Petitions Delivered to Justice Dept for Mumia

PhillyIMC's web-radio

by | 11.14.2009

Over 25,000 petition letters demanding a civil rights investigation of the 28-year conspiracy to execute Mumia Abu-Jamal were delivered to the Justice Department in Washington, DC on Nov. 12.

Marching to the Justice Department

Demanding justice for Muslim victims of FBI "preemptive prosecution"

Orie Africa reviews injustice of the case before handing over the boxes of petitions to Justice Department Representative Alejandro Miyar

Gloria Rubic, Texas anti-death penalty activist, addresses crowd in front of Justice Department

Activist carries sign for Muslim victim of FBI entrapment in Atlanta

Baltimore NAACP leader speaks for civil rights investigation at morning press conference

Lead banner

Haitian activist Fignole Saint-Cyr condemned unjust conviction at press conference

Lejla Duke called for justice for Mumia and for her father and Uncles, part of the Ft Dix 5 case.

Mike Stark of Campaign to End the Death Penalty

Sadiq Sundiata speaks at Press Conference

Over 25,000 petition letters demanding a civil rights investigation of the 28-year conspiracy to execute Mumia Abu-Jamal were delivered to the Justice Department in Washington, DC on Nov. 12.

After hearing from human rights, anti-death penalty, and religious leaders at a morning press conference, activists marched through a wind-driven rain on lunch-hour streets to the Justice Department. Speakers from several of the groups involved gave impassioned arguments for justice at the building's front entrance. Activists for unjustly-imprisoned Muslims, victims of FBI entrapment and preemptive prosecutions, also participated and spoke.

The crowd then marched to the rear entrance, where a representative came out to accept the boxes of petitions. Before handing over the letters from several states and countries, MOVE member Orie Africa lectured Justice Department Representative Alejandro Miyar on the history of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct involved in this death penalty case.

In December 2001, Mumia’s 1982 death sentence was actually overturned by the federal court and subsequently upheld by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals this past April, though it nonetheless upheld his guilty verdict. He was thus granted life in prison without parole. The prosecution appealed that ruling, again seeking the death penalty.

In April the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review an appeal demanding a new trial for Mumia. This court’s next step will be to decide whether to reinstate the death penalty, which the Philadelphia District Attorney office is clamoring for, or to rule in favor of life in prison without parole.

If the Supreme Court rules to continue with the current sentence of life without parole, the D.A. can choose to accept this decision or request a review of it and continue to pursue Mumia’s execution.

Neither decision is acceptable to Mumia supporters who are continuing to fight for his release or a new, fair trial at the very least. A civil rights investigation into this case could mean the difference between life and death for Mumia, and might open the door for his release from the hellhole of death row.

Comments

I wonder

Submitted by jon peppers (not verified) on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 1:48pm

if, with the petitions submitted, the killers supporters also submitted a photo of Officer Daniel Faulkner showing the fatel wounds inflicted by the convicted and affirmed murderer Mumia Abu Jamal.

Jon Pisano
Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner