From the Socialist Unity blog in Britain:
MUMIA – FILM OF NEW EVIDENCE THAT JUSTIFIES RE-TRIAL
Filed under: anti-racism, USA — Andy Newman @ 7:42 pm
Newly discovered crime scene photos give grounds for a retrial for Mumia Abu Jamal, the former Black Panther who was framed for murder, and is on death row. This new video features a shortened slide show presentation of the newly discovered crime scene photos taken by press-photographer Pedro Polakoff, as well as Pam Africa, David A. Love, Linn Washington Jr, and Dave Lindorff.
Mumia update 20 October 2008: here.
The United States Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal for a new trial by Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose struggle over more than a quarter century against his murder conviction in a politically and racially motivated frame-up has become a focus of international opposition to capital punishment and political repression: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Mumia Will Be Free!
On March 27th, 2008 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals failed in its supposed mission of providing justice by continuing the blatantly racist judicial decisions disallowing a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal.
In addition, its decision enables the prosecution to push for the death penalty. Mumia has been in jail for 25 years for murder based on a police frame up and racist trial. Amongst other crimes, this trial excluded Black jurors, allowed falsified evidence and the testimony of witnesses threatened by the same Philadelphia police department that was later federally indicted for corruption.
The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal are calling on everyone to put the pressure back in the streets demanding justice for Mumia. This week’s selection at Leftbooks.com includes the books on or by Mumia, internationally known as the voice of the voiceless. His words motivate action, and this is what’s needed now more than ever. Read them and become inspired to put the heat back in the streets demanding justice for Mumia and all political prisoners in the U.S.
Check out our latest and remember that, as usual at leftbooks, you get FREE SHIPPING*!! (with every order of $50 or more).
AND feel good knowing your money goes toward the movement for social and economic justice and against war. That’s right, all the proceeds from leftbooks goes directly towards the work of activists and organizations working to end war, racism, poverty and oppression. Leftbooks especially supports the work of the Troops Out Now Coalition and the International Action Center (www.TroopsOutNow.org, http://www.iacenter.org).
Live >From Death Row
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
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“They want me to die alone—silently.” —Mumia Abu-Jamal
“His voice is vital and strong…The power of his voice is rooted in his defiance of those determined to silence him. Magically, Mumia’s words are clarified, purified by the toxic strata of resistance through which they must penetrate to reach us. Like the blues. Like jazz.” —John Edgar Wideman
Once a prominent radio reporter, Mumia Abu-Jamal is now in Pennsylvania prison awaiting his state-sanctioned execution. In 1982 he was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner after a trial many have criticized as profoundly biased.
Live from Death Row is a collection of his prison writings—an impassioned yet unflinching account of the brutalities and humiliations of prison life. It is also a scathing indictment of racism and political bias in the U.S. judicial system that is certain to fuel the controversy surrounding the death penalty and freedom of speech.
“A tough, true, timely book. You cannot read it and remain unmoved.” —E.L. Doctorow
“A rare and courageous voice speaking from a place we fear to know: Mumia Abu-Jamal must be heard. ” –Alice Walker
Paperback, 188pp
DVD: Mumia Abu-Jamal:
A Case For Reasonable Doubt?
HBO Documentary
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Journalist, writer, death-row inmate and political prisoner. From behind the walls, Mumia Abu-Jamal speaks for the first time in “Mumia: A case for reasonable doubt?”
This excellent and professional film contains new footage not included in the original 1996 HBO special.
Mumia was convicted and sentenced to death for the December 9, 1981 murder of a white Philadelphia police officer. Mumia’s conviction has been protested by activists and celebrities because of irregularities in both the evidence and the conduct of his trial.
This DVD is an excellent tool for understanding the case and can be used to organize activities anywhere.
Fox Lorber a Windstar Co., 74 minutes, Produced and Directed by John Edginton, DVD OK for US & Canada
All Things Censored
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
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Edited by Noelle Hanrahan
All Things Censored, is Mumia Abu-Jamal’s major release with more than 75 writings, many freshly composed by Mumia with the cartridge of a ball point pen — in his death row cell.
