Freedom For Mumia Abu Jamal!

October 17, 2010 at 9:25 A.M. A word was deleted from this essay, then restored to the text by me.

The photo of Mumia Abu Jamal accompanying this essay at my msn group has been blocked. Numerous hackers and viruses today make it likely that efforts will be made to damage this essay. I will find another photo and post it again. Before reading this essay, please note that nothing I say here in any way diminishes the sympathy and respect due to the families of victims of murderers. Mumia Abu Jamal just happens not to be a murderer. Furthermore, I do not believe that it helps deter criminals for the state to become a murderer.

Amnesty International, The Case of Mumia Abu Jamal: A Life in the Balance (New York: Seven Stories, 200).

On May 17, 2007 Mumia Abu Jamal's lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, Esq. will present oral argument to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelaphia. The issues on appeal have been narrowed to four, which has the effect of protecting the trial judge.

Although "improper instructions to the jury" is one issue to be argued in this appeal, the trial judge's highly inflamatory comments during all other stages of the proceedings are excluded from consideration. This is a common tactic by the power-structure to limit the focus to a single incident (as characterized by them) which is part of a long course of development that alone makes that one incident understandable.

No one is fooled by or will accept such tactics. Focusing on a judge's comments only at the "penalty phase" of proceedings, when the trial began with a judge claiming, allegedly, that he "was going to help them fry that n___r," makes no sense. That trial was over before it began. ("Abuse and Exploitation of Women in New Jersey" and "Foucault, Rose, Davis and the Meanings of Prison.")

"Despite a mountain of evidence of his innocence, a U.S. criminal 'justice' system saturated with race and class bias has reduced Mumia's case to four issues, judicial error in instructions to the jury regarding the death penalty is only one of them." The others are "exclusion of blacks from the jury"; "racial bias"; "prosecutorial misconduct." Racial bias alone should be sufficient.

"Mumia Abu Jamal is one of more than three and a half thousand people on death row in 37 states and under federal law throughout the USA. By the end of 1999, 598 prisoners had been put to death in 30 states since executions resumed in 1977; in 1999 alone, 98 prisoners died at the hands of the state, a record year since the 1950s. The US authorities have repeatedly violated international minimum safeguards in their continuing resort to capital punishment. Violations include the execution of the mentally impaired, of child offenders, and of those who received inadequate legal representation at trial. [In 2010, a woman with an IQ roughly equivalent to a child's understanding is scheduled for execution in America.] Those sentenced to death in the USA are overwhelmingly the poor, and disproportionately come from racial and ethnic minority communities. The risk of wrongful conviction remains high, with more 80 prisoners released from death rows since 1973 after evidence of their innocence emerged. Many came close to execution before the courts acted on their claims of wrongful conviction. Others have gone to their deaths despite serious doubts concerning their guilt."

The Case of Mumia Abu Jamal, p. 7.

In Texas, which leads the nation in executions, a man is facing execution (allegedly) for driving a friend to a scene at which a killing took place, based on either an "aiding and abetting theory" or as a conspirator. I've only heard an account on the news of this seeming travesty of justice. A person will be killed for driving a car, apparently without knowledge of what had transpired in his absence involving a friend to whom he gave ride home. This is insanity under any legal system. ("The Life and Death of David Gale.")

Another person's confession to the murder for which Mr. Mumia Abu Jamal is facing execution is deemed not "relevant" on the issue of whether Mumia should be executed for that murder. Anywhere else in the world -- or in the U.S. system with an affluent or white defendant -- that alone would be the dispositive issue. Questions of guilt are deemed "not legal issues on appeal," where courts are "above" acting like trial courts. Mumia is facing death. However, his innocence of the crime for which he may be killed is deemed "irrelevant." Such a thing is also insane, morally and legally.

Mumia did not commit the crime for which he is facing execution. In a sense, Mumia has already been executed by being deprived of the most productive years of his life. I know the feeling. The courts do not seem to care whether he committed the crime at all. The thinking may be that "he probably did something else." ("John Rawls and Justice" and "What is Law?")

Persons who commit murder and are convicted for it, rarely do more than 15 years. Mumia has been on death row for about 25 years. Longer than that as I review this essay. If death is not "cruel and unusual" when imposed in a timely manner, then it certainly becomes an excruciating torture when it results in persons lingering on death row for decades with a "Sword of Damocles" hanging over their heads. That legal limbo and prospect of execution alone is heinous cruelty, a horrifying form of psychological torture, making the death penalty unconstitutional.

Mumia is a superb writer, a revolutionary and tortured intellectual, an important voice in the African-American community and (I believe) also for other minority communities. He is feared because of his intellect and eloquence. Hence, efforts to silence him will be made -- including the ultimate silencing, MURDER at the hands of state officials, which he is now facing. The death penalty is murder committed by the state. Every day that you see errors inserted in these essays, attacks on this site, you are witnessing an attempt at censorship by the authorities and an effort at inflicting psychological harm and finding "ass cover." What are they afraid of?

Mumia's greatest offense is his mind and unbroken spirit. In experiences eerily reminiscent of my own encounters with corrupt officials, Mumia "was a leading human rights critic of the Philadelphia Police Department, many of whose officers were later indicted and convicted on charges of corruption, witness intimidation and planting of evidence."

