Join the PDC contingent at the Protest on 17 May at US Embassy:
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL! ABOLISH THE RACIST DEATH PENALTY!

A protest has been called for Thursday 17 May, the day oral arguments will take place in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s habeas corpus appeal in the US Court of Appeals. The Partisan Defence Committee is building a contingent for the protest. Join the PDC contingent under the slogans:

Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent! For class-struggle defence to free him now! There is no justice in the capitalist courts! Abolish the racist death penalty!

Thursday 17 May, 6.30 pm , Grosvenor Square , London
(nearest tube: Bond Street or Oxford Circus)

* * * * * *
Supporters in Britain of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal joined a 5 May rally in central London sponsored by the Partisan Defence Committee to demand: “Free Mumia now! Mumia Abu-Jamal is an innocent man!”

Mumia is in his 25th year on death row, framed in 1982 for killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death based on his political beliefs as a former Black Panther Party spokesman and supporter of the MOVE organisation. The racist frame-up of Mumia Abu-Jamal shows what the US death penalty is all about—a legacy of chattel slavery.

Rally speakers included renowned civil rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, defender of some of the most prominent victims of racist capitalist injustice in Britain, and Rachel Wolkenstein, counsel of the Partisan Defense Committee (US) and a former member of Mumia’s legal team. Wolkenstein was instrumental in first bringing Mumia’s case to international attention and in uncovering evidence of his innocence, including securing the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, killed Faulkner. Also on the platform were barrister Matthew Ryder of Matrix Chambers; Eibhlin McDonald of the Spartacist League; Paul Moffat, Eastern Region Secretary of the Communication Workers Union; Glenroy Watson of the Finsbury Park London branch of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the Global Afrikan Congress; and Stephen Hedley, also a member of the RMT and a longtime supporter of Mumia. (See attached coverage from the Morning Star, 7 May, “Unions back Free Mumia”.)

Debate at the rally centred on what strategy is necessary to free Mumia: Niki Adams from Legal Action for Women argued for a new trial for Mumia, which is based on a programme of reliance on the capitalist state. This was countered by other speakers both from the floor and from the platform emphasising that this innocent man must be freed immediately.

Mumia’s habeas corpus appeal is due to be heard on 17 May in the federal appeals court in Philadelphia. With the US capitalist state determined to execute this courageous fighter against racist oppression, mass struggle internationally based on the social power of the unions is urgently required. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal now! Abolish the racist death penalty!

Partisan Defence Committee, BCM Box 4986, London WC1N 3XX
Tel: 020 7281 5504 Fax: 020 7281 5667
Email:  partisandefence@yahoo.co.uk

*The Partisan Defence Committee is a class-struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defence organisation which champions cases and causes in the interest of the whole of the working people. This purpose is in accordance with the political views of the Spartacist League.