To the Honorable
Judge William Yon
Federal District Court of Philadelphia
Dear Judge Yon,
We, the undersigned, urge you to issue a stay for the death warrant of Mumia Abu-Jamal. We believe that Mumia Abu-Jamal, a reknowned journalist and ex-Black Panther activist, did not receive a fair trial in 1982 and was unjustly convicted of killing police officer Daniel Faulkner. We further believe that the facts in his case warrant a new trial for Mr. Abu-Jamal which would offer the chance to hear all the facts and the suppressed evidence. In accordance with amnesty international whose president Pierre Sané has called for a new trial for Mr. Abu-Jamal, we ask you to grant an evidentiary hearing and then a new trial to Mr. Abu-jamal and not rush Mr. Jamal to death. We are opposed to the death penalty in general. The facts and statistics show that the death penalty is applied with racist intentions.
Mr. JamalÆs case is yet another example of the racist context in which the death penalty is applied. We hope that you will consider Mr. JamalÆs request for a new trial favorably.
Sincerely yours,
Governor Tom Ridge
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Dear Mr. Governor,
we, the undersigned, ask you to stay the execution of Mr. Abu-Jamal and abolish the death penalty in Pennsylvania. We believe that Mr. Abu-Jamal did not receive a fair trial in 1982 and was wrongly convicted of killing police officer Daniel Faulkner. We believe that Mr. Abu-Jamal deserves a new trial.
This demand has been made by numrous organizations and people around the world - among them Amnesty International, the European Parliament and others.
Mr. Abu-Jamal's case is an example of the racist implementation and context of the death penalty. In your state, over 50% of all people on death row are African American. Due to that fact, several organizations have called for a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania. We support that initiative and we ask you not to execute Mr. Abu-Jamal.
Sincerely yours,