Mumia Must Live!
Please join the International Campaign for Justice by joining the demonstration on 6 November 1999 at Trafalgar Square, London, at 2pm prompt ready to move elsewhere.
“Don’t tell me about the valley of the shadow of death. I live there.” - Mumia Abu Jamal.
Mumia Abu Jamal has been on death row for over fifteen years having been framed for the murder of a police officer. In truth he is under threat of death because of his political beliefs and action. He fearlessly criticised the racism and violence of the Philadelphia police department and is a former Black Panther.
What would you have done if you knew the exact date Martin Luther King was to be gunned down? Well on 2nd of December Mumia Abu Jamal is due to be executed by lethal injection. [STOP PRESS: a stay of execution has been granted, but this does not really change the situation.] His death warrant was signed in October by Governor Thomas Ridge. Mumia’s immediate response was: “This is just the next stage of the fight. We will continue to fight. We will win!”
Mumia’s attorney Leonard Weinglass recently wrote “For more than 15 years, Mumia has asserted his innocence. The life of a black political activist lies threatened by those same forces who have historically urged a national system of intimidation and control.
“Nothing short of a complete vindication for Mumia will prevent yet another injustice in a history already saturated with the blood of innocents.” Please send letters to the Judge and Mumia’s attorney. Sample letter below.
Judge William H. Yohn Jnr.
United States District Court
2609 United States Courthouse
601 Market Street
Philadelphia PA 19106
Please also send a copy to Mumia’s attorney:
Judge William H.Yohn Jnr
c/o Leonard Weinglass esq.
6 West 20th Street, Suite 10A, New York
Fao Governor Tom Ridge
Room 225
Main Capitol Building
Harsburg
PA17120
USA
Dear Governor,
I am writing to strongly urge you to reconsider the decision to execute Mumia Abu Jamal on the 2nd of December of this year. The death penalty is a violation of the most basic human right, the right to life. Amnesty International and other international human rights organisations have repeatedly called for its abolition.
Even in the case of somebody who is clearly guilty, the effectiveness of the death penalty is in itself questionable. There is no evidence of it having a significant deterrent to violent crime in any country in which it is used. Whilst I have every sympathy for the families of the victims of violent crime, the death penalty is not the solution. Capital punishment does not help the families to recover from their grief. Nor does it deal with the societal factors which led to the occurrence of the crime.
In Mumia Abu Jamal’s case there are still more important reasons why the death penalty MUST be commuted. The evidence upon which he was convicted is spurious. Eye witnesses to the murder for which he is charged describe a short stocky man, Mumia is tall and slim. Mumia’s support campaign can show that the evidence given by witnesses in court was selective and incomplete. This must be thoroughly investigated.
As an outspoken black campaigner accused of murdering a white policeman, it is inconceivable that issues of racial prejudice will not have had a bearing upon the arrest, trial and sentencing of Mumia Abu-Jamal. There is no place for racism in the judicial system. It is therefore essential that Mumia’s death penalty is commuted and that he is released or given a re-trial.
I URGE YOU TO GRANT CLEMENCY FOR MUMIA ABU- JAMAL
For further information see http://www.callnetuk.com/home/mumia or contact Mumia Must Live!