Abu-Jamal writes on a host of topics, including the ironies that abound within the U.S. prison system, the consequences of those ironies for us all, and his own case. Mumia’s composure, humor, and connection to the living world around him represents an irrefutable victory over the “corrections” system that has for two decades sought to isolate and silence him.
2000, Soft Cover, 334 p.p., Photos, Art.
DVD: Framing an Execution
The Media and Mumia Abu-Jamal
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Narrated by Danny Glover. This 49 minute dvd analyzes and critiques the 20/20 and other media coverage of the case of political prisoner, the journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Another of the Many People’s Heroes who Must be Freed:
Prison Writings:
My Life is My Sun Dance
By Leonard Peltier
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In this remarkable memoir, Leonard Peltier invites us into his world inside Leavenworth, where he has been wrongfully imprisoned for over twenty years. Invoking the Sun Dance, in which pain provides access to a transcendent reality, Peltier explores his own suffering and the insights it has borne him.
Still remarkable optimistic, Peltier situates his own experience within the history of the American Indian peoples and their struggles to overcome the continued injustices of the U.S. government. Prison Writings is one of the most original political manifestos of our time, and it issues a powerful call for justice.
Edited by Harvey Arden, Forward by Ramsey Clark
St. Martin’s Press, Soft Cover, 272pp, appendix with chronology and pre-sentencing statement
2008 Wall Calendars (ALL 50% OFF!!):
Freedom for Political Prisoners
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The Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar.
A beautiful calendar dedicated to supporting political prisoners and exposing state repression and the injustice of the so-called justice system. This year’s calendar is dedicated to the legacy of the Black Panthers.
All proceeds, to the Certain Days Collective, support the New York State Task Force on Political Prisoners, Addameer (Arabic for Conscience) Prisoners Support and Human Rights Assoc., a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which focuses on human rights issues and the San Francisco 8. The eight former Black Panthers that were arrested January 23rd, 2007 in California, New York and Florida on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer. (See DVD: Legacy of Torture by Freedom Archives)
11 in. x 8.5in, open 22 in x 8.5in
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3rd circuit rejects new trial for Mumia, and presents only 2 options:
Execution or life in prison without parole
All out to Philadelphia to protest this outrageous decision
WE SAY FREE MUMIA NOW!
Be there in
Philadelphia
Saturday
APRIL 19
Rally and March
Gather at the Federal Building,
6th St. & Market
11 a.m.
(10 a.m. for
Philly activists)
>From New York City
Buy your bus tickets asap
Call: 212 330-8029 or go to the Solidarity Center
55 W. 17th Street
5th Floor, Mon.-Fri.
1:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.;
Sat. 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Call: 212 633-6646
Buses leaving from
33rd St & 8th Ave. at 8 a.m. Must buy ticket in advance. $21 For info: http://www.FreeMumia.com
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
There is considerable documentation of the extremely “irregular” decision making by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. See Linn Washington’s piece at http://www.Millions4Mumia.org and 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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Court Denies Relief to Mumia Abu-Jamal
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third District, Philadelphia, has dealt a setback to legal efforts to reverse the 1982 conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia 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. 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. For the latest legal news about Mumia, click here
http://freemumia.org/articlesnewspg/legalupdate-7-22-08.html.
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PLEASE POST WIDELY!
International Campaign for
Constitutional Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Free Mumia Coalition
Tell the Obama Administration you demand Constitutional Justice Now for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Initiated by the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition
On April 6, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal asking for a new trial for death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, based on evidence of racist prosecutorial misconduct during his original 1982 trial in Philadelphia. An important aspect of this misconduct is based on the 1986 Batson issue—a legal decision that says that prospective jurors cannot be selected or unselected based on their race.
