Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man on death row and the world's best-known political prisoner, now faces an immediate new threat to his life from the US Supreme Court. The Court ruled last year on Mumia's appeal, by summarily refusing to even consider a reversal of his unjust 1982 murder conviction in a blatantly racist court. And last week, the Supreme Court discussed a cross-appeal by the State of Pennsylvania to reinstate Mumia's death sentence, which had been put on hold by a federal court in 2001. A ruling could be announced as early as Tuesday this week.

It would be an illusion to expect good news. Supporters should stay tuned, and be prepared to participate in actions to free Mumia!

The Vendetta Against Mumia

In making it's flat-out rejection of Mumia's appeal (which it did without making any statement), the Supreme Court had to knowingly violate its own precedent in the 1986 Batson v Kentucky decision. This ruling famously said that purging a jury on the basis of race was unconstitutional. In Mumia's case, at least 10 black jurors were excluded for reasons not applied to their white counterparts. Under Batson, such violations require that the conviction be thrown out!

But this was Mumia Abu-Jamal, the falsely accused "cop killer." And while evidence of his innocence has always been available, along with evidence of the corruption of the cops who framed him, Mumia is the object of a world-wide vendetta led by the Fraternal Order of Police and numerous pundits and politicians. So an exception was made...

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World-renowned revolutionary journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted and sent to death row in the killing of a police officer in Philadelphia, has now gone through 27 years of fruitless appeal proceedings. Despite mounting and irrefutable evidence of Jamal’s innocence, all of these hearings have upheld his conviction in a 1982 trial, which was rightly called “a monumental miscarriage of justice from beginning to end,” by crime reporter J Patrick O’Connor.

Then, last April, the US Supreme Court finished off this cowardly charade by denying Jamal a final hearing, without so much as a word of explanation. In making this flat-out rejection of Mumia’s appeal, the Supreme Court--like the Federal Third Circuit Court a year earlier--had to knowingly violate its own well-established precedent in Batson v Kentucky--the 1986 ruling which said that purging a jury on the basis of race was unconstitutional...

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The Education Committee of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)--the longshore workers of the West Coast US--held a rally against racism titled: RACISM, REPRESSION AND REBELLION: THE LESSONS OF LABOR DEFENSE, at the longshore hiring hall in San Francisco, yesterday, the 14th of February, 2009. Attended by over 300, this energized rally was addressed by (among others) Martina Correia, the sister of Troy Davis, an innocent man on death row in Georgia. She detailed Troy's case, in which 7 out of 9 witnesses have recanted their testimony, citing police pressure.

The 11th Circuit recently heard what may be Davis' last appeal, in a case that shlould have been thrown out years ago. Davis is a police frame-up victim in a system which is crowded with injustice. Attendees chanted "FREE TROY DAVIS," after her address...

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The flyer for the ILWU "Racism, Repression and Rebellion: The Lessons of Labor Defense" rally, held on February 14th. Mumia Abu-Jamal's commentary on the police murder of Oscar Grant, "Oscar Grant -- and You," is included in this flyer, which was produced with LAC assistance...

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An emergency email/flyer produced by the LAC after the brutal police murder of Oscar Grant, a young black man who was shot in the back while lying face down on a BART (subway) platform on New Year's Day...

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