Yesterday, May 15, 2007, I spent hours battling cyberattackers and hackers. The following were among the illegal connections to my computer:

1. http://goggle.com/ (64.233.161.99) https (443)

2. http://blogspot.com/ (72.14.219.191)

3. http://spd.pointroll.com/ (64.111.215.191) (NJ)

4. http://spc.atdmt.com/ (64.215.158.49) (State Police Center, NJ)

5. http://m1.2mdn.net/ (209.62.190.10); 80 http; 1876 bytes sent; 29930 bytes received; 20.639 elapsed time. ("Piggy-backing signals.")

6. http://doubleclick.net/ (216.73.87.15); 80 http; 349 bytes sent; 4284 bytes received. (NJ)

Hacking by:

http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N3339.msn.com/B2283991.31;52=728x90;ord=1912802260? (NJ, Appellate Division Judge?)

Today, May 16, 2007 at 10:23 A.M., one of my books disappeared from my Lulu storefront. Why I am Not an Ethical Relativist and Other Essays (2000-2006), is under copyright protection. Maybe later it'll be available again. The ISBN number that I purchased for this work may be fraudulent. This uncertainty is part of the daily harassment I struggle against. There were 402 intrusion attempts against my computer before lunch time. Here are a few of the illegal connections to my computer -- so far today:

1. http://b.rad.msn.com/ (207.68.178.12) (NJ?)

2. http://spe.atdmt.com/ (207.138.82.71) (NJ?)

3. http://signout.msn.com/ (207.68.183.32) (NJ?)

4. http://c.msn.com/ (207.46.216.62); http (80); 807 bytes sent; 407 bytes received. What happened to that signal?

5. http://m1.2mdn.net/ (209.62.190.10); http (80); 271 bytes sent; 98590 bytes received; at 1:01.328 elapsed time on May 16, 2007 at 10:28:55 A.M.

Coincidence? The corrupt power-structure in New Jersey is complicit in the psychological tortures to which I (and others) have been subjected, in the continuing crime of depriving me and others of civil rights -- including freedom of expression -- and of a policy of torture involving house psychologists and psychiatrists -- "whores of the court" -- acting secretly and with impunity, then concealing the fruits of their labors. Ethics? You want to talk to me about ethics?

I am sure there are people sitting in jail or prison not knowing that information was extracted from them, illegally, under hypnosis by state torturers. (See "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "Psychological Torture in the American Legal System.")

File your motions if you have reason to believe that you were questioned by state torturers, like Tuchin and Riccioli, or that vital exculpatory materials were concealed from you even as witnesses were threatened, bribed, or intimidated and their statements were falsified.

Most of the victims of this form of enslavement and torture will be African-Americans and other minority groups members or poor whites. How many have been raped or stolen from in this impaired state is difficult to tell. Perhaps such crimes may be a perk associated with forensic psychiatry in New Jersey, provided that any loot extracted from victims is shared with politicians and judges. Glen Cunningham may be a victim of these touchless torture methods. Many clients reported missing cash or appliances after New Jersey prosecutors or OAE attorneys conducted a search of their properties. I wonder who has my watch these days? ("A Letter From the DRB in New Jersey" and "Does Senator Menendez Have Mafia Friends?")

A longstanding partnership between the Camden Machine and sinister forces in Philadelphia -- which are probably part of Mumia's troubles -- suggests that evil "abuse of power" lurks under the surface of these events. September 6, 2007 at 5:08 P.M. I am running a scan of my system which has been attacked again by New Jersey's hackers. The authorities know about this. Nothing happens to prevent it. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")

Among those calling for "immediate release" (my position) or a new trial for Mumia Abu Jamal are: Amnesty International, the European Parliament, the NAACP, the National Lawyers Guild, President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, President Jacques Chirac of France, the Congressional Black Caucus, hundreds of U.S. and international trade unions, and the Detroit, San Francisco, and Paris, France city councils, also Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolutionary Government. How many others in similar positions have failed to attract such support? Many. See Tina Kelly, "DNA in Murders Frees Inmate After 19 Years," in The New York Times, May 16, 2007, at p. B1. ("A New Jersey man, who was nearly executed, is exonerated after 19 years in prison.")

Millions of people around the world will join this political and legal struggle on May 17, 2007 at the U.S. Court House, 6th and Market Streets, Philadelphia. I will not be intimidated or threatened into refraining from expressing these opinions, together with my anger and disgust at the south Jersey mob. If you cannot be there in person, be there in spirit. Mumia's struggle, which is also my struggle, gets my $25 (which is the grand total that I have today). Send any donation that you can to:

Free Mumia Abu Jamal
298 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

http://www.freemumia.org/
e-mail: http://alerts@freemumia.org/

Senator Menendez, this case raises a human rights issue of concern all over the world. This is your opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with a dissident intellectual and fighter for human rights in the U.S. as you call for others to do the same in Cuba. Will you, Senator Menendez, call for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal?

Will you, Senator Menendez, support Mumia Abu-Jamal's struggle for freedom?