6/18 Meeting about Mumia Abu-Jamal

Forwarded from Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal San Francisco:

From: alerts at freemumia.org
Subject: Urgent: SF Mtg./Philly Protest!
Date: June 10, 2005 10:47:17 PM PDT

-----
Mumia's Appeal Denied
Philadelphia Protest 6/16
SF Meeting 6/18Revolt4Freedom at aol.com
-----

Dear Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal:

Please join an important meeting of the Mobilization to Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal, on Saturday, June 18th, at 10:30am at Centro del Pueblo, 474
Valencia Street, at 16th Street in San Francisco's Mission District. The
agenda will include discussion of the following:

* Analysis of the recent negative ruling by the Pennsylvania State Court
of Common Pleas in which Mumia is again denied his constitutional rights to
present evidence and testimony essential to proving his INNOCENCE and
winning his FREEDOM. See the article by International Concerned Family &
Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal below which gives further details and
information about the 6/16 PROTEST in Philadelphia.

* Discussion of how Mumia's supporters in the SF Bay Area should respond
to this outrageous court ruling.

* Plans for major educational and fund raising events for the Fall. We
have the commitment of well-known jazz artists to participate in a Fall
event, and we will explore enlisting the active participation of other
performers in this fundraiser.

Pease plan to attend the SF 6/18 Meeting and Philadelphia 6/16 Protest and
bring your ideas and creativity to help continue building a political
movement that can Free Mumia!


In solidarity,

Jeff Mackler and Laura Herrera, Co-coordinators
The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
298 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-255-1085
alerts [at] freemumia.org
http://freemumia.org

-----------------------------

From the International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, PA

From: icffmaj at aol.com
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 23:08:24 EDT
Subject: [icffmaj] Mumia Appeal Denied! Emergency Call to ACTION!


ATTENTION: JUDGE MASSIAH-JACKSON, CONGRESSMAN FATTAH, MAYOR STREET,
NATIONAL AND PHILADELPHIA NAACP, ALL OTHER POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, NATIONAL
AND COMMUNITY LEADERS AND PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL:

Once again, Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man on Pennsylvania's Death Row
for 23 years, is being denied justice because the court system is violating
his right to due process, to the consideration of relevant evidence, and
to a new and fair trial, if not his immediate release. Judge Pamela Dembe,
in the Court of Common Pleas, has hammered another nail into the coffin
they're preparing for Mumia by rubberstamping the record of the notorious
"Hanging Judge" Albert Sabo.

The whole world denounced Mumia Abu-Jamal's trial and his Post Conviction
Relief Appeal (PCRA) held in 1982 and 1995 respectively in the courtroom
of Judge Albert Sabo. Legal groups such Amnesty International, the
International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Criminal Justice
Institute at Harvard Law School, the National Lawyers Guild, and the
National Conference of Black Lawyers detailed the many violations of US
and international laws that Sabo committed. World leaders such as Nelson
Mandela, then President of South Africa, Bishop Desmond Tutu, French
President Jacques Chirac, the Japanese Diet (Japan's legislative body), and
the US Congressional Black Caucus denounced the trial and PCRA as being
unjust, illegal, and racist. Religious leaders, writers, artists, and other
intellectuals from across the globe expressed outrage at the conviction and
death sentence imposed on Mumia, and millions petitioned and marched to
demand Mumia's freedom or at the very least a new and fair trial.

Now after four years of Mumia's case being before Judge Pamela Dembe, we
see a pattern of supporting all of Sabo's rulings, with the only difference
being that Dembe's decisions have been made in the absence of Mumia or his
supporters in the courtroom. There is a deafening silence from many of
those who were so outraged only ten years ago. WE CANNOT REMAIN SILENT
WHILE THE RAILROADING OF MUMIA TOWARD EXECUTION OR LIFE IN PRISON
CONTINUES. THE ATTEMPT TO KILL MUMIA IS NOT FOR ANY CRIME HE COMMITTED. IT
IS FOR HIS UNCOMPROMISING POLITICAL POSITIONS AND HIS ELOQUENCE IN
EXPRESSING THEM. Refusing to include evidence pointing to Mumia's innocence
in the record prevents the higher courts from reviewing these critical
affidavits.

What Judge Dembe has done is deny Mumia his constitutional and human right
to a fair judicial process. She has sustained every decision Sabo made and
refused to introduce extremely relevant and crucial material pointing to
Mumia's innocence. When Mumia's attorneys submitted an affidavit by someone
who said that it was he, and not Mumia, who killed Officer Faulkner, and
this affidavit supported other witnesses' versions of what happened on the
night of December 9, 1981, Judge Dembe dismissed the confession as
"untimely". Similarly, she declared affidavits from Mumia and his brother
presenting their side of what happened that night as also "untimely". When
Mumia and his lawyers fought for Mumia's right to be present at his hearing
in August 2001, Judge Dembe allowed prison officials to revoke Mumia's
scheduled court appearance in Philadelphia. When Mumia and his lawyers
presented an affidavit from a highly credible court stenographer who heard
Judge Sabo say in 1982, in the supposed privacy of another courtroom,
"Yeah, and I'm going to help 'em fry the ni---r, Judge Dembe ruled that
that testimony should not be introduced into the record. Unable to argue
that it was "untimely", she presented the ridiculous explanation that even
if Sabo had actually made the comment the witness alleged he did, it did
not prove that his decisions were affected by this expressed
intention. Also, she said the issue of Sabo's racism had already been
raised earlier and so did not need to be reviewed again. When presented
with two new affidavits this year pointing to Mumia's innocence, Dembe
cancelled a scheduled hearing to present the evidence and, now on May 27th
she has ruled that this evidence is to be excluded from the record, thus
preventing a serious consideration of Mumia's innocence in the higher
courts.


****JOIN US FOR OUTREACH, PROTEST AND RESISTANCE****

THURSDAY JUNE 16th, ON THE WEST SIDE OF CITY HALL IN PHILADELPHIA, AT 12 NOON

June 16th will be the last day Mumia can file for "reconsideration" of
Dembe's ruling. We must let the courts know that we will not be quiet in
the face of this outrageous and continuous process to kill and SILENCE OUR
BROTHER MUMIA.

For more information call:
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
(215) 476-8812, or Free Mumia Abu Jamal Coalition (NYC) (212) 927-2924

Also, call Judge Frederica A. Massiah-Jackson, Pamela Dembe's supervisor,
at (215) 686-2523 to let her know how outraged you are by Judge Dembe's
decisions. Tell her you think the evidence of Mumia's innocence must be
included in the record! You can even quote from the excerpts below.

"Juries can only be accurate assessors of events if they are given a
complete view of the facts, including any differing explanations and
interpretations of events. These factors were clearly missing in
Abu-Jamal's trial. Amnesty International has determined that numerous
aspects of this case clearly failed to meet minimum international standards
safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings; the interests of justice
would best be served by the granting of a new trial to Mumia Abu-Jamal."
From Amnesty International's The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Life in the
Balance

"A grave injustice is about to be committed. We are rushing to execute
someone in the face of ample evidence that his constitutional rights have
been denied, that he did not receive a fair trial, and most importantly,
that he may be innocent. We urge you to have Judge Sabo recuse himself from
this case" and that "he is granted a new trial." From the Congressional
Black Caucus letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, initiated by
Congressman Chaka Fattah, on June 30, 1995.