohio State Penitentiary, a supermax prison started a hunger strike to protest the highly restrictive conditions they have been subjected to since they were moved to the prison in 1998. These prisoners are Bomani Shakur aka Keith LaMar, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Namir Abdul Mateen aka James Were, all received death sentences as the result of wrongful convictions on charges related to the 1993 prison uprising in Lucasville, Ohio. Hasan and Robb helped negotiate the settlement of the Lucasville uprising, preventing a massacre such as the one in Attica in 1971 which resulted in more than forty deaths....
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The Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights learned that on
or about December 16, Terrance Bryant Dean was severely beaten by guards at
Macon State Prison where he was incarcerated. The Coalition asserts this brutal
beating was not isolated and was a retaliatory act carried out by the
Department of Corrections (DOC) against non-violent striking inmates. The
Coalition was formed to support the interests and agenda of thousands of
Georgia prisoners who staged a peaceful protest and work strike initiated in
early December....
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The Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) in Youngstown, Ohio, holds 539 people
behind its brick walls, multiple barbed wire fences and iron bars. It is within
this dungeon that four of the men known as the Lucasville Five are
incarcerated: Bomani Shakur, Adbullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Namir Abdul Mateen.
These men are held in a special section of OSP’s death row, awaiting
lethal injection for the crime of participating in a rebellion....
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How does the struggle behind the walls tie in with
the overall struggle of the anti-war, anti-racist, women’s, labor, gay
rights and general progressive movement?...
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Following is a message from political prisoner Bomani Shakur, one of the
Lucasville Five, read at the 9th annual March to Stop Executions in Houston....
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Following is a commentary from political prisoner Bomani Shakur, one of
the Lucasville Five, now on death row in Ohio on false charges from a 1993
prison uprising. Shakur was convicted as Keith LaMar....
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Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Bomani Shakur (Keith LaMar), Jason Robb and Namir
Mateen (James Were) will start a hunger strike on Monday Jan. 3 to protest
their 23-hour a day lock down for nearly 18 years. These four death-sentenced
prisoners have been single-celled (in solitary) in conditions of confinement
significantly more severe than the coniditions experienced by the approximately
125 other death-sentenced prisoners at the supermax prison, Ohio State
Penitentiary in Youngstown....
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On Dec. 17 Bradley Manning turned 23 in a cell at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. For him, it was just another day of isolation and abuse at the hands of the U.S. military. From the beginning of his detention in late April, Manning, a U.S. soldier suspected of releasing the thousands of documents published by WikiLeaks, has been held in intensive solitary confinement....
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What conclusions or lessons can be drawn from the historic Georgia
prisoners’ strike that lasted close to a week and involved as many as 10
institutions across the state?...
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Five Somali nationals were convicted of piracy in a U.S. federal court in
Norfolk, Va., on Nov. 24, with their sentencing set for March 2011. Based on
slave-era laws and criminal statutes that have not been enforced since the
1820s, the Somalis could be sentenced to life in prison....
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For over week, since December 9, thousands of Georgia prisoners have refused
to work, stopped all activities and locked down in their cells in a peaceful
protest for their human rights. It is urgent to support this heroic act of
resistance to inhuman prison conditions and racism....
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According to reports from family members and prisoner rights advocates,
thousands of incarcerated men throughout Georgia engaged in a coordinated
strike starting Dec. 9. They refused to go to work or participate in other
assignments or activities, but stayed in their cells, calling it a
“lockdown for liberty.” Using unauthorized cell phones, the prisoners have been able to organize among themselves and to communicate with news media and supporters. What is so extraordinary about this action besides its statewide character
is its unity among the prisoners — Black, Latino, white, Muslims,
Christians, Rastafarians — to achieve their central demand to be treated
as human beings, not slaves or animals.
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According to reports from family members and prisoner rights advocates,
thousands of incarcerated men engaged in a coordinated strike starting Dec. 9.
They refused to go to work or participate in other assignments or activities,
but stayed in their cells, calling it a “lockdown for liberty.”...
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In 2009, as a result of an investigation of the State of North
Carolina’s Crime Laboratory, two former FBI agents concluded that false
forensic evidence had been used, and exonerating evidence hidden from the
defense, in 280 criminal cases over 16 years. In three of those, cases men were
executed before the truth was uncovered....
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The only legal options that were considered by the Third Circuit Court of
Appeals, a federal court immediately below the US Supreme Court, at the
November 9 hearing were whether Mumia Abu-Jamal is to be executed or get life
in prison without parole. The question of Mumia's guilt or innocence and
the opportunity of a new trial was not part of this hearing. The Third Circuit
decided that issue in March 2008 in a decision made by the same three judges
who conducted this hearing....
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A Good-bye to Lynne Stewart - 4 to 6pm
&- -
A Tribute to Lolita Lebron -7pm...
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e urge all individuals concerned with human rights to
sign this international petition to U.S. and Pakistani government officials, urging the immediate repatriation to Pakistan of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui....