In Mumia’s 1982 trial, the white prosecutor used 11 of his 15 strikes to remove Black jurors from the jury. In the end, Mumia’s case was tried before a jury of ten whites and two Blacks. On top of the strikes made by prosecutors, there was also a well-documented culture of racial discrimination by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.
Please take a few minutes to read, sign and circulate widely the important letter below to the various departments of the U.S. government on behalf of defending Mumia’s civil rights, which have been clearly violated. Only a powerful, international campaign can win long, overdue freedom for this outspoken, award-winning journalist and stop a 27 year-old conspiracy to silence him with legal lynching or life in prison without parole. Both options are unacceptable. Mumia needs our movement and our movement needs Mumia.
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition
Let President Obama, Vice President Biden, Attorney General Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, Secretary of State Clinton, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional Leaders, the Congressional Black Caucus, U.N. Secy General Ban, and members of the media know you want the Obama administration to correct the decades of constitutional injustice in Mumia’s case NOW!
The petition text follows:
Urgent Appeal to the Obama administration: correct the constitutional injustice in Mumia’s case NOW!
To: Attorney General Holder
cc: President Obama, Vice President Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, Secretary of State Clinton, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional Leaders, the Congressional Black Caucus, U.N. Secy Gen Ban, and members of the media
I write to you with a sense of grave concern and outrage about the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of a hearing to Mumia Abu-Jamal on the issue of racial bias in jury selection, that is, the “Batson issue”. Inasmuch as there is no other court to which Abu-Jamal can appeal for justice, I turn to you for remedy of a 27-year history of gross violations of U.S. constitutional law and international standards of justice as documented by Amnesty International and many other legal groups around the world.
I call on you and the Justice Department to immediately commence a civil rights investigation to examine the many examples of egregious and racist prosecutorial and judicial misconduct dating back to the original trial in 1982 and continuing through to the current inaction of the U.S. Supreme Court. The statute of limitations should not be a factor in this case as there is very strong evidence of an ongoing conspiracy to deny Abu-Jamal his constitutional rights.
I am aware of the many differences that exist between the case of former Senator Ted Stevens and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Still, I note with great interest the actions you have taken with regard to Senator Stevens’ conviction to assure that he not be denied his constitutional rights. You were specifically outraged by the fact that the prosecution withheld information critical to the defense’s argument for acquittal, a violation clearly committed by the prosecution in Abu-Jamal’s case. Mumia Abu-Jamal, though not a U.S. senator of great wealth and power, is a Black man revered around the world for his courage, clarity, and commitment and deserves no less than Senator Stevens.
Cordially,
(Your signature will be appended here based on the contact information you enter in the form above)
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition
International Campaign for Constitutional Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Sponsored by:
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
P.O. Box 16, College Station
New York, N.Y. 10030
(212) 330-8029
http://www.freemumia.com
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Philadelphia, PA
http://www.freemumia.com
(215) 476-8812
Millions for Mumia
http://www.millions4mumia.org
International Action Center
http://www.iacenter.org
c/o Solidarity Center
55 West 17th St 5C
New York, NY 10011
For further information call: (212) 633-6646
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Attention: On Friday, April 24, Mumia’s 55th birthday, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal are calling for worldwide “Honk for Mumia” celebrations of resistance. Pick as many sites as you can in your local area at 12 noon or after work with signs and banners at intersections saying “Honk for Mumia”!
UPDATED!
PLEASE POST WIDELY!
International Campaign for
Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Free Mumia Coalition
Write to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding that he immediately initiate a civil rights investigation addressing a 27-year history of prosecutorial and judicial violations of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s constitutional and international rights. If the Justice Department can guarantee justice for Senator Ted Stevens, it should do the same for noted journalist and multiple-award recipient, and international honoree Mumia Abu-Jamal. Demand that your elected officials endorse this campaign!
Initiated by the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition
On April 6, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Mumia’s appeal for a new trial based on evidence of racist jury selection on the part of the prosecutor during the original 1982 trial in Philadelphia. This appeal was based on the 1986 U.S. Supreme Court “Batson decision”, a legal decision that says that prospective jurors cannot be selected based on their race.
