Mumia Abu-Jamal is taken to court in Philadelphia City

Hall in 1982, the year he was convicted of the murder of

Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. His lawyer has successfully

contested the racial makeup of the jury.

l'Humanite, France

On America's Death Row, Another Setback for the Grim Reaper

"The Mumia affair is emblematic of the unbearable conditions under which death sentences, the majority of which are issued against Blacks, are obtained in the United States."

Editorial by Pierre Laurent

Translated By Sandrine Ageorges

March 28, 2008

France - l'Humanite - Original Article (French)

At 4:15pm yesterday, the AFP dispatch appeared on our screens. We didn’t dare believe it: Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence has been overturned by Philadelphia's Federal Appeals court! What a victory! The Black American activist, who has proclaimed his innocence since his conviction for the murder of a police officer in 1982, will no longer haunt the corridors of death row as he has for more than 25 years, fighting despair day after day, enduring this torture without ever giving up. He told us about his ordeal and his hopes, intact, in the last message he sent l’Humanité on February 1, 2007. On that day our newspaper, a sponsor of the Third World Congress Against the Death Penalty  - as he had for the previous two - offered its front page to students from Art Déco, who argued in their posters against the horror of this barbarity.

[Editor's Note: A new hearing was ordered by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which said Abu-Jamal must be sentenced to life in prison - or given a chance to persuade another jury that he deserves life, rather than death. In other words, it overturned his death sentence. So the new hearing - to be held within 180 days - could permit him to obtain a new trial, but most experts believe he'll simply have to spend the rest of his life in prison. Read here for coverage from the Philadelphia Inquirer ].

Mumia’s life has been saved and the incredible courage of his struggle has finally been rewarded, but Mumia’s fate isn't yet resolved. The struggle will continue because although his death sentence has been waived, his conviction for murder was upheld. If there is no new trial - which the convict has been seeking for years - his sentence will automatically be commuted to life in prison. The international campaign of solidarity which has saved his life must now continue to secure his freedom.

But what has happened is very important because in order to overturn the death sentence, the court of appeals in Philadelphia acknowledged the existence of pressure on jurors [the court found that during jury selection, they were excluded on the basis if race]. This admission by American justice brings added credibility to the position that has been consistently argued by Mumia, his attorneys and friends. The 1982 trial against the radio journalist and Black Panther activist was conducted against him without evidence and in an openly-racist fashion. The ruling of Philadelphia calls for a further step: Mumia’s trial must be revisited to allow the truth to be properly assessed at last and to allow justice to be done, even if it's twenty-five years too late.

The Mumia affair is emblematic of the unbearable conditions under which death sentences, the majority of which are issued against Blacks, are obtained in the United States. The organization Together Against the Death Penalty is also raising funds, but for this sole purpose: to enable convicts to afford a defense that is so unaffordable in the country. The ruling on Mumia is very good news for abolitionists. It confirms the successes registered over the past few years in several American states against this barbaric punishment.

Final freedom and the recognition of his innocence, which must be obtained for Mumia, would be a formidable symbol for the cause of universal abolition of the death penalty. Eighty-nine countries have abolished it; eleven have done so under common law and thirty others no longer execute. But the death penalty is still going on in sixty-eight countries, and not the lesser ones.

More than one thousand and five hundred people have been executed in the United-States since it was reinstated in 1976. Japan, against the international trend, has resumed executions. The world record is held by China which, according to Amnesty International, is responsible for 80 percent of annual executions worldwide. A global freeze on executions is now before the U.N. General Assembly, but these countries in particular are blocking its adoption.

Enough can never be done to expand this struggle. But now one thing is certain: To all of those who question our opposition to fatalism and resignation, Mumia's stunning struggle brings a scathing denial. Our humanity warrants all the battles.

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