Judge Pamela Dembe has canceled a court hearing in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal that was scheduled for February 11, 2005. The LAC views this cancellation as ominous.

Judge Dembe had ruled previously that a comment made by Mumia’s original trial judge, Albert Sabo, at the time of the trial, that he (Sabo) was “going to help ’em fry the n—-r,” did not in any way prove bias as to Sabo’s rulings! Dembe’s ruling held that Mumia had no rights that were infringed by the trial judge’s use of the most heinous of racist epithets, nor by his clear statement of complicity with the prosecution to frame a death sentence before hearing any evidence in the case. This is essentially a restatement of the infamous Dred Scott decision–the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which held that, “The Black man in America has no rights that a white man is bound to respect.”

Mumia’s attorney, Robert Bryan, was scheduled to go before Judge Dembe in Philadelphia on February 11. Bryan was to have presented new evidence that a trial witness, Priscilla Durham, who testified that she heard Mumia confess to the murder, later admitted that she lied. Bryan was also going to present new evidence that another trial witness, Cynthia White, who testified that she saw Mumia commit the murder, also admitted that she lied, under police pressure.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was framed for the murder of a police officer by police and prosecutors, many of whom were prosecuted and jailed for corruption. We believe this was a cover-up of a police “hit” against one of their own. Over time the “proof” against Mumia has been discredited to the point at which there is no case remaining. A former mob hitman, Arnold Beverly, has come forward to say that he was the actual killer of the police officer. The refusal of state and federal judges to allow this and other evidence that should free Mumia into court, and the determination of politicians at the highest levels of state and federal government to see Mumia killed, is evidence of how deep the corruption goes.

Mumia has been from the beginning a political prisoner-sentenced to death on the basis of his association with the Black Panther Party. His case is a summation of all that is wrong with the criminal “justice” system-racist, a tool of political repression, and willing to frame and execute the innocent. It is a lynch mob with state power. As a well-known journalist, and an opponent of Bush’s war in Iraq, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s continued confinement on death row and threatened execution, in the face of overwhelming evidence of his innocence, is an ongoing crime of the US government.

Mumia Is Innocent!

Another Man Confessed.

Join Us In Demanding That The Evidence Be Heard!

Mumia Must Be Free!

Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

PO Box 16222 Oakland CA 94610

www.laboractionmumia.org (510) 763.2347 labor donated

09 February 2005

Correction note—The original statement mistakenly referred to Priscilla Durham as “Pamilla Dunbar.”

The correct name has now been entered in the document.

LAC 20 Feb 2005