This issue was considered the strongest basis for overturning Mumia’s conviction, though certainly not the only one. According to Amnesty International’s detailed review of the case, Mumia was denied at his trial in 1982 the right to a fair judge and unbiased jury, the right to represent himself and the right to adequate resources to prepare his defense. In addition, the prosecution withheld critical evidence from the defense, judge and jury; suborned the perjury of its chief witness; and intimidated at least one other witness to perjure herself. Since the AI report, more evidence has emerged of an ongoing conspiracy by the prosecution and members of the judiciary to keep out of the legal record evidence that points to Mumia’s innocence. At the very least, this evidence indicates serious misconduct on the part of the prosecution and judiciary. It was precisely this kind of misconduct that led to the overturning, just two weeks ago, of the conviction of Senator Ted Stevens.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection of Mumia’s appeal on the basis of the “Batson decision” shocked many legal observers, as the court set new and higher standards of appeal in complete violation of its own precedents. One of the members of the three-judge panel that arrived at this decision wrote a scathing 41-page dissent pointing to how Mumia was not granted the same rights that previous appellants were given by this very same court.
Please take a few minutes to read, sign and circulate widely the important letter below to Attorney General Eric Holder. Send copies to other officials demanding that they, too, demand a civil rights investigation. Only a powerful, international campaign can win long-overdue freedom for this outspoken, award-winning journalist and stop a 27-year-old conspiracy to silence him with legal lynching or life in prison without parole. Both options are outrageous violations of Mumia’s human and constitutional rights, and we will not allow them to stand. Mumia needs our movement and our movement needs Mumia.
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition
The petition text follows:
To: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Department of Justice
cc: President Obama, Vice President Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, Secretary of State Clinton, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional Leaders, the Congressional Black Caucus, U.N. Secy Gen Ban, and members of the media
I write to you with a sense of grave concern and outrage about the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of a hearing to Mumia Abu-Jamal on the issue of racial bias in jury selection, that is, the “Batson issue”. Inasmuch as there is no other court to which Abu-Jamal can appeal for justice, I turn to you for remedy of a 27-year history of gross violations of U.S. constitutional law and international standards of justice as documented by Amnesty International and many other legal groups around the world.
I call on you and the Justice Department to immediately commence a civil rights investigation to examine the many examples of egregious and racist prosecutorial and judicial misconduct dating back to the original trial in 1982 and continuing through to the current inaction of the U.S. Supreme Court. The statute of limitations should not be a factor in this case as there is very strong evidence of an ongoing conspiracy to deny Abu-Jamal his constitutional rights.
I am aware of the many differences that exist between the case of former Senator Ted Stevens and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Still, I note with great interest the actions you have taken with regard to Senator Stevens’ conviction to assure that he not be denied his constitutional rights. You were specifically outraged by the fact that the prosecution withheld information critical to the defense’s argument for acquittal, a violation clearly committed by the prosecution in Abu-Jamal’s case. Mumia Abu-Jamal, though not a U.S. senator of great wealth and power, is a Black man revered around the world for his courage, clarity, and commitment and deserves no less than Senator Stevens.
Cordially,
(Your signature will be appended here based on the contact information you enter in the online form)
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition
International Campaign for Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Sponsored by:
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
P.O. Box 16, College Station
New York, N.Y. 10030
(212) 330-8029
http://www.freemumia.com
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Philadelphia, PA
http://www.freemumia.com
(215) 476-8812
Millions for Mumia
http://www.millions4mumia.org
International Action Center
http://www.iacenter.org
c/o Solidarity Center
55 West 17th St 5C
New York, NY 10011
For further information call: (212) 633-6646
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International Action Center strongly urges you to read this important appeal:
Supporting a Civil Rights Investigation for Mumia Abu-Jamal can help save his life! The time to Act is NOW!
Join us in Washington, D.C. on April 26!
