IAPL Demands Justice for Abu-Mumia Jamal
17 May 2007
Considering that on May 17, 2007, Mumia Abu-Jamal and his advocates will present oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, at 9:30 a.m.; and this is a very important opportunity for him to be released, or otherwise, condemned to life imprisonment or execution through lethal injection;
Considering that Abu-Jamal is a writer, journalist and radio speaker who was accused and arrested in 1981 for the supposed killing of a policeman, and in 1982 was convicted and has since remained on death row;
Considering that he has been denied due process of law; six eyewitnesses stated that the real killer fled the murder scene while Mumia himself was found near dead, next to the slain police officer; critical evidence of Mumia's innocence was destroyed or withheld; “witnesses” to the murder scene were coerced to state that they were present whereas they were never at the murder scene; police distorted events and material evidence at the murder scene; and Mumia himself was excluded from the majority of his own trial;
Considering that Mumia is a militant for the cause of people's liberation and a former member of the popular organization Black Panters; and that he is the victim of a political frame-up;
Considering that the judge who convicted him in 1982, Albert Sabo, declared his hostility to Abu-Jamal and has sentenced more people to death than any other sitting judge in the US;
Considering that Mumia has worldwide support, including that of Amnesty International, the European Parliament, the NAACP, the National Lawyers Guild, President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, former President Jacques Chirac of France, the Congressional Black Caucus, hundreds of U.S. and international trade unions and the Detroit, San Francisco, and Paris, France city councils; and that all of them demand the revocation of his death sentence;
Considering that mass mobilizations are taking place and people are taking to the streets on May 17 to demand Justice for Abu-Jamal;
The International Association of Peoples’ Lawyers (IAPL), extends its solidarity to Mumia Abu-Jamal, and to the lawyers and organizations involved in the fight for his release and condemns the illegitimate proceedings that have kept him in death row all these 25 years.
The IAPL demands justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal and calls for his immediate release from prison.
Signed: Atty. Edre U. Olalia
President
International Association of Peoples’ Lawyers