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Political Prisoners
Mumia Abu-Jamal faces perhaps the most crucial period since 1999 when
then-Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge signed the last of the two death
warrants for Mumia, the first being in 1995....
Posted Feb 24, 2010
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On the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, people
came out to champion U.S. political prisoner and freedom fighter Mumia
Abu-Jamal and other political prisoners . The Feb.
21 benefit in Oakland, Calif., was for Prison Radio, which carries
commentaries online of political prisoners....
Posted Feb 24, 2010
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Activists from Philadelphia, across the U.S. and around the world participated
in a video conferencing and live teach-in Feb. 13 to take up the next stage in
the struggle to free Mumia Abu-Jamal. The hall at the Abiding Truth Ministries
Church was full despite nearly 50 inches of snow that hampered public
transportation and put parking in the city at a premium....
Posted Feb 17, 2010
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In light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for
reinstatement of the death penalty for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal,
activists from the Philadelphia region, across the U.S. and around the globe
will take part in an important teach-in in Philadelphia on Feb. 13, to take up
the next stage in the struggle to free Mumia....
Posted Feb 10, 2010
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On Dec. 9, supporters of political journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal marked the 28th
year of his incarceration on Pennsylvania’s death row, more determined
than ever to fight for his exoneration....
Posted Dec 17, 2009
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Visiting a prisoner is not easy, for either a family member or a political
activist. Often the only way is to take a special bus round trip to one of the
many prisons located, like Auburn, in a rural setting. A prison bus from New
York City to Auburn takes six hours each way and leaves in the middle of the
night from Lexington Avenue and 125th Street for a 9 a.m. visit.
After corresponding with Jalil Muntaqim for more than four years, it was
exciting to finally meet him this fall. Happily, he turned out to be exactly
the same person as he is in his letters....
Posted Dec 11, 2009
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Some 100 people gathered at the town square in Lumpkin, Ga., on Nov. 20 to
protest the conditions at the nearby Stewart Detention Center, a privately
owned prison that holds 1,800 immigrants awaiting deportation....
Posted Dec 3, 2009
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Dec. 9 marks the 28th anniversary of the imprisonment of political prisoner and
journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer. To
observe this important anniversary and support ongoing efforts to free Mumia,
the Philadelphia International Action Center will host a showing of the 2008
documentary, “In Prison My Whole Life.”...
Posted Dec 3, 2009
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Over 25,000 letters calling on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a
civil rights investigation of the 28-year conspiracy to execute death row
political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal were delivered to the doors of the
Department of Justice in Washington at the end of a spirited march and rally on
Nov. 12....
Posted Nov 18, 2009
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Electricity was in the air Oct. 24 as hundreds of people filled the south steps
of the Texas Capitol in Austin to shout loud and clear: “Todd Willingham
was innocent!”
Gathering for the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty, abolitionists
from all over Texas, around the country, and a few from overseas turned out in
record numbers to demand that Texas Gov. Rick Perry immediately stop all
executions in Texas....
Posted Oct 29, 2009
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The death penalty in the United States should be abolished because it functions
as a potent agent of racism and class oppression. African Americans and
Latino/as represent the majority of those on death row. And executions are
reserved almost exclusively for the poor. Ninety percent of those awaiting
execution could not afford to hire a trial attorney....
Posted Sep 9, 2009
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A wave of outrage swept the progressive community worldwide at the news that
Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier was denied parole on Aug. 21. The
U.S. government said Peltier will not be eligible for another parole hearing
until 2024, when he will be 79 years old.
Peltier, framed up by the FBI for the 1975 shooting of two FBI agents at Pine
Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, has been unjustly imprisoned since 1976. He
is an international symbol of the U.S. government’s refusal to respect
Native nations and sovereignty and a symbol of the corruption of the U.S. criminal “justice” system....
Posted Aug 27, 2009
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On Aug. 21 the Solidarity Center in New York City was filled with five
hours of inspiring sounds: music and spoken word from talented artists (photo
above) brought together to support the case of political prisoner Mumia
Abu-Jamal, known worldwide as the “voice of the voiceless.”...
Posted Aug 27, 2009
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Texas already had a reputation for executing death row prisoners at a rate
unparalleled anywhere else in the United States.
But progressive activists, attorneys, judges and legal ethicists did a
double-take on Sept. 25, 2007, when Texas’ highest criminal judge
responded to a plea for 20 extra minutes to file an appeal for a prisoner set
for execution at 6 p.m. that evening with “Tell them we close at
5.”...
Posted Aug 27, 2009
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Imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa’adat, the general
secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was transferred
on Aug. 11 to Ramon prison in the Naqab desert from Asqalan prison, where he
had been held for a number of months. He remains in isolation; prior to his
transfer from Asqalan, he had been held since Aug. 1 in a tiny isolation cell
of 140 cm. by 240 cm. after being penalized for communicating with another
prisoner in the isolation unit....
Posted Aug 20, 2009
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Troy Davis, 40, who has been imprisoned for half his life, may finally have a
chance to prove his innocence.
The Supreme Court, in a highly unusual ruling, on Aug. 17 ordered a federal
judge in Georgia to hold a hearing at which Davis could present evidence to
disprove that he killed an Atlanta police officer in 1989....
Posted Aug 19, 2009
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Supporters of the San Francisco 8 rallied Aug. 10 to demand that all charges be dropped against the last remaining
defendant in this case, Francisco Torres....
Posted Aug 13, 2009
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“When I was 15, my friends started going to jail,” says Victoria
Law, a native New Yorker. “Chinatown’s gangs were recruiting in the
high schools in Queens, and faced with the choice of stultifying days learning
nothing in overcrowded classrooms or easy money, many of my friends dropped out
to join a gang.”...
Posted Aug 13, 2009
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It’s been two and a half years since the San Francisco 8— eight
former members of the Black Panther Party—were cast into California jails
and threatened with life sentences stemming from the 1971 shooting of a
cop....
Posted Aug 8, 2009
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Leonard Peltier, like Mumia Abu-Jamal, has become known around the world as a
symbol of U.S. government injustice toward the peoples it has abused and
betrayed over centuries.
Peltier has a full parole hearing coming up on July 28—the first one
since 1993. It is important that all those fighting racism and injustice let
the government know that they support Peltier’s release from prison....
Posted Jul 23, 2009
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The New York Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition organized a press conference
across the street from the national NAACP conference held in mid-town Manhattan
on the morning of July 13.
According to the coalition’s press release, the main goal of the picket
line was to call on the NAACP “to fulfill a promise it made in 2004, in a
resolution that passed unanimously, to the international community for a
‘new and fair trial’” for Mumia....
Posted Jul 15, 2009
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On April 6, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal from death-row
journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of
first-degree murder in the shooting death of white Philadelphia police officer
Daniel Faulkner at a 1982 trial deemed unfair by Amnesty International, the EuropeanParliament, the
Japanese Diet, Nelson Mandela, and numerous others....
Posted Jul 8, 2009
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The following June 19 letter was sent by former Congressperson Cynthia
McKinney to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to request that the Justice
Department conduct a civil rights investigation of the case of death-row
political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal....
Posted Jul 8, 2009
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The U.S. Supreme Court released a much-anticipated announcement on June 29
about the appeal of death-row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis. A short statement
said the Court had not reached a decision....
Posted Jul 8, 2009
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A press conference and vigil were held at the San Francisco federal building June 26
to support Leonard Peltier and his upcoming parole effort on July 28.
Supporters are being asked to write letters on behalf of Peltier, a leader of
the American Indian Movement and one of the longest-held political prisoners in
the U.S....
Posted Jul 2, 2009
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Marches and rallies were held in state capitals and other cities June 27 to
mark the National Day of Action for the Wrongly Convicted. Organizers of the
actions, including families whose loved ones were put to death or died in
prison, said that up to 10 percent of the 2.3 million-strong U.S. prison
population may be wrongfully convicted....
Posted Jul 2, 2009
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Martina Davis-Correia, the sister of Georgia death row prisoner Troy Anthony
Davis, addressed the delegates at the 34th International Longshore
and Warehouse Union Convention in Seattle on June 10. She called for support of
a resolution entitled “Racist Oppression and the Death
Penalty.”...
Posted Jun 29, 2009
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Kari Ann Cowan, Peltier's niece, reported on July 19
from the prison at Lewisburg that Leonard may have suffered a heart attack. She
stated, "He had a hard time breathing. He was in his cell and had an ache
in his chest. He was kinda scared he was having a heart attack. He raised his
hands, breathed slowly and finally felt better."
...
Posted Jun 20, 2009
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Leonard Peltier, a fighter for the liberation of the Indigenous peoples of
North America and the world, has been locked away in federal prison for more
than three decades....
Posted Jun 17, 2009
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U.S. Representatives John Lewis and Hank Johnson, accompanied by NAACP National
President Ben Jealous, visited Georgia death row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis
for close to two hours on May 29.
Speaking to a crowd of Davis’ supporters outside the prison walls in
Jackson, Ga., the three leaders, convinced of his innocence, pledged to pursue
other means to bring justice in Davis’ case....
Posted Jun 4, 2009
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More than 100 vigils, rallies, marches and other actions were held across the
U.S. and in other countries worldwide on May 19 in support of Troy Anthony
Davis, the Georgia man facing execution for a crime he has always denied
committing....
Posted May 27, 2009
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“Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the USA.” Wow!
Before I say what it is, let me say where it belongs: right next to Howard
Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.”...
Posted May 21, 2009
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On May 19, in cities across the U.S. and globally, demonstrations, rallies,
petition drives and other actions brought worldwide pressure on Georgia Gov.
Sonny Perdue to stop the wrongful imprisonment and execution of Troy Anthony
Davis....
Posted May 20, 2009
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On May 9, three members of the Georgia Detention Watch made a second solidarity
trip to the Etowah Detention Center in Gadsden, Ala., to deliver hundreds of
pairs of cotton underwear to women immigrant detainees....
Posted May 17, 2009
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The struggle to free death-row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is heating up
in New York City. On May 8, an emergency, militant street meeting took place in
front of Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building to demand
that elected officials call upon U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the
Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation into constitutional rights
violations against Mumia. Congressperson Charles Rangel, who represents the
Harlem community, has come out in support of the call for the
investigation....
Posted May 14, 2009
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On May 19, from Alaska to West Virginia and from Argentina to Uganda, high
school and college students, faith-based groups and progressive community
organizations are organizing vigils, rallies and petition drives as well as the
vital means of communication to bring worldwide pressure on Georgia Gov. Sonny
Perdue and the Pardons and Parole Board to stop the execution of Troy Anthony
Davis....
Posted May 14, 2009
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To commemorate the 55th birthday of African-American political prisoner
Mumia Abu-Jamal, local meetings were held around the country to help publicize
the recent release of his sixth book, “Jailhouse Lawyers—Prisoners
Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A.”...
Posted May 1, 2009
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“Innocence matters.” These two words express the mantra of the
international movement to stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis.
Davis’s conviction in the killing of off-duty Savannah policeman Mark
McPhail in August 1989 is solely based on tainted eyewitness testimony. Davis
has consistently and repeatedly asserted his innocence....
Posted Apr 22, 2009
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Political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal will be 55 on April 24. His family, friends
and supporters are observing the day with a worldwide “Honk for
Mumia” and other displays of resistance to demand freedom for this
world-famous African-American journalist held on Pennsylvania’s death
row....
Posted Apr 22, 2009
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An e-mail campaign launched on April 15 by
the New York Free Mumia Coalition, International Concerned Family and Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Millions for Mumia and the International Action Center to
demand that the Justice Department initiate a civil rights investigation
addressing a 27-year history of prosecutorial and judicial violations of
Mumia’s constitutional rights....
Posted Apr 22, 2009
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The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal for a new
trial without even giving any reasons. ...
Posted Apr 8, 2009
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During a jailhouse interview in 1978 a Philadelphia radical awaiting trial for
a policeman’s death advanced a salient observation about a fundamental
flaw in America’s legal system.
The “system just makes and breaks laws as it sees fit!” noted this
radical, who for years had battled Philadelphia authorities arbitrarily bending
and breaking laws to brutally assault his organization....
Posted Apr 2, 2009
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Albert Woodfox, one of the three political prisoners known as the Angola
3, has been in solitary confinement for 36 years after a politically motivated
murder conviction. Supporters, including some from as far as Maine and California, wore black
T-shirts that proclaimed “I am Albert Woodfox” and “I am
Herman Wallace,” the other member of the Angola 3 who has not been
released....
Posted Mar 15, 2009
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Texas activists carrying colorful signs and banners formed a loud, militant
demonstration in front of the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility on March 7,
chanting, “CCA [Corrections Corporation of America], shut it down!”
“Free the children, shut it down!” and “ICE [Immigration and
Customs Enforcement], shut it down!”...
Posted Mar 11, 2009
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A case of judicial corruption in Pennsylvania has once again exposed the true
nature of the profit-driven prison industrial complex and the warehousing of
poor youth....
Posted Feb 19, 2009
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Immigrant prisoners at the Reeves County Detention Center, a private prison in
Pecos, Texas, took over the prison on Jan. 31 after they attempted to meet with
prison officials regarding a seriously ill detainee being held in solitary
confinement. When their demand that this prisoner be immediately taken to a
hospital was ignored, a spontaneous rebellion began....
Posted Feb 19, 2009
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Feb. 6 was the 33rd anniversary of the arrest of Native political prisoner
Leonard Peltier....
Posted Feb 14, 2009
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From a Jan. 31 statement by imprisoned Native
leader Leonard Peltier on his return to Lewisburg prison from Canaan, where he
had been brutally beaten....
Posted Feb 4, 2009
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When Leonard Peltier arrived at Canaan Federal Prison in
Pennsylvania after being transferred from another facility in the state, he was
brutally assaulted by a group of inmates. A letter from Peltier’s sister,
Betty Peltier-Solano, says he suffered numerous head blows and “blood was
everywhere.” She also said one of his fingers has been broken. He has
been put in solitary confinement....
Posted Jan 29, 2009
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My rage was nourished by the hate I saw and felt from mainstream
society and white people, a hate based on my black skin and my historical place
at the nadir of America’s social caste....
Posted Oct 2, 2008
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Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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