Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning Pennsylvania journalist who exposed police violence against minority communities. On death row since 1982, he was wrongfully sentenced for the shooting of a police officer. New evidence, including the recantation of a key eyewitness, new ballistic and forensic evidence and a confession from Arnold Beverly (one of the two killers of Officer Faulkner) points to his innocence! Mumia had no criminal record.
For the last 21 years, Abu-Jamal has been locked up 23 hours a day, denied contact visits with his family, had his confidential legal mail illegally opened by prison authorities, and put into punitive detention for writing his first of three books while in prison, Live From Death Row.
His case is currently on appeal before the Federal District Court in Philadelphia. Mumia's fight for a new trial has won the support of tens of thousands around the world, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, The European Parliament, Alice Walker, Paul Newman, Maya Angelou, Sister Helen Prejean, Danny Glover, Rage Against The Machine, the Detroit and San Francisco City Councils, Amnesty International, and many others. Mumia Abu-Jamal's fate rests with all those people who believe in every person's right to justice and a fair trial.
"I remain innocent. A court cannot make an innocent man guilty. Any ruling founded on injustice is not justice. The righteous fight for life, liberty, and for justice can only continue." Mumia Abu-Jamal , Oct. 31, 1998
Facts about Mumia's 1982 trial:
* The policeman was killed with a 44 caliber gun. Abu-Jamal's gun which he was licensed to carry as a night-time taxi driver, was a 38 caliber.
* The police never tested Abu-Jamal's gun to see if it had been recently fired. They never tested his hands to see if he had fired a gun. They have never shown Abu-Jamal 's gun to be the fatal weapon.
* No police officers present at Abu-Jamal's arrest claimed to have heard Jamal's "confession" until two months after it allegedly occurred. This was right after Abu-Jamal had filed police brutality charges.
* Abu-Jamal's doctor said that Abu-Jamal, who was unconscious, said nothing. He reported that a nurse found police with loaded guns pointed at Mumia as he lay unconscious in his hospital bed.
* William Singletary, a Vietnam veteran and local businessman, saw the whole incident and has testified that Abu-Jamal was not the shooter. However, the police forced him to change his story and intimidated him into leaving Philadelphia.
* Other key witnesses, such as Veronica Jones -- who now testifies in support of Abu-Jamal, were harassed into giving false testimony. Two prosecution witnesses were given special favors, including exemption from criminal prosecution, for their testimony.
Elements in an unfair trial:
* The Judge, Albert Sabo, sentenced more people to death than any other sitting judge in the US.
* The public defender didn't interview a single witness in preparation for the trial, and didn't have funds for defending a capital case.
* The prosecutor removed 11 qualified African Americans from the jury. He also argued for the death penalty because of Mumia's membership in the Black Panther Party, a practice later condemned as unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.
* The racial bias of Philadelphia's courts has resulted in 120 people on death row, all but 13 non-white.
Beautiful and meaningful shot, I read the story, sad and real, I would expect this from a dictatorial regime, not from a democratic nation! Also we have such a case, it is that of Adriano Sofri, do you know him? Bye my friend, Max
for nonsense justice, innocent people dying and always did..this is very sad and indenfensibility...thank you Màrio! excellent presentation and great details, splendid composition, congrats
Phew....! Interesting reading... go for it Mário and believe in what you believe in - there are very few people who have causes and actually go ahead and do something about it... I'm proud of you for that - you're a true soldier - but in the right sense of the term (not fighting with blood but with a meaning in your heart). I like you Mário cos through your photos it tells me a lot about your beliefs and vision. I'm so anti when it comes to things like this it makes me think of the painting Scream... sometimes the barstards have reached the top and it's hard to get them down. I have a lot to say about this but unfortunately I don't want to fill up your whole page with my blahblah :) hugs from Cherie p.s. it's so hard to accept that although the people's voice is loud it isn't always heard....
too many juridical killings in the states and way too much racism in the courts and little attention, I fear for those issues there : as the government is busy in detecting others crimes in the world covering up their owns in usa
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{K:-53658} 12/11/2003
