Rage against frame-up of Mumia Abu©Jamal

Three of the world's top bands have joined forces to highlight the frame-up
of radical journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. Rage Against the Machine, rap group
Beastie Boys and Bad Religion have scheduled a benefit concert on January
28 in East Rutherford, in the US state of New Jersey.

Proceeds will be donated to the International Concerned Family and Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal, which is campaigning for a new trial.

Abu-Jamal, an African-American print and radio journalist, has been
a political activist in Philadelphia since his teenage years, when he was
member of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. He is the former president
of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.

In 1981, Abu-Jamal was charged with the murder of a Philadelphia cop.
His trial was presided over by Judge Albert Sabo, who had already sentenced
26 defendants to death, of whom 24 were African-American.

Despite gross inconsistencies in witnesses' evidence and other anomalies,
Abu-Jamal was convicted and sentenced to death. He has been on Pennsylvania's
death row ever since.

Abu-Jamal's case has attracted international attention; Amnesty International,
among other human rights organisations, supports his request for a new
trial.

Mumia's post-conviction relief appeal, his final state appeal, was denied
by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on October 26. A death warrant is imminent
because Pennsylvania law mandates the warrant be signed within 90 days
of the Supreme Court ruling. Mumia would then have only 30 days to file
his only federal habeas corpus petition, which may get him a temporary
stay of execution from a federal judge.

“Mumia's trial was a gross miscarriage of justice”, said Rage Against
the Machine's Tom Morello. “It was just unbelievable. 'Highlights' included
prosecutor misconduct, intimidation of witnesses by the police, suppression
of evidence of Mumia's innocence, a jury illegally purged of African-Americans,
a hostile racist judge and a prosecution who argued for the death penalty
based on Abu-Jamal's political beliefs!

“Mumia is an outspoken revolutionary, a hero to millions around the
world, and we will not allow his ,Ovoice to be silenced. We join with Amnesty
International in demanding a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. This is no
ordinary show. We are playing for a man's life.”

From GLW issue 346