Pretoria – The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) on Friday marched to the U.S.A. embassy in Pretoria to demand the release from jail of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Abu-Jamal – born Wesley Cook on 24 April 1954 – has been languishing in the American prison system for over 40 years.
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He was rail-roaded by the American judicial system because he is a Black man who was openly a member of the radical Black Panther party.
Abu-Jamal, who still maintains his innocence, was convicted of killing a white policeman in 1981 but since his incarceration, evidence has emerged that the process of prosecuting him was unfair and unjust.
Abu-Jamal was a member of the Black Panther party, branded – as shown by FBI records – as a black extremist organisation, deemed as a threat to national security.
When the truth was that the Black Panther party was a progressive organisation fighting for justice and genuine freedom for all Black people in America.
NUMSA said it was not a secret that the U.S.A. has a terrible history of brutalising poor and working-class people of colour, and Abu-Jamal is one of those victims of its system.
“Even today there are many harrowing stories about the brutality of the police against Black people,” NUMSA said.
“So many innocent people have been murdered by the police, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
“And more recently, the murder of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police.”
Despite huge mobilisations against racism and racist police violence, these attacks have worsened, and the killings continue daily.
NUMSA has been involved in the campaign for him to be released for many years.
“We have previously written letters to the former Governor of Philadelphia Tom Wolf, for him to provide Mumia with life-saving medication when he had hepatitis C,” said NUMSA.
“There is a chance that this time he may be set free, or at least get a new trial.”
On December 16, 2022, a hearing was held before Judge Lucretia Clemons of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas on a Post-Conviction Relief Application.
Abu-Jamals defence team filed for a new trial on the basis of new evidence of prosecutorial misconduct which may have had a negative impact on the outcome of the trial.
It emerged that the trial was rife with prosecutorial and judicial misconduct.
The worst example of this, was when a former court stenographer, Terri-Maurer Carter said in an affidavit that she witnessed Judge Albert Sabo, the Judge who was presiding over Mumias case, say that he “would help them fry the nigger.
At the same time, newly discovered evidence documented that key witnesses received promises of money for their testimony, and evidence emerged that these witnesses would receive favourable treatment in pending criminal cases.
A report by Amnesty International, protested the politicization of the trial and noted the role that police abuse and corruption played in fabricated evidence and the use of excessive force.
It is clear that Abu-Jamals continued incarceration is a miscarriage of justice, and this is why NUMSA and SRWP are demanding that he must be set free.
The NUMSA General Secretary comrade Irvin Jim said in the open letter to the judge saying: It is in your hands today to open the way for truth and freedom for Americas most well-known political prisoner.
“We eagerly await your response in the hope that you will be persuaded and do what is just in the interest of humanity and undo this grave injustice that has visited Abu-Jamal for more than four decades.
Jim further wrote: “We handed over the open letter to officials at the U.S.A. embassy in Pretoria so they can assist us to ensure that the judge receives the letter.
“We want to ensure that the letter reaches her so she can be aware that there are many people all over the world who have a keen interest in the case, and are hoping that this time, justice will prevail.”
Justice Clemons is expected to decide on whether or not to grant Abu-Jamal a new trial by the 16th of March.
“We hope that this time, the decision she makes will be in the interests of justice and it will result in him being set free,” said Jim.
