Abolish Stanford letter to DA Krasner: Release Mumia Abu-Jamal

Dear District Attorney Larry Krasner,

We urge you to immediately release Mumia Abu-Jamal from state custody. With every passing moment, you become further complicit in a myriad of human rights abuses that surround his incarceration: the public health crisis of COVID-19 spread in detention facilities, the denial of medical treatment for his multiple, life-threatening conditions, and the due process violations that underlie his conviction, including racism, police corruption, and political targeting. For years, your alma mater has held you up as an example of “progressive prosecution,” a career path towards which we should aspire. However, your continued opposition towards Mumia Abu-Jamal’s freedom—most recently at this current moment, as he battles COVID-19—reminds us that there is no enlightened, humane, or just way to carry out the state’s business of caging people.

As you know well, Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political activist and journalist who has been incarcerated for nearly 40 years. For decades, activists and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have condemned the injustices that surrounded his conviction. The evidence during and after his trial demonstrates that his conviction was marred by witness intimidation, a fabricated confession, racism in the jury selection process, among many other factors that undermined his right to a fair trial. Your office has recently reinforced this, by turning over evidence indicating that some of the prosecution’s witness testimony was bribed, and further evidence supporting Abu-Jamal’s previous Batson challenge.

Mumia Abu-Jamal had no criminal record before his conviction and has maintained his innocence since. But this is not relevant to the current humanitarian crisis with which he is faced. His age and underlying conditions put him at greater risk for COVID, which he unfortunately caught last week. Since then, he has lost thirty pounds and is experiencing a severe flare up in his skin conditions, causing open wounds on his skin. He also suffers from underlying liver damage, congestive heart disease, and hypertension, but has been unable to receive medical treatment since his COVID diagnosis. His situation is incredibly dire and urgent, and as his medical consultant, Dr. Ricardo Alvarez has said in the past, “Freedom is the only treatment.”

Mr. Krasner, you have the power to release him, and with every moment in which you delay, we become further reminded of how hollow the term “progressive prosecutor” is. As Mumia Abu-Jamal has said, “Prison is a second-by-second assault on the soul, a day-to-day degradation of the self, an oppressive steel and brick umbrella that transforms seconds into hours and hours into days.” There is no “progressive” or humane way to go about this enterprise, and your failure to intervene in this current life-and-death situation makes this even more clear. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been an inspiration for Black liberation movements and we are extremely disappointed that one of our alumni insists on being a fundamental obstacle to his freedom. As concerned students, especially those among us who are studying law, we condemn Abu-Jamal’s continued incarceration and call upon you to free him and all political prisoners.

Signed,

Abolish Stanford

Individual Signatures:
a.d. sean lewis, stanford law '21
Adary Zhang, Stanford Medical School MD Candidate
Adele L Stock, PhD Student in History
Alexa Russo, PhD Candidate in Anthropology
Alexa Wnorowski, PhD Candidate in Bioengineering
Alyssa Martinez, JD/MA Candidate
Amber Moore, Stanford University
Amir Wright, JD Candidate
Amshuly Chandran
Amy Tannenbaum JD '17
Ana Cutts Dougherty, JD Candidate
Andrea Ramirez, Biology PhD Candidate
Anjuli Branz, Stanford Law ‘19
AnQi Yu, Undergraduate
Arielle Keller/PhD Candidate in Neuroscience
Aryn Frazier
Avery Krieger, PhD Neuroscience
Azeezat Adeleke, SLS '22
Bree Baccaglini, SLS ‘21
Caleb Zerger, PhD candidate Applied Physics
Callum Tresnan, Comparative Literature ‘23
Camilo Espinosa Bernal, PhD Candidate in Immunology
Carin Ragland Biology PhD
Carson White (SLS '18)
Chelsey Davidson (SLS '22)
Christina Rea, Staff
Connor Hayes, JD Candidate
Daniel Zahn, JD Candidate
Dixie Blumenshine
Eden Berke, Northwestern University 2021
Elias Schultz, Stanford Law ‘22
Elisabeth Meyer, PhD candidate
Ella Varney, Undergraduate ‘22
Em Horst, PhD Candidate in chemistry
Emily Hawley, SLS, 2021
Emma Bates, Undergraduate ‘22
Erica Posey, SLS ‘22
Erick Bravo, Undergraduate '23
Frances Tinney (SLS '22)
Gabe Hillman Alvarez, B.S. Candidate in Engineering Physics '21
Gabriela Basel, PhD Student in Chemical Engineering
Geoff Ivison, PhD Candidate in Immunology
George Walters-Marrah
Glen Williams (SLS '23)
Grace Ann Brew, SLS '22
Hanon Mcshea, PhD Candidate in Earth System Science
Ilana Raskind, Postdoctoral fellow, School of Medicine
Ilinca Popescu CO 2022
Jacob Maddox
Jacob McCall, SLS '22
Jacob Seidman, SLS ‘22
Jenny Jiao, SLS '23
Jessica Zhang, Biology PhD Candidate
Jose Luis Gomez Gamez, JD Candidate
Jules Ross, Stanford Law '22
Julia Gleason
Julia Neusner, SLS/ MIP '20
Julian Oscar Alvarez, J.D. '22
Justine Modica
Kabir Abiose, PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering
Katelyn Masket, SLS '21
Kathryn Wu, MD/PhD candidate in Neuroscience
Katie Wullert, PhD Candidate Sociology
Kelli Mason
Kendra Lechtenberg, Alumni
Kyle Wang, B.A. Candidate in English, ‘22
Leanna Lupin, Stanford Law 2023
Leehi Yona Stanford Law '23
Lisa Muloma, SLS '21
Luke Williams, Modern Thought & Literature PhD
Lynnette Jackson, Structural Biology Ph.D. Candidate
Madeline Cooper, MD/PhD candidate
Madeline Walsh, Stanford Law '23
Mallorie Urban, SLS ‘21
Maria Filsinger Interrante, MD/PhD '24
Martha Kahlson, Biochemistry PhD Candidate
Megan R. Izzo, SLS ‘22
Melody Yang, Undergraduate '21
Micah Olivas, Genetics PhD Student
Michael Hayes, Genetics PhD candidate
Mikayla Tillery
Mohit Mookim, JD Candidate
Monique Candiff, JD Candidate
Nathaniel Ramos BS '21
Neil Michael Khosla
Nicel Mohamed-Hinds, BS Physics '19
Olamide Abiose, JD/PhD Candidate in Neuroscience
Olivia Malone, Stanford Law '22
Oona Cahill, SLS '23
Osama El-Gabalawy, Medical Student, School of Medicine
Paola Méndez, JD Candidate
Peggy Xu, JD Candidate
Prudence Iticka
Rachel R. Sohl, Stanford Law School ‘21
Rhiannon Bronstein (SLS '22)
Sandra Habtamu
Schuyler Atkins, Stanford Law School ‘22
Shantanu Nevrekar, PhD Student in Anthropology
Sreela Kodali, EE PhD student
Srihari Nageswaran
Taylar Hammond
Tyrik LaCruise, SLS ‘20
Willa Collins, Stanford Law School '20
Yiran Liu, PhD Candidate in Infectious Diseases