September 15: Emergency Demo for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Revolutionary Worker #1117, September 2, 2001, posted at http://rwor.org

An emergency demo for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has been called for September 15 in Philadelphia.

On August 17, a militant crowd of 1,500 jammed the sidewalks outside a Philadelphia courthouse. Inside the courtroom, there was a "status hearing" on Mumia's petition in the Pennsylvania state courts to present newly discovered evidence for a hearing under the Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA). Judge Dembe had signed an order to bring Mumia from death row to Philadelphia for the hearing. But higher authorities stepped in and put a stop to Mumia's court appearance.

The District Attorney objected to a new PCRA on the grounds that the deadline had passed for accepting new evidence-in particular the testimony by Arnold Beverly, a man who has stated that he, not Mumia, shot Philadelphia cop Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Judge Dembe gave Mumia's attorneys until September 7 to file an argument on why Mumia's request meets the legal time requirements. The state has until September 21 to reply. Then Judge Dembe will decide to proceed with oral arguments on Mumia's petition or dismiss it outright. (A full report on the August 17 hearing and march appeared in last week's issue of the RW and is available online at rwor.org.)

According to the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the demands being raised by the September 15 action are: "1. That the Arnold Beverly confession be heard by the state courts; 2. That an evidentiary hearing be held in the state courts to consider all of the evidence pointing to Mumia's innocence; 3. That Mumia be present at this hearing and at all legal proceedings in his case; 4. That Mumia be released from prison because of evidence of his innocence as well as police, prosecutorial, and judicial misconduct in his original 'trial.' "

EMERGENCY ACTION FOR MUMIA