Dec. 9, 2024, marks the 43rd anniversary of the arrest and political imprisonment of world renowned journalist, prolific author of over 12 books, as well as veteran of the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party, Mumia Abu Jamal. He is one of the longest held political prisoners in the United States and was a victim of the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (CoinTelPro), which was a program operated by the U.S. government, particularly the FBI, to thwart dissent against US policies domestically and internationally. The US government claimed it was stopped, but overwhelming evidence shows that assassinations, political imprisonment, entrapment and mass surveillance continues, which means that the program still exists under a lesser known name.
Linn Washington Jr. is an award-winning investigative reporter who is a journalism professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. Washington first met Abu Jamal in 1973, when they both worked at the Philadelphia radio station WRTI-FM. At WRTI, Abu Jamal hosted a community affairs program and Washington was a jazz music dj. Linn Washington has been working to free Mumia Abu Jamal since Dec. 9, 1981.
It is important for people to acknowledge the imprisonment and prolific work of political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, just like others in his position, like Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Kamau Sadiki, Leonard Peltier, Aaron Patterson, and political exiles Assata Shakur and Pete O’Neal, because it reinforces that it is a war going on domestically in the U.S., where the poor and disenfranchised classes bear the brunt of the corporate exploitation in the workforce within the nation. Mumia Abu Jamal, as well as the others named, are our soldiers in the fight, whom it is the people’s responsibility to free.
JR Valrey: Who is Mumia Abu Jamal? And why is his case an important case in American history?
Linn Washington: Mumia Abu-Jamal is a legendary revolutionary journalist falsely incarcerated for the murder of a Philadelphia policeman. Abu-Jamal has evolved into one of the most perceptive commentators and scholars in AmeriKKKa, whose analysis of the inequities and hypocrisies garners renown worldwide. The importance of the Abu-Jamal case is its glaring example of the double standards of justice historically pervasive across AmeriKKKa.
JR Valrey: Can you detail examples of the glaring legal inconsistencies, contradictions and forms of outright corruption that exist in this case? Can you make sure that you talk about the boxes in the DA’s basement as one example?
Linn Washington: Abu-Jamal is a victim of the “Mumia Exception” – a term I devised decades ago to encapsulate the dynamic in his case of judges failing to grant him the relief for numerous violations of his rights that those same judges have granted to other persons wrongfully convicted. Simply put: The law means the law EXCEPT in the Abu-Jamal case.
One glaring example of the “Mumia Exception” involves Philadelphia’s progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner. Krasner has successfully gained release of over 40 persons wrongfully convicted due to misconduct by police and prosecutors. However, Krasner has vigorously opposed release for Abu-Jamal despite Krasner himself finding six boxes containing evidence of Abu-Jamal’s innocence illegally withheld by Philadelphia prosecutors for 36 years. That is the definition of prosecutorial misconduct.
Pennsylvania law requires prosecutors to make “timely” disclosures to a defendant of evidence of innocence. Philly prosecutors illegally withholding this evidence that Krasner personally discovered secreted away in the DA’s Office clearly violates that “timely” disclosure rule. On the Abu-Jamal case, Krasner is clearly a fraud – falling in line with the systemic efforts that have denied Abu-Jamal the justice he is legally entitled to receive since his arrest on Dec. 9, 1981.
JR Valrey: Where does Mumia Abu Jamal’s case stand now after 43 years as a political prisoner?
Linn Washington: Abu-Jamal’s case is currently on appeal – again – to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. This appeal seeks to overturn lower courts’ denials of relief and release based on the massive evidence of legal rights violations centered on the evidence of innocence and official misconduct discovered by Philly DA Krasner. If the Pennsyl Supreme Court was truly fair and just, it would rule against that gross misconduct by Philadelphia prosecutors and police. Given the pro-police/anti-Abu-Jamal bias of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania – as documented in the February 2000 report from Amnesty International – it is doubtful that court will rule favorably for Abu-Jamal – thus continuing the torture of his life-without-parole sentence.
JR Valrey: What is the Mumia Exception?
Linn Washington: “Mumia Exception” – Judicial decision-making in America is supposed to be based on precedent: This means that a principle or rule established in a legal case serves as a guide in deciding similar cases. There is a wretched record in rulings against Abu-Jamal where judges from trial courts to appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, will change the law to deny relief or rights for Abu-Jamal and then change the law back to previous ruling(s) to give others relief on the same legal grounds denied Abu-Jamal.
That 2000 Amnesty International report noted a “contradictory series” of court rulings that ignored precedent in denying Abu-Jamal appeals. These perverted rulings, the AI report stated, “leave the disturbing impression that [courts invent new standards] of procedure to apply to one case only: that of Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
JR Valrey: Who are some of the people in Pennsylvania that have had their careers progress because of their participation in the prosecution of Mumia?
Linn Washington: There are clearly two persons whose careers have advanced significantly based on their blocking legal rights relief for Abu-Jamal. Both of those persons were former district attorneys in Philadelphia: Edward Rendell and Ronald Castille. Rendell was the DA during Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial that was sabotaged by misconduct by police, prosecutors and the bigoted trial judge. Rendell went on to serve as the mayor of Philadelphia, the governor of Pennsylvania and the head of the Democratic National Committee.
Castille as DA also fought against relief Abu-Jamal was legally entitled to receive. Castille’s campaign to join the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania used a “tough on crime” theme emphasizing “tough on cop killers” with finger pointed at Mumia. Castille became Chief Justice of that court. On that court he repeatedly voted to deny Mumia’s appeals. Both Rendell and Castille – once out of various elected offices – have publicly castigated any claim of Mumia’s innocence.
JR Valrey: What was Mumia like when you worked with him? What kinds of stories did he cover? Where did y’all work? What years?
Linn Washington: Mumia and I worked together as journalists from 1975 till his arrest in December 1981. He was a radio reporter, and I was a newspaper reporter. We both covered the Black community, reporting on inequities and racism from abusive policing to decrepit housing to problems in public schools to entertainment like reggae music concerts. There were occasions when we both covered the same news event. One unusual “story” that I covered was a protest by Mumia against a loud-mouthed host at a radio station where he worked. Yeah, Mumia was a one-man demonstration on the lawn of that radio station. He and that host eventually made peace.
JR Valrey: While Mumia has been held captive for the last 43 years, what is the biggest lesson that you have gained from his life and work?
Linn Washington: Watching Mumia’s growth as a journalist while incarcerated coupled with his evolution as a scholar has been impressive. Remember much of that growth and evolution occurred during his lock-down on Death Row where his voluminous writings were done longhand, without a typewriter, word processor or computer.
He’s learned French and German while incarcerated. He’s obtained a college degree, a master’s degree and is nearing completion of a PhD. His life struggle post-arrest, offsetting deprivations that have driven men raving mad, has inspired others inside “the walls” and around the world. A testament to his incredible stature is found in the fact that an Ivy League school – Brown University – featured a year-long exhibition of Mumia’s life and works!
Learn more from The People’s Minister of Information JR at Black New World Media, www.blacknewworldmedia.com.
source: SF Bayview