Donate NOW to help the campaign to win Mumia’s freedom! http://www.iacenter.org/prisoners/mumia/donatemumia
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.
Recent developments are ominous and dangerous. In the past year all possibilities for a new trial have been closed off by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, which has sent Mumia’s case back to the Third Circuit court for reconsideration of his possible execution—without a new sentencing trial.
Mumia’s life is in grave danger—now more than ever!
In this 28th year of the international struggle for justice for Mumia, the legal system’s alternatives are: life in prison without parole or execution. Thousands of people around the globe say “NO WAY!” as they plan celebrations of Mumia’s 56th birthday on April 24th in a strong demonstration of the continually growing, vibrant national and international movement.
It has been nearly a year since the campaign began to call for Attorney General Eric Holder and the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a full civil rights investigation into 28 years of violations of Mumia’s legal and human rights—all part of the campaign to silence this extraordinary fighter for justice.
Already 40,000 petitions and postcards have been collected which demand this investigation. Last June the Free Mumia Coalition and others lobbied the Congressional Black Caucus and appealed to the NAACP 100th anniversary convention to support this campaign, which this esteemed organization is doing.
The first 20,000 petitions were delivered to the U.S. Department of Justice on Nov. 12, 2009, following a press conference with Amnesty International, the NAACP, representatives from Haiti and Germany, among others, with solidarity messages from hundreds of international labor activists and unions. Every Thursday, there is a weekly call-in campaign to the U.S. Department of Justice, calling for a federal civil rights investigation. Call the Justice Department at 202 353 1555.
COME TO WASHINGTON, D.C. ON APRIL 26!
On April 26, we will go back to Washington, DC, to deliver another 20,000 letters and post cards. There will be a press conference at 11:30 a.m., then a walk to deliver more petitions to the U.S. Department of Justice at 1:00 p.m. We will call for a meeting and a full-scale civil rights investigation. To say “NO” is just not acceptable. (For information, see http://www.freemumia.com/april26.html.)
We are gearing up for this stage of the struggle, as the right-wing forces in the city of Philadelphia—including police, politicians and courts–and the state of Pennsylvania, are trying with all their might to assure that Mumia is executed. The so-called “free press” is helping them as newspapers and TV “news” spews disinformation about Mumia’s case and writes hostilely about him.
This campaign is an uphill battle which needs your support! The government is doing all it can to discourage and undermine it. We will not be stopped! We plan to organize and keep organizing in the long struggle ahead! There is vital support from the NAACP, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Riverside Church Prison Ministry, dozens of international unions, actor Ruby Dee, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Professors Cornel West, Noam Chomsky, and Henry Louis Gates; U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, and hundreds more national and international organizations.
However, people from all over the country and worldwide must make their voices heard and their presence felt in order to convince the federal government to investigate the 28-year railroading of Mumia and denial of his basic rights to due process. It is the strength of people protesting that will pressure the Justice Department to review the racist frame-up of this leading international journalist—the “Voice of the Voiceless,” as he’s known to millions, who read, listen to and treasure his words.
It was a mass demonstration in August 1995, which stopped his execution then!
HOW YOU CAN HELP NOW! FUNDS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED!
Donate now at http://www.iacenter.org/prisoners/mumia/donatemumia
Crucial expenses for this campaign include: bus transportation to Washington, D.C., printing of palm cards, fliers, and petitions; making of banners and signs; hall rentals for press conferences and meetings; purchase of video supplies; copying and express mailing of vital legal and other documents; hosting of international guests for the April 26 activity—and so much more!
This is a grassroots campaign! All funds are donated by people such as you from around the country. We appeal to you to donate as much as you can to make this campaign a viable and successful one. This may be the last chance to challenge the court’s refusal to grant Mumia one iota of justice.
Also, you can sign the online petition at http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition.
We thank you for your support and hope to see you in Washington, D.C. on April 26 and beyond.
Signed by,
Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (Philadelphia)
Suzanne Ross, Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (NYC)
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