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More than 500 people, mostly African Americans and
youth, mobilized for a noontime outdoor rally Nov. 9 in support of political
prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. The rally lasted through a hearing of the 3rd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals that argued on whether the death sentence would be
reinstated against Mumia, who has maintained his innocence since being
railroaded to death row in 1982. The court’s ruling will be announced at
a later date. Supporters for Mumia included a delegation from the Transport
Workers Union Local 100; Charles Barron, the New York gubernatorial candidate
for the Freedom Party; Free Mumia Coalition (NYC), International Concerned
Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the International Action Center.
Activists traveled from as far away as California, Texas, Arizona, Germany and
France to stand with Mumia....
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On November 9, 2010, Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia Will
Consider Reinstating Death Sentence on Internationally Renowned Death Row
Political Prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal...
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Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent. He’s spent over 28 years on death row after
being unjustly convicted. Mumia was framed because he exposed police brutality
as a radio journalist and for helping to found the Philadelphia chapter of the
Black Panther Party in 1969.The real criminals are the FBI and cops, who bombed
the MOVE house on May 13, 1985, burning to death six adults and five children.
The MOVE 9 are innocent political prisoners who must be released. A “Tea
Party” majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has virtually ordered the
Federal Appeals Court to reinstate Mumia’s death sentence. Don’t
let the bigots lynch Mumia Abu-Jamal. Show the Federal Appeals Court that we
demand justice. Mumia must not die! RALLY in Philadelphia Nov 9. For more
information: Free Mumia Coalition (NYC) 212.330.8029 www.freemumia.com...
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The International Action Center announces two important NYC showings of a
new and exciting film, “Justice on Trial”, on the case of Mumia
Abu-Jamal at Riverside Church and Baruch College, Oct. 31 and Nov. 2. All out
for Mumia, Nov. 9, Philadelphia!!...
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A prisoner was kneeling on the ground, blindfolded and handcuffed, when an
Iraqi soldier kicked him in the neck. A U.S. marine sergeant was watching and
reported the incident, which was duly recorded and deemed “valid.”
The outcome: “No investigation required.”...
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Resolution in Support of the Cuban Five, their Rights to Fair
Trial and Visitation Rights for their Families...
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A critical hearing is scheduled Nov. 9 in the nearly three-decade-old case
of journalist and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who sits on death row in
Pennsylvania. Mumia was severely wounded and arrested on Dec. 9, 1981, in
Philadelphia and was later charged, tried and convicted of the murder of police
officer Daniel Faulkner....
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The World Day Against the Death Penalty was commemorated on Oct. 10 with a
major emphasis on the United States, where more executions take place than any
other industrialized country. Since the death penalty was reinstituted by the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1976, 1,229 executions have taken place, with 41 in 2010
alone and counting. (Death Penalty Information Center, Oct. 6)...
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...
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n October 6, 1976 a civilian Cuban airliner took off from the coast of Barbados towards Cuba. Among the 73 passengers on board was the Cuban Junior Fencing team who were proudly returning to their island with gold medals. Along with them were 11 humble students from Guyana who were to begin studying in Cuba, five passengers of the Democratic Republic of Korea, among them a young girl. There were 57 Cuban passengers and flight crew on that plane. But flight 455 never made it to its destination. Its 73 passengers died a horrible death when a bomb, ordered to be placed in the plane by the international terrorists Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, blew up in mid air....
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Thursday, July
15, Federal Judge John Koeltl attempted to bury me
alive.
Acting for the Government and Judges of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals,
he sentenced me at their demand, to more than five times the term he
originally thought "right and just." With his new sentence,
of ten years, I am buried in the Prison Industrial Complex until I am
nearly 80 years old, if I make it....
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The nearly 29-year struggle to free political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal faces
a critical juncture with the announcement that the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit will review Abu-Jamal’s death sentence on Nov. 9. It is
imperative that all who stand for justice and against racism and state
repression pack the courtroom in Philadelphia....
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Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's sentencing is scheduled for Thursday, September 23rd, 2010 at 9 AM.Please attend, pack the court and show your support for our sister, Aafia Siddiqui.Be at court by 8am...
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The plight of the Cuban Five is never far from the minds of progressive
people around the world. This Sept. 12, exactly 12 years since their arrest in
the United States for defending Cuba from terrorist attacks, organizations and
individuals intensified demands for their release through petitions,
demonstrations and ad campaigns....
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We urge all individuals concerned with human rights to
sign this international petition to U.S. and Pakistani government officials, urging the immediate repatriation to Pakistan of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui....
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For nearly 30 long, tortuous years, Marilyn Buck was a political prisoner of the state; a captive in the federal prison system for her role in the liberation of former Black Panther Assata Shakur....
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Expressing the sounds of her beloved Puerto Rico, hundreds of people singing plenas and chanting about her valiant character accompanied independence fighter Lolita Lebrón to her final resting place in the Old San Juan Cemetery. She was buried close to her dear Maestro, Don Pedro Albizu Campos. As she had requested, the burial took place just over 24 hours after her death....
