150 UK Lawyers Sign Letter regarding Pervasive Racism toward Mumia Abu-Jamal

From the Global Women's Strike/Phila

Dear Friends:

Below is an extraordinary letter signed by over 150 leading UK lawyers that is being sent today to the US Court of Appeals regarding the pervasive racism that death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal faced and continues to face in the US judicial system. The letter was initiated and distributed by Ian Macdonald QC and Legal Action for Women (LAW), a free legal service and our sister organization in the UK. The letter is being submitted at the same time as Amicus Curiae briefs from the National Lawyers Guild and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Mumia’s lawyer, Robert R. Bryan, filed opening briefs for the appeal on July 20.

NOW IS A CRITICAL TIME IN THE CASE. After 24 years on Pennsylvania’s death row, Mumia, an award-winning journalist convicted in 1982 of killing a policeman, has been granted an appeal which, if successful, could result in a new trial. This would be the first time his case against conviction would be heard by a jury.

THIS IS THE KEY DEATH PENALTY CASE IN THE US AT THIS TIME. NOT ONLY MUMIA ABU-JAMAL’S LIFE BUT THOUSANDS OF LIVES HANG IN THE BALANCE. Mumia had no criminal convictions before his arrest. The determination of the police, prosecution and judge to deny him a fair trial and execute him strongly suggests that this outstanding campaigning journalist is being tried for his track record of exposing racism, police brutality and corruption in Philadelphia, and for the opposition to US government policies and practices that his journalism continues to express.

A recent letter from Mumia to Selma James of the Global Women’s Strike who initiated this project, spells out the importance of the letter. “I greet you Selma and through you all of your comrades, colleagues and friends on that side of the Atlantic. I thank you all for making that public letter with signatures a possibility and hopefully a tool of freedom and justice. I was jazzed reading that – great.”

We urge you to circulate the UK lawyers’ letter widely, including to your contacts in the legal system, and to do all you can in the coming months to publicise this outrageous travesty of justice and to secure a new trial for Mumia with the aim of winning his freedom.

Phoebe Jones, Global Women's Strike/Philly, and Margaret Prescod, Women of Color in the Global Women's Strike

For info locally: 215-848-1120 (Philly) or 323-292-7405 (LA)
philly@crossroadswomen.net la@crossroadswomen.net

To reach Legal Action for Women directly +44 207 482 2496 or +44 7 956 316 899

law@crossroadswomen.net