ON THE MOVE!

This afternoon, Pennsylvania's kill-crazy governor Tom Ridge signed a death warrant for our brother, Mumia Abu-Jamal. The execution date is set for December 2, 1999.

Tomorrow, October 14th, here in Philly, we will demonstrate at 4:00pm at Broad & Spring Garden Sts., at the state building, right across from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) headquarters.

This Friday, October 15, 1999, Mumia's attorneys will be filing a petition for Habeas Corpus here in Philadelphia. Immediately following this filing, there will be a major press conference at the American Friends Service Committee building (Friends Center),1501 Cherry St. beginning at 11:00am.

On Saturday, October 16th, the International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal is calling for an International Mass Demonstration to Save Mumia. We will gather at 11:00am, also at Broad & Spring Garden Sts.

People, please do not listen to the media's lies & misinformation! They are sayin that the execution will be automatically stayed, that Mumia has years worth of appeals left, that this ain't no big deal. These are all lies! This situation is very serious. We must be very serious. We must come at this government with all of our strength, as one, to beat back this pre-meditated murder!

Although he is already caged in one of the most brutally oppressive institutions in the country, our brother has now been moved into Phase II or " deathwatch". Under Phase II, Mumia goes into further isolation. He loses all contact with the outside world, the brutality increases, he is literally stripped of all legal materials, all correspondence, all possessions, everything. This government means to kill Mumia, MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT!! We must be even more committed, more steadfast, more uncompriming, and more consistent in our actions to free our brother from the clutches of this murderous government.

Our sister Pam Africa visited with Mumia yesterday. He remains as strong and committed as ever! If he can do his part from the dungeons of this system, we can do ours out here! Remember, today we are fighting for Mumia, but keep in mind, this system is so murderous, so deceptive, so violent, so insane, that we are in fact struggling for ourselves, our families, our children!

Please contact your local Mumia/Political Prisoner support organization, or he International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia at 215-476-8812. Make plans to get to Filthydelphia 10/16!

Together we will win! To quote MOVE's founder JOHN AFRICA--AS LONG AS YOU ARE COMMITTED TO DOING WHAT'S RIGHT THE POWER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL NEVER BETRAY YOU--end quote. LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA!

ONA MOVE! FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL! FREE THE MOVE 9! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA'S REVOLUTION FOREVER!!
 
 
 

SAVE MUMIA!
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL'S STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO SUPREME COURT DENIAL FOR NEW TRIAL
October 4, 1999
It was not unexpected that the Supreme Court would deny my appeal. The Supreme Court hears only a tiny percent of the cases that are brought before it, roughly 75 out of 7,000 in one semester or a term of the court. I entertained no expectations that mine would be granted. We have to remember that we are working with a conservative court that has worked deciduously in the Bush and Reagan administrations and now in the Clinton administration to narrow the chances of anyone having had their case heard, not just a prisoner on death row. Even the most charitable observer must agree that by virtue of the court taking such a small fraction of the important cases that are filed before it, it is impossible to ignore the fact that many grave injustices are going unresolved. Given the tone and tenor of recent Supreme Court opinions there is even a sense of relief that they didn't grant my third appeal. And the trend is increasingly in favor of the State, the trend is increasingly to disfavor the defendant and the accused. Certainly there are exceptions, but that's the undeniable trend, the expansion of state power and police power in the retractions of prisoners' rights.

The struggle continued, the same old forces are still at work. Look what happened when I called into WBAI. I was literally pulled off the air a few weeks ago. The recent Phillip Block debacle reflects too how desperate the state is and their desperation is really an acknowledgement that none of them believed Phil's confession story to begin with. Still we can't forget the old saying that the truth shall set you free. I still believe that. I'd be a fool not to.

From Death Row, Mumia Abu-Jamal

FACT SHEET ON MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
13 Sep 1999
According to the Phil. Daily News Gov. Tom Ridge could sign a new death warrant for the African American journalist and political prisoner any day now!

Why is Mumia on death row?
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. Ballistics reports prove that the gun found on Mumia Abu-Jamal, a .38 caliber weapon, was not the gun that killed Officer Faulkner. He was shot with a .44 caliber weapon. Police did not even test Abu-Jamal’s weapon to see whether or not it had been fired. Eyewitnesses who were not called to testify in 1982 have come forward. They say Mumia Abu-Jamal was not the shooter. Eyewitness Veronica Jones says police threatened to jail her if she testified. Other witnesses, who testified against Abu-Jamal in the original trial, have changed their stories, saying police threatened and intimidated them.

Why should Mumia get a new trial?
Judge Albert Sabo presided over Abu-Jamal’s trial in 1982. Judge Sabo has sent more people to death row than any other judge in the United States, most of them Black and Latino. There is a higher proportion of Black people on death row from Philadelphia than from any other city. Judge Sabo is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police and was openly hostile to the defense. He prevented Abu-Jamal’s court-appointed attorney from getting the money necessary to investigate and prepare a defense. Sabo also refused to let Abu-Jamal represent himself. The prosecution used what have since been ruled illegal means to keep Black people off the jury. Only two Black jurors served on this case, in a city that is 40 percent Black.
The prosecution’s case centered around condemning Abu-Jamal for having been a member of the Black Panther Party, which they falsely portrayed as a hate group. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court reviewed the evidence. But on Oct. 30, 1998, the Court refused to grant Abu-Jamal a new trial. Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legal team is now appealing the case to a Federal court.
Time is running out for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Although he is innocent, Abu-Jamal faces execution this year. Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas Ridge, a right-wing Republican who won re-election in 1997 with police support, has vowed to sign a new death warrant.

Who is Mumia?
Mumia Abu-Jamal joined the Black Panther Party in 1967, at the age of 15. He went on to a distinguished career as a radio journalist. An untiring opponent of racism and police brutality, he earned the wrath of the notoriously racist Mayor Rizzo and the Philadelphia police department. At the time of his arrest, Abu-Jamal was president of the Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia. Because of his advocacy for Philadelphia’s Black community, he was known as the "Voice of the Voiceless." Mumia Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence. His lawyers and supporters say Abu-Jamal was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because he had earned the enmity of the Philadelphia police for his political stance, Abu-Jamal made a convenient target for a frame-up. Abu-Jamal has continued his work on death row, exposing the racist character of the death penalty and inhuman conditions in the prison system through articles and radio commentaries. He is the author of two books, "Live from Death Row" and "Death Blossoms."