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On Sunday August 8, renowned actor Danny Glover visited Gerardo Hernandez at USP Victorville, California. The meeting caused a big stir in the prison that just a few days before had held Gerardo in "the hole" under
inhumane conditions....
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There will be much to do in support of Lynne Stewart in
these next months. For the moment, the priority is to see that Lynne is sent to
the Federal Corrections Institition for Women in Danbury rather than somewhere
in Texas or even further from her family and friends. WRITE TO THE BUREAU OF
PRISONS IMMEDIATELY! TURN YOUR PAIN AT LYNNE'S HORRIFIC SENTENCE INTO
FIGHTING BACK. THIS IS STEP 1....
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nce Again the US
government has imposed another cruel punishment against Gerardo
Hernandez, one of the Cuban 5 imprisoned in the US for fighting against
terrorism....
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Marilyn Buck, a political prisoner in the U.S., was released July 15 from
the federal prison medical center in Carswell, Texas, according to her support
group, Friends of Marilyn Buck. She is paroled to New York. As of the writing
of this article, no further details about her release have been made
available....
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Activists supporting African-American political prisoner and revolutionary
journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal held a lively street meeting on the corner of Sixth
and Market near the Liberty Bell monument in Philadelphia on July 4....
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Lynne Stewart, targeted by
the Bush-era Justice Dept. for daring to forcefully advocate for her client, is
in danger - and only immense popular support can save her....
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July 3rd is the day that political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death for a killing he did not commit. This year’s July 4 theme is “ancestral uprising!” featuring dramatic presentations through performances of heroic anti-slavery fighters. The protest will also include a special presentation on the year-long struggle to demand a civil rights investigation for Mumia on the part of the U.S. Justice Department...
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A 22 year old U.S. soldier, Bradley Manning, has been arrested on suspicion of leaking classified combat video footage and secret documents to a whistle-blower website. SPC Manning, from Potomac, Maryland, is assigned to the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division and was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer, located east of Baghdad. SPC Manning was arrested in Iraq and is currently being held in Kuwait pending further investigations. The WikiLeaks website posted a video which shows U.S. occupation forces shooting civilians on a Baghdad street during 2007....
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Lynne Stewart, the 70 year old “Peoples Lawyer” should not be in jail. The charges, long trial and her conviction are an effort at government intimidation....
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When a supposed attempt to set off a car bomb in New York City fizzled in early May, with no one injured, a massive government investigation was launched to bring the alleged “terrorists” to justice....
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Ten years ago, the International Action Center initiated a major demonstration
focused on the prison industrial complex. It was held on in front of the U.S.
Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. The march was called to take place on
April 15, the day before militant actions to oppose the criminal policies of
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which were meeting in that
city; thousands of youth took part in those protests....
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This is a critical moment in the long battle to save the life of world-renown
African-American political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on
Pennsylvania’s death row for almost 28 years. Millions of people
worldwide know that he has never had a fair trial or appeals process before a
jury of his peers—that he has been denied his basic legal and
constitutional rights....
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April 3 was “Call to Action Day” at Columbia University —
a day to inform, mobilize and organize to save the life of political prisoner
Mumia Abu-Jamal. The theme was “Live from Death Row: Mumia at the
Crossroads in the Age of Obama.” It was organized by Educators for Mumia
Abu-Jamal....
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Writers for Mumia, an afternoon of readings and testimonials by poets, playwrights, journalists, book authors, wordsmiths and activists, will be held April 24 from 2:30 to 6 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church, 512 W. 126th St. in Harlem. The New York Chapter of the National Writers Union and the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition of New York City are co-sponsoring the event, which precedes a rally in front of the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., on April 26....
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Activists from the U.S. and worldwide organized a day-long teach-in in Philadelphia and online to demand: No death penalty; No life sentence and for a Civil Rights Investigation in support of the award-winning journalist and political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal. The following videos will help to summarize the legal and political issues connected to Mumia's case along with action proposals to build a broad fightback movement to win his freedom....
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In light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for
reinstatement of the death penalty for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal,
activists from the Philadelphia region, across the U.S. and around the globe
will take part in an important teach-in in Philadelphia on Feb. 13, to take up
the next stage in the struggle to free Mumia....
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...
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Activists from Philadelphia, across the U.S. and around the globe will take
part in an important video streaming, video conferencing and live teach-in to
take up the next stage in the struggle to free Mumia Abu-Jamal....
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The plight of Mumia Abu-Jamal is included in this Black History Month forum
because what’s happening to him is part of the history of Black people
in the U.S. and throughout the African Diaspora. This includes a history of
oppression, repression, enslavement, apartheid, domestic terrorism, exploitation,
racial discrimination, marginalization, resistance, and a continuing struggle
for liberation, civil and human rights, social justice and equal protection
under the law....
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In an effort to intimidate observers to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s trial Federal Marshals have instituted a new and unprecedented measure of copying photo identification and having names and addresses logged by court security officers before admission into the courtroom. This is especially threatening to the Pakistani immigrant community who is deeply concerned about the fate of their sister Aafia. An additional level of metal detectors is also posted outside the courtroom....
