Pam Africa zum Urteil vom 27.3.2008

Von: „MUMIA ABU-JAMAL“ <>

Betreff: !*MUMIA 4/19 Demo/Pam Africa Statement

Datum: Sonntag, 30. März 2008 18:06

(…)

 STATEMENT FROM PAM AFRICA,

Last week’s court decision was not a victory.

While we obviously prefer to

have Mumia alive, instead of executed, life in prison without parole is an

unacceptable sentence for an innocent man that was convicted with a blatantly

unfair trial. Further, there is still no guarantee that he will not be

executed. Also, even if the overturning of the death penalty is eventually

finalized, there is no guarantee that he will be moved into the general prison

population, because the government has always found ways to make „exceptions“

for political prisoners like Mumia.

 

Once again the courts have held Mumia’s case to different standards than

other cases. At the 1982 trial Prosecutor McGill used 10 of his 15 peremptory

strikes to remove otherwise acceptable black jurors, yet the court ruled that

there was not even the appearance of discrimination against just one of these

black jurors!

 

Judge Thomas Ambro has noted this blatant double-standard with the court’s

rejection of the „Batson“ claim regarding racist jury selection, and he

states in his dissenting opinion that the court’s ruling „goes against the grain

of our prior actions…I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the

courtesy of our precedents.“

 

We have absolutely no faith in the judicial system, but if Mumia does have a

court proceeding, we will continue to mobilize to pack the courtroom and the

streets in support of Mumia, just like we have always done whenever there

was a courtroom proceeding for Mumia, whether he was present or not. However,

we know that if Mumia gets justice, it will not come from the courts, but only

from the pressure generated by the people.

 

Therefore, we will take to the streets with a mass-demonstration in

Philadelphia on April 19 demanding Mumia’s release based on the evidence of both

innocence and judicial misconduct from the City of Philadelphia all the way up

to the federal level. In response to the recent court decision, numerous

demonstrations have already been organized internationally and inside the US. On

April 19, with the media spotlight on Pennsylvania’s Presidential Primary

Election, supporters from around the world will gather in Philadelphia to take a

constitutional stand and show our outrage with this unjust court decision.

(end of quote)

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT THE MANY DIFFERENT WEBSITES SUPPORTING

MUMIA, INCLUDING:

FreeMumia.com, FreeMumia.org, Abu-Jamal-News.com, EmajOnline.com,

Mumia2000.org, and PartisanDefense.org