Political journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal is facing execution in the state of Pennsylvania in what could become the most explicitly political legal slaying since the 1953 execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage.
Committees for the release of Abu-Jamal in the US and France are increasing their efforts with the knowledge that a recently introduced US House of Representatives bill will speed up executions of prisoners on death row.
Abu-Jamal has been on death row since 1982. He is a former Black Panther and a supporter of the alternative black lifestyle movement, MOVE. On December 9, 1981, while driving a taxi to supplement his income, he saw his brother being beaten by police. He intervened and during the struggle shots were fired; Abu-Jamal was critically wounded and a policeman killed.
Other police arriving on the scene bashed Abu-Jamal before he was taken to hospital. He survived the shooting after several hours of surgery.
The trial of Abu-Jamal reflected the double standards of the US judicial system in dealing with black people. The judge was a retired member of the Fraternal Order of Police, and the jury included only one black person. A white juror was empanelled even though he said he already knew Abu-Jamal was guilty.
After Abu-Jamal was denied a lawyer of his own choice, his court-appointed lawyer failed to expose the contradictions of police evidence and testimony. One police officer said Abu-Jamal had not made a confession and then later said he had. This contradiction was not questioned by the defence. At a separate hearing to determine Abu-Jamal's penalty, character witnesses were accused of associating with "cop killers".
In March 1989 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected Abu-Jamal's last state appeal, and in October the US Supreme Court refused to review his conviction and sentence.
There are 2500 prisoners currently on death row in the USA. Most are blacks or Hispanics. Since 1970, 254 prisoners have been executed. The French committee for Abu-Jamal's release estimates that the US has 150 political prisoners, most black or Indian and serving long sentences.