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Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s trial for alleged attempted murder of FBI agents
and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan entered its second week Jan. 25 in New York
City. Court officials forced all who wanted to attend the trial to twice go
through metal detectors and submit to thorough searches, give photo IDs and
sign their name. This intimidating process targeting noncitizens from the
Pakistani community is being challenged....
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On Jan. 19 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that has opened the way
for the reinstatement of the death sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The federal
court’s ruling, which moved away from earlier rulings regarding
sentencing phase regulations, was the latest in a long history of state, local
and federal courts changing or even reversing their own legal precedents in the
case of this world-renowned journalist and political prisoner....
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Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s trail continues Monday, January 25 and EVERY
DAY at 9:00am. In an effort to intimidate Dr Siddiqui’s supporters court
officials have harassed observers by taking I.D. numbers before they entered
the courtroom....
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The Supreme Court has tossed out a lower court
ruling that nullified the death sentence for former Black Panther Mumia
Abu-Jamal. He has been an outspoken activist from behind bars, claiming there
were procedural errors during his capital sentencing, and that too few blacks
were on the jury....
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My August parole denial was appealed in short order. We are expecting a response to that appeal sometime very soon. It has occurred to me that the viciousness of this system knows no bounds, and so I believe strongly in the coming days we will hear of another loss, another denial. This one will be timed and intended specifically as a twisted Christmas present for me, such is the nature of those in charge. With no sense of balance, fairness, or decency, I await my own personal stocking stuffer....
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All
the same, Mumia is still on death row because the prosecution filed an appeal
wit the Supreme Court in order to push through his execution. Mumia is now in
the greatest danger to be executed since his arrest on December 9, 1981....
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Black and Ceci, long-time leaders in the anti-racist, and poor
people’s rights struggle, had been under police surveillance for their
political activism....
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None of the Five should be in prison, for their only crime was to stop terrorism against Cuba, terrorism carried out by right-wing Cuban American organizations in Florida...
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...
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Lynne's bail has been revoked, and she is now being held in jail after the Second Circuit ruled on her and the government's appeals on November 17, 2009....
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A national tour organized to highlight the use of administrative detention, an inhumane punishment aimed at Palestinian political prisoners, visited a number of U.S. cities from Nov. 3 to Nov. 20. Administrative detention is a cruel form of arrest that offers the accused man, woman or even child no charges to dispute, no trial and no limit to their maximum sentence....
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Nov. 19, longtime civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart was ordered by Judge John G. Koeltl to turn herself in to begin serving a prison sentence for her 2006 conviction for conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists....Many see Stewart’s incarceration as a boon, particularly for those who are behind bars without adequate legal representation. And though she was disbarred upon her indictment, Stewart will undoubtedly play the role of jailhouse lawyer, acting as a mentor and advocate to those on the inside for whom justice is hard won if at all....
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Lynne Stewart has just been notified by Judge Koeltl to surrender tomorrow, to begin serving her sentence....
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The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ) coalition convened an urgent meeting here on Oct. 17. Mumia supporters from Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., were in attendance. It was a fightback strategy meeting of critical importance. Mumia, who has been on death row for over 27 years, is now, more than ever, faced with having his life snuffed out by the political powers that be....
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On Oct. 13, a 21-year-plus-10-month prison term was imposed on Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez by the same Florida U.S. District Court that initially condemned him to a life sentence plus 10 years. The steadfast support of the Cuban people and government, amplified with worldwide solidarity, forced the U.S. government to back off some of the unjust and wildly excessive life sentences imposed on Guerrero, one of the revolutionary heroes known as the Cuban Five....
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ow that the documents recording the systematic torture of thousands of prisoners in secret U.S. prisons has been released to the world media in U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s report, the secret documents on the imprisonment and torture of Dr Aafia Siddiqui must also be released to the courts and to the world....
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New York—On Aug. 21 the Solidarity Center here was filled with five hours of inspiring sounds: music and spoken word from talented artists (photo right) brought together to support the case of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, known worldwide as the “voice of the voiceless.”...
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A wave of outrage swept the progressive community worldwide at the news that Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier was denied parole on Aug. 21. The U.S. government said Peltier will not be eligible for another parole hearing until 2024, when he will be 79 years old....
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Celebrate the release of On the Move – Sounds
Inspired by Mumia Abu Jamal and to celebrate the voices that have come together
to demand through words and song that Mumia Abu Jamal be set free!...
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Imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat, the General
Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was transferred
on August 11, 2009 to Ramon prison in the Naqab desert from Asqelan prison,
where he had been held for a number of months. He remains in isolation; prior
to his transfer from Asqelan, he had been held since August 1 in a tiny
isolation cell of 140 cm x 240 cm after being penalized for communicating with
another prisoner in the isolation unit....
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...
