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GUEST: Hans Bennett, journalist based in Philadelphia, co-founder of Journalists for Mumia

Award winning journalist and political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal has been in prison for over two decades for the murder of Daniel Faulkner, a white police officer in Philadelphia. Now, after decades of litigation, Mumia’s case will be heard by the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals. Mumia’s original 1982 conviction was a death sentence, which was overturned in 2001. The hearing is crucial as prosecutors are asking the appeals court to reinstate the death sentence, while the defense plans to challenge his 1982 conviction and ask for a new trial. While the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has carried out an impressive public campaign to keep Mumia imprisoned, an entire grassroots movement has built around Mumia’s freedom over the years. Activists and legal scholars who have studied the original trial claim that it was rife with contradictory evidence, witness coercion, and rampant racial bias. Mumia’s time in prison has not been spent idly. He has written several books, including Live From Death Row, Death Blossoms, and We Want Freedom. He also records radio commentaries through Prison Radio which you hear often on Uprising and other Pacifica programs. Mumia’s cause has been championed by many including writer Alice Walker who has compared him to Nelson Mandela, actors Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, and Martin Sheen. He has received a tremendous amount of support from Europe with one suburb in Paris having named a street after him.

To view the photos presented by Hans Bennett and Michael Schiffman, visit www.abu-jamal-news.com.

For more information about the movement to support Mumia Abu Jamal, visit www.mumia.org.

To listen to Mumia’s Prison Radio Commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org.