The Unlawful Holding of Mumia Abu Jamal

Imagine, you’re sitting in a cell room.  You’re cold, lonely and hungry.  Oh, and you happen to be innocent not to mention on death row.  You were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and because of this you have but a few moments left to live.  You tried to appeal, you tried to present your case, and yet still you are sitting here waiting.  A man comes for you dressed in a guards outfit.  He walks you down the hall to a white room and ties you to a cold leather chair and just an hour before you are to be injected with the poison, a man rushes into the room and tells you that the supreme court has put a hold on your execution.  This has been your life for the past twenty five years.  In reality you probably never had to put yourself in the shoes of someone going through this, after all, how often does this happen?  It’s happening right now, to Mumia Abu-Jamal, and he has recently been silenced. Abu-Jamal was wrongly convicted of killing an officer: “Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot to death in 1981 after pulling over Abu-Jamal’s brother in an overnight traffic stop.” (Top US court). Countless evidence supports his innocence and yet the justice system refuses to review his trial.  This shouldn’t happen to a person protected by habeas corpus and he deserves a new and fair trial.  Mumia did not kill the police officer.

Mumia, has received a whole deal of support from many people, nations and pacifist groups alike.  Pope Benedict has even challenged the fairness of the trial and has requested a review!  Abu-Jamal has received honorary citizenship in cities such as Paris, Montreal, and Palermo as well as twenty three others.  He has received an award for his special commitment to human rights and has been made an honorary member of those persecuted by the Nazi regime.  Mumia has been described as a political prisoner, journalist and a pacifist.  In California Abu-Jamal was given an honorary diploma from the New College California School of Law for his struggle against the death penalty. 

Prior to his arrest Abu-Jamal lead a very peaceful life.  He was an active journalist and often wrote articles about pacifism, preaching that violence was not the answer.  He was also in the black panthers, a group known to be violent, but he joined only out of fear for his life when in 1968 he was beaten by white racists at a rally.  Some may say that the Black Panthers wasn’t a peaceful operation, but for him it was.  He worked as a journalist for them and did not participate in any form of violence.  He has written books about injustice and peace and has been hailed a hero for his literary and journalistic achievements.  Does this sound like a life that will one day lead to murder?

The final and most important information involving Mumia’s trial are the new witnesses and evidence of racial bias.  The court record keeper recently came forward and stated that she heard the judge of the original prosecution state, “Yeah, and I’m going to help them fry the n****r.”  He was referring to Mumia.  This statement shows that any original evidence was looked upon with not only racial bias but also judicial bias.  Also, when the gun found on Jamal’s body was not tested in the lab to see if it was recently fired further proving that the crime scene was mishandled by police.  The most shocking injustice though, occurred in 2001 when Arnold Beverly under a lie detector test swore that he killed the officer.  The court refused to hear this testimony.

How is it that a nation can sit by and allow injustice like this to occur in a system (the court of law) that is meant to protect the people?  Unfortunately while we sit here comfortable in our homes Mumia Abu-Jamal is waiting in a cell serving time on a death sentence for a crime he did not commit.  He has countless supporters, he’s a pacifist, and the evidence disproving his involvement is so grand that you would have to be blind to mistake him for the murderer.  Without our help, he will never have a review from the Supreme Court: “It is uncertain whether the court will agree to hear the case, since only between 1 and 2 percent of petitions are heard each year.” (RIGHTS-US).  Jamal needs a second chance at a trial, with a clean slate and a new jury.  This country was founded on fairness and equality, but if this case continues the way it has, then our country has failed to practice what it preaches.