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The thousands of Palestinian prisoners are facing an
ongoing campaign in denial of their rights - from denial of family visits, to
the imposition of solitary confinement and isolation. Every day, they stand on
the front lines, confronting the injustice and repression of the occupation, as
prisoners for the freedom of Palestinian land and the Palestinian people....
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A press conference and vigil were held at the downtown federal building June
26 to support Leonard Peltier and his upcoming parole effort on July 28.
Supporters are being asked to write letters on behalf of Peltier, a leader of
the American Indian Movement and one of the longest-held political prisoners in
the U.S....
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Join dozens of organizations, academics and activists to
endorse this letter to Ban Ki-Moon, including the National Lawyers Guild, the
Palestinian Youth Network, UK MP George Galloway and many more! See full list of
initial endorsers below......
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In 2004, the NAACP voted unanimously (with one "nay" vote) to "reiterate its support of the international movement for a new and fair trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal." Yet the organization has done nothing since that time to ensure justice for Mumia....
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We'll be closing down the petition around June 26 so that data can be compiled for delivery to the U.S. Parole Commission. So don't wait. Do it now. Not sure if you've signed? Sign again. Any duplicates will be deleted before the signatures are submitted to the Parole Commission....
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Kari Ann Cowan, Peltier's niece, reported on July 19 from the prison at
Lewisburg that Leonard may have suffered a heart attack. She stated, "He
had a hard time breathing. He was in his cell and had an ache in his chest. He
was kinda scared he was having a heart attack. He raised his hands, breathed
slowly and finally felt better."...
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Leonard Peltier, a fighter for the liberation of the Indigenous peoples of
North America and the world, has been locked away in federal prison for more
than three decades....
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The US Supreme Court announced today that it will not review the case of the
Five Cuban Patriots. This decision denies our 5 brothers, unjustly imprisoned
from more than a decade for monitoring terrorist organizations based in Miami,
from ever having the possibility of an impartial and just trial outside
Miami....
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More than 100 vigils, rallies, marches and other actions were held across
the U.S. and in other countries worldwide on May 19 in support of Troy Anthony
Davis, the Georgia man facing execution for a crime he has always denied
committing....
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Troy Davis is an African American on death row in Georgia. Davis was
convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty
International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt....
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On May 19, from Alaska to West Virginia and from Argentina to Uganda, high
school and college students, faith-based groups and progressive community
organizations are organizing vigils, rallies and petition drives as well as the
vital means of communication to bring worldwide pressure on Georgia Gov. Sonny
Perdue and the Pardons and Parole Board to stop the execution of Troy Anthony
Davis....
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The struggle to free death-row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is heating up in New York City. On May 8, an emergency, militant street meeting took place in front of Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building to demand that elected officials call upon U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation into constitutional rights violations against Mumia. Congressperson Charles Rangel, who represents the Harlem community, has come out in support of the call for the investigation....
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In the aftermath of the April 12 sniper killings of three Somali teenagers by the U.S. Navy, several U.S. agencies met on April 17 to conduct a review of military and foreign policy toward this Horn of Africa nation. The State Department, Pentagon and Justice Department have outlined a series of options
to ostensibly fight "piracy" in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean....
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Following are excerpts from an e-mail campaign launched on April 15 by the New York Free Mumia Coalition, International Concerned Family and Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Millions for Mumia and the International Action Center. To date hundreds of thousands of emails have been sent to U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder, President Barack Obama, congressional leaders, and the media to demand that the Justice Department initiate a civil rights investigation addressing a 27-year history of prosecutorial and judicial violations of Mumia's constitutional rights....
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Political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal will be 55 on April 24. His family, friends and supporters are observing the day with a worldwide "Honk for
Mumia" and other displays of resistance to demand freedom for this world-famous African-American journalist held on Pennsylvania's death row....
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While May Day has historically been a day of workers solidarity and a
celebration of labor power, this is not a day or year like any other....
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On April 6, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Mumia
Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt-phase trial. The
Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to consider the Philadelphia DA's separate appeal, which is attempting to execute Abu-Jamal WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing. In
response to yesterday's rejection, Abu-Jamal's lead
attorney, Robert R. Bryan, will be filing a "petition for re-hearing" in the U.S. Supreme Court....
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Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba's Parliament, speaking in
Havana, denounced the U.S. and international corporate media for their silence
regarding the massive international support for the petition to the U.S.
Supreme Court to hear the case of the Cuban Five....
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The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments on as few as 100 cases per year,
although thousands are submitted. The briefs submitted support a full
examination of the legal issues in both cases....
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In collaboration with the International Action Center, City Councilor Chuck
Turner has launched a new phase of his "Campaign for Truth, Light and
Justice," focusing national and international attention not just on
frame-up charges against Turner but also on eight years of corrupt practices by
the Bush administration's Department of "Justice."...
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The central issue in this case is racism in jury selection. The prosecution systematically removed people from sitting on the trial jury purely because of the color of their skin, that is, being black. The bigotry that killed Martin Luther King, Jr., so many years ago, has been rampant in the case of my client and is a central part of the state's quest to murder him in the name of the law....
