Saturday, April 17, 2004

Saturday, April 24th, 2004, will be Mumia Abu-Jamal's 50th birthday. Mumia was a member of the Black Panther Party as a teenager, and was a radical radio journalist in Philadelphia after he left the party. Mumia was convicted of the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner after he was wounded in a December 9, 1981 shooting that left Faulkner dead. Faulkner's widow, the Fraternal Order of Police, and Justice for Police Officer Daniel Faulkner maintain that Mumia is guilty, while a man named Arnold Beverly has come forward to state that he is the man who shot Officer Faulkner. On December 18, 2001, Judge William Yohn ruled on Mumia's habeas corpus petition and overturned the death sentence in his case. However, Mumia is still being held on death row. “The deficiencies that Amnesty International has identified in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal mirror broader concerns over the application of the death penalty nationwide.” Mumia, who is an honorary citizen of Paris, France, continues to write articles and books from Death Row, and his writings are recorded by the Prison Radio Project.



The movement to free Mumia seemed to reach its peak in 1999, when tens of thousands marched in San Francisco and Philadelphia. Since then, in spite of legal victories on paper, a scandal in which Mumia fired his former lawyers led to fragmentation of the movement. The new legal team brought to light the confession of Arnold Beverly. The legal team continues to push for a new trial to air the new evidence about Mumia's innocence. The movement to free Mumia continues to face and deal with challenges such as how former Mumia supporter Michael Moore, in his most recent book, expressed his doubt of Mumia’s innocence.



Events in San Francisco to observe Mumia's birthday: The Mumia Abu-Jamal First Internationalist Film Festival will be held on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th at the Victoria Theatre, at 2961 16th St in San Francisco. The Festival films are about global resistance movements, including Haiti and South Africa, and there will be one film shown about Mumia himself. After Saturday's noon film, a Mumia March and Rally gathers at 2pm at 16th St BART, and will march to 24th St for a rally from 3-5PM. There will also be major rallies in Philadelphia and Paris on the 24th.



More info about Mumia:



-The Bay Area Mobilization to Free Mumia
Mumia.org


-Refuse and Resist's Mumia Site


-The Struggle to Free Mumia Must Intensify


-Story of the shootout

posted by mahtin @ 3:46 PM