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Today, February 6, is the 33rd anniversary of Leonard Peltier's
arrest.Time to set him free... Because it is the RIGHT thing to do....
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I want to thank each and everyone of you for your efforts in my urgent time of need, you cannot imagine how much my spirit has been lifted from the cards and letters, the phone calls and how everyone kept up the pressure. My gratitude is really more than I can express. My return to Lewisburg was met like a hero’s welcome, and many people came to assure me of my safety there. It is so ironic that the prisoners in a federal maximum-security prison can guarantee my safety, but the Bureau of Prisons will not. I did not say, “cannot”, but “will not” do so. You have to remember the BOP is a little brother to the FBI and they came from an illegitimate mother called the JUST-US (Justice) Department.
...
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Leonard has been transferred back to USP-Lewisburg and released to the
general population....
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Internationally known Native American political prisoner Leonard Peltier has been victimized and brutalized since being transferred to U.S. Penitentiary Canaan in Pennsylvania on January 14....
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From five prisons scattered throughout the bowels of the United States, we condemn this
crime with all our strength; we demand that the barbarity stop now and we send all of our love and support from the deepest part of our souls to the beloved Palestinian people. We will be with you today and always. If there is one thing that profoundly hurts us about our imprisonment it is that we cannot do much more for you, for your cause, for our peoples, but we trust that soon we will be able to accompany you physically....
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I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after his transfer, some inmates assaulted him. The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his head and body, receiving a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion, and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from his injuries....
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The International Action Center and Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST) strongly condemn the fatal shooting of 22 year-old African-American father, Oscar Grant, by BART cop Johannes Mehserle, Jan. 1 at the Fruitvale station in Oakland, Calif. Grant was forced off the train at 2 a.m. with others and forced to lie face down on the ground. While he was laying face down, Mehserle pulled his gun from its holster and shot Grant in the back....
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Life-long civil rights advocate Ramsey Clark, winner of the 2008 United Nations Human Rights Award and founder of the International Action Center, held a press conference in front of the JFK Federal Building here on Dec. 17 to defend Chuck Turner, an African-American community leader and five-term Boston city councilor, against racist frame-up charges from U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan....
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Mumia Abu-Jamal remains on Pennsylvania’s death row. Last week marked the 27th anniversary of his unjust imprisonment. Racism, fraud and politics have been threads that have run through the case since its inception, and continue today....
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Dec. 6 will be a day of international solidarity to free Mumia Abu-Jamal. It
is sorely needed. Lynne Abraham, the Philadelphia district attorney known as
“the deadliest D.A. in the U.S.,” is calling on the U.S. Supreme
Court to reinstate Abu-Jamal's death sentence despite mounds of evidence
showing his innocence....
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Every year since 1970, United American Indians of New England have organized
the National Day of Mourning observance in Plymouth at noon on Thanksgiving Day. Every year, hundreds of Native people and our supporters from all four
directions join us. Every year, including this year, Native people from
throughout the Americas will speak the truth about our history and about current issues and struggles we are involved in....
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The government's witch hunt and persecution of the San Francisco 8 continue unabated despite growing public support to drop the charges and release the former Black Panther Party members....
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On Monday, October 27, Troy Davis, an African American on death row in Georgia, is scheduled to be legally lynched by the state of Georgia. Davis was
convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt."...
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There are new developments in the case of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on Pennsylvania's death row, that are the most significant and deadly since his 1981 arrest....
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U.S. troops in Afghanistan shot Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and took her into custody in July. She lies in solitary confinement in the Manhattan
Detention Center, with an open scar from her sternum to her lower abdomen. She has not seen her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, because if she leaves her cell she faces an excruciating strip search....
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The Jersey 4 are young African-American lesbians from Newark, N.J., who were
convicted of "gang assault" charges in June 2007 after defending themselves against a man who attacked them and three of their friends in August 2006....
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Actor Danny Glover sent the following message of solidarity on Sept. 13
to the concert "Five Stars and One Song" held in New York in support of the Cuban 5....
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The International Action Center condemns the U.S. silencing of Mrs. Masood
"disappeared" of
Pakistan. The United States Department of Homeland Security has cowardly
revoked the travel visa for Amna Masood Janjua. She was prevented from
traveling to the US to meet with human rights organizations and members of
Congress by US agents who boarded the plane she was on, forcing her off. ...
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I have watched with keen interest and renewed hope as your campaign has mobilized millions of Americans behind your message of changing a political system that serves a small economic elite at the expense of the peoples of the
United States and the world. Your election as president of the United States, where slaves and Indians were long considered less than human under the law, will undoubtedly constitute a historic moment in race relations in the United
States....
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There has been extensive news attention to the ongoing federal proceedings concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, on the hotly contested issue of racism in jury selection and the ordering of a new jury trial on the question of life or death. (Abu-Jamal v. Horn, 520 F.3d 272 (3rd Cir. 2008).) The massive issue of racism will be presented to the U.S. Supreme Court later this year. However, few are aware that we have been actively litigating separate issues concerning fraud and the subornation of perjury by the Philadelphia Police Department and the District Attorney of Philadelphia. We are now before the Supreme Court regarding this governmental misconduct which resulted in Mumia being convicted and sentenced to death.
...
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The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prisons,
serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being arrested in
September 1998 and wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in
2001....
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(RHC)—Senator Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz of the Mexican Senate has added her name to the list of international politicians, activists and cultural and artistic personalities who are urging the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice to grant visas without further delay to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, whose husbands, Gerardo Hernandez and René Gonzalez are serving prison sentences in US gaols for infiltrating
terrorist groups in Miami. ...
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More than two weeks after being granted bond by a federal judge, Sami Al-Arian is still being held in prison. In fact, Dr. Al-Arian is now being subjected to the worst treatment by prison officials
since his stay in Coleman Federal Penitentiary in Florida three years ago....
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Today our Petition for Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc, submitted on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, was denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Simply put, we did not receive the needed majority vote from the nine sitting judges; at least five votes for a rehearing were necessary. However, Justice Thomas L. Ambro continues to urge the granting of relief on the issue of racism in jury selection. ...
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...
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Dear Friends of the Cuban Five: For more than ten years, Adriana and Gerardo have not been able to see each other. Olga and René have also been denied the right to family visits, since August 2000.
This is due to the cruel and unjustified refusal by the U.S. government to grant entry visas to the wives of two of the Cuban Five.
...
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United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia On June 27, 2008, I submitted on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Petition for Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Yesterday it was deemed "filed" by the court following rulings on related motions. The focus of the Petition is the issue of racism in jury selection. If unsuccessful, we will proceed to the United States Supreme Court...
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With the attainment of the required delegates to claim the Democratic Party's nomination for U.S. president, Sen. Barack H. Obama (D-IL) has written a new page in American history....
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There apparently is still confusion regarding the March 27 federal decision. A new jury trial was ordered on the question of whether the penalty should be life or death. The court did not rule that Mumia should receive a life sentence as some have stated. The penalty-phase was reversed because the trial judge gave misleading and unconstitutional jury instructions. Nonetheless, I expect far greater gains.
...
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A national press conference to demand the immediate release of Dr. Sami Al-Arian was held at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and Cultural Center in Harlem on April 15. Al-Arian was in the 44th day of a hunger strike to demand that the government abide by the terms of his release. He has been imprisoned for more than five years....Al-Arian, a tenured professor at the University of South Florida, was
arrested in 2003. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft trumpeted it as the
"arrest of the most dangerous financier of Islamic Jihad in the Western
world." This case of a Palestinian who raised funds for orphans and charities back home is viewed as one of the most extreme examples of racist and anti-Muslim persecution....
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Over a thousand people voiced their collective outrage here April 19 that political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was once again denied the right to a fair hearing by an injustice system determined to keep this innocent man imprisoned for life if it can&'t silence him outright through execution....
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Rainbow Flags for Mumia is a coalition of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people and organizations that came together in 1999 to demand a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The following are excerpts from a call issued by RF4M
organizers Imani Henry and LeiLani Dowell to help raise awareness and solidarity with the Free Mumia rally in Philadelphia on April 19....
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In his new book, O'Connor argues that Abu-Jamal was clearly framed by police, and that the actual shooter was a man named Kenneth Freeman. O'Connor criticizes the local media, who, he says, "bought into the prosecution's story line early on and has never been able to see this case for what it is: a framing of an innocent and peace-loving man."...
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Friday, April 11, is the scheduled release date of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian professor on a hunger strike, who has been imprisoned for more than five years. But the Department of Justice, through its continuous abuse of the grand jury system, is threatening to keep him imprisoned for many years....
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This Legal Update is made on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who remains on Pennsylvania’s death row. Many people have inquired as to our
reaction and position concerning recent legal developments, and what will happen now. This should answer many of those questions and alleviate some of the confusion....
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There is considerable documentation of the extremely
"irregular" decision making by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. See the...minority position in the Third Circuit ruling. We must expose the conspiracy to convict
Mumia, to deny him a new trial, and to have him either executed or imprisoned
for life. We will not accept their decision. Into
the streets for our brother, Mumia, and for ourselves!!!...
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The following statement was issued on March 29 by Pam Africa,
coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, on the March 28, 2008 court ruling by the three-judge panel of the Third
Circuit of Appeals....
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Emergency protests took place in a number of cities March 28, 2008, the day after a 2
to 1 court ruling March 27 made by the 3rd Circuit of Appeals that upheld the
guilty verdict in the case of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and called for a resentencing hearing due to flawed jury instructions in the original trial....
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A ruling by the three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting Mumia Abu-Jama's appeals has left supporters outraged and
convinced that, for this internationally known political prisoner, there is no chance for a "fair trial" within the U.S. injustice system....
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THE THIRD CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS RULED AGAINST A NEW TRIAL FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL. THEY HAVE CALLED FOR A SENTENCING HEARING WHICH CAN RESULT IN EITHER AN EXECUTION OR LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE.DAY AFTER PLANS ARE IN EFFECT
...
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As news flashed of the formal resignation of Cuba's Fidel Castro from the office of the President, morbid celebrations broke out in "Little Havana"(Miami), Florida, the U.S. capital of the Cuban exiled, anti-Castro movement. Just as they rejoiced at his illness in 2006, they reveled at his resignation....
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The issues in this case concern the right to a fair trial, the struggle against the death penalty, and the political repression of a
courageous writer and ournalist. My goal is to
win a new and fair trial for Mumia, and a jury acquittal upon his retrial. I want him to go home to his family. Nevertheless, Mumia is in great danger, for if all is lost he will be executed. We must never forget that racism, fraud, and politics are threads that have run through this case since the beginning and continue today....
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A federal judge here on Jan. 28 sentenced Ricardo Palmera, a peace negotiator for the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces-People's Army (FARC-EP), to 60 years in prison without parole....
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Earlier this month the federal government issued a statement in which they labeled Joanne Chesimard, known to most in the Black community as Assata
Shakur, as a domestic terrorist. In so doing, they also increased the bounty on
her head from $150,000 to an unprecedented $1,000,000. Viewed through the lens
of U.S. law enforcement, Shakur is an escaped cop-killer. Viewed through the
lens of many Black people, including me, she is a wrongly convicted woman and a hero of epic proportions....
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March 2005 marked one year since the filing of the last appeal in the case of the Cuban Five. The Five are Cubans who were arrested in 1998 in the U.S. The U.S.
government charged the Five with engaging in espionage against military bases
and threatening "national security." The Cubans were trying to monitor and prevent terror attacks from U.S. soil against their island nation. ...
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Puerto Ricans have resisted U.S. culture and the imposition of English-only
in schools, and over the years have formed liberation organizations such as the
Nationalist Party, the FALN and the Macheteros. Now the movement and its allies
are calling for the FBI and the U.S. Navy to get out of Puerto Rico. International solidarity is needed....
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Victor Toro Ramerez fought the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Now he is fighting deportation from the U.S., and is linking his own struggle
to that of all undocumented workers....
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Leonard Peltier -- a great-grandfather, artist, writer, & indigenous rights activist -- is a citizen of the Anishinabe and Dakota/Lakota Nations who has been unjustly imprisoned since 1976....
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Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on Pennsylvania's death row for over a quarter of a century.
His 1982 conviction for the shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel
Faulkner, has been contested by jurists, human rights organizations, and peoples
of conscience the world over. Even though he is arguably the most famous political
prisoner in the United States, his case and struggle for justice distills many
of the issues that racially stigmatized groups and others have faced in the United
States for decades: police brutality and violence, racist applications of the
death penalty, prosecutorial misconduct, suborning of witnesses, and the use of
wealth and political privilege in criminal justice systems to service the ideological
interests of groups and classes in power. ...
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It is mind-boggling for us to be here, now, at this late hour, with Leonard Peltier still in chains. Books have been written; documentaries have been produced; congresspeople have joined his freedom campaign -- all for naught. For Leonard Peltier, a former leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM), is still not free! That, to anyone with a soul, is a damned shame. ...
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Since 1970, hundreds of other Native Americans from across the country and their non-Native allies have been converging on Plymouth Harbor to let people know that Thanksgiving is a "Day of Mourning" that marks the genocide of thousands of Native Americans, the theft of Native Lands and the assault on Native Cultures. On Thursday, November 23, 2006 despite the cold and rainy weather, hundreds of people gathered and marched on Plymouth Harbor and joined in solidarity as various tribal elders and members spoke about the hypocrisy of the current U.S. government's attack against immigrants and spoke of the importance of Unity among all Indigenous Peoples. Elder Bert Waters read the following statement from Leonard Peltier: ...
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Last fall, when two Black high school students sat under the "white" tree on their campus, white students responded by hanging nooses from the tree. When Black students protested the light punishment for the students who hung the nooses, District Attorney Reed Walters came to the school and told the students he could "take [their] lives away with a stroke of [his] pen." Racial tension continued to mount in Jena , and the District Attorney did nothing in response to several egregious cases of violence and threats against black students....
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The International Action Center, an organization with over 15 centers throughout the United States, denounces the Bush Administration's announcement that the FBI has issued an arrest warrant for ANTONIO CAMACHO NEGRON a Puerto Rican pro-independence leader and former political prisoner....
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There are many developments on the legal and other fronts concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal. We remain in active litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and also have issues pending in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mumia has been honored by fellow writers through acceptance into a prestigious organization, a Nobel Prize winner recently visited him, an excellent new book was released in France, a leading British newspaper has published a major article on Mumia, and a superb film recently premiered in London and Rome. The following are the highlights....
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We continue to await a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal. This complex case was orally argued before a three-judge panel on May 17, 2007, following extensive litigation which included voluminous briefing and motions. In my experience of successfully defending a large number of murder cases involving the death penalty, it was a great day....
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