BY GLOVA SCOTT
PHILADELPHIA - Supporters of Black activist Mumia Abu- Jamal cheered as Judge Albert Sabo issued a stay of execution August 7. The judge's ruling means that the death warrant signed by Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge for August 17 will not be carried out. Abu-Jamal, however, will remain on death row.
It is "a victory for the many thousands of people who have come out around the world in support of Mumia Abu- Jamal," said chief defense counsel Leonard Weinglass.
The much smaller number of armed and uniformed cops in the courtroom sat grimfaced. Abu-Jamal was framed up, convicted, and sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Upset at Judge Sabo's action, one cop told reporters, "Maybe we should have executed him at 13th and Locust where he executed Danny Faulkner."
Weinglass said he had always been confident Abu-Jamal's supporters would win a stay, but he had expected it to come from a higher court. "I didn't think Sabo would grant it," he said. "I don't think he ever has before." Sabo, known as a "prosecutor in robes," has sent 31 people to death row, more than any other judge in the country.
Abu-Jamal sent a statement to his supporters through Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had come to the courtroom to show his solidarity. Sabo granted Jackson's request that he be allowed to meet with Abu-Jamal during a lunch break. "He is grateful," Jackson reported. "He's glad about that. Secondly-he is anxious for his followers, his supporters to be disciplined and focused. He expressed sadness for the widow's loss. I thought he was very strong spiritually and very focused."
"Today's victory should convince all supporters of justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal to redouble their efforts at building the August 12 march on Philadelphia," said Socialist Workers Party mayoral candidate Deborah Liatos. "As Mumia Abu-Jamal said, it's been the disciplined and focused actions of thousands of people around the world that have forced the rulers of this country to pull back. The August 12 action can help build the ongoing struggle that is needed to win the new trial that Abu-Jamal is demanding."
Hearings on Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new trial will continue in Sabo's courtroom.
International attention has focused on the judge's biased conduct against Abu-Jamal. Sabo also presided over the original trial and such misconduct forms part of the basis for Abu-Jamal's current appeal.
On August 2, for example, Sabo ordered that defense attorney Rachel Wolkenstein be handcuffed and thrown into a holding cell after she protested his refusal to accept subpoenas for two witnesses. Sabo has so far refused to issue such subpoenas for 11 witnesses requested by the defense. Wolkenstein was released after apologizing.
Later that day, Judge Sabo threatened to arrest protesters outside City Hall whose chanting could be heard in the courtroom.
"Since the beginning of the hearing, Sabo has done daily battle with Abu-Jamal's defense lawyers over subpoenas, witnesses, and prosecution objections," wrote Philadelphia Daily News staff writer Jim Nolan describing the judge's courtroom conduct. The judge's bias has drawn similar comments from the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Demonstrations have taken place in more than 50 cities in the United States since governor Ridge signed the death sentence for Abu-Jamal on June 2. On August 1, some 200 prisoners at the Maximum Security Federal Prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, ran a combined total of 500 miles around the prison yard in solidarity with Abu-Jamal.
That same day, international writers organizations in New York and Paris organized news conferences demanding justice for Abu-Jamal. The New York event featured Pulitzer prize winning novelist William Styron and other members of PEN, an international writers organization.
The Journalists' Union of Cuba and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba issued statements condemning the planned execution of Abu-Jamal. "A shameful page is about to be turned," wrote the journalists' group in demanding that Abu- Jamal's execution be stopped and that he be granted a new trial.
Protests have also taken place in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, and many other countries. On July 31, the government of Belgium asked Washington to lift the death penalty. The next week, government officials in France and Germany joined the call to halt Abu-Jamal's execution. The lower house of the Italian Parliament has also made this demand.
Five representatives from the Anti-Deportation and Justice Group in the United Kingdom brought petitions with 10,000 signatures to the Pennsylvania state capitol. Publicity surrounding a massive campaign of frame-ups by the Philadelphia police department is also undermining the credibility of Jamal's accusers. "The city is sorting through the wreckage left by rogue cops who went on a rampage of illegal arrests for five years in the 39th Police District," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported August 6. "More than 1,100 of their arrests are being reviewed, and hundreds of cases may be overturned." Forty-two convictions have already been dismissed. Only five cops have been indicted so far.
The Philadelphia cops are organizing to intimidate Jamal's supporters and block fund-raising activities on his behalf.
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) president Rich Costello told WTFX-TV July 19, "Let these out-of-town lawyers, these out-of-town terrorists, get the hell out of here and leave Philadelphia to us. This is our city."
An August 7 Philadelphia Daily News article, headlined "Fraternal Order of Protest," reported how supporters of Abu- Jamal "are having problems finding local entertainment spots willing to give them space for their fund-raisers, no matter how popular the headliners, largely because of pressure from the Fraternal Order of Police."
Zanzibar Blue, a popular Black-owned jazz club, canceled a scheduled July 19 benefit after "we started getting calls from the FOP, warning they were going to picket it." Cops did throw up a picket line that night at the hall of Hospital Workers Union Local 1199C when they heard the benefit would be shifted there.
FOP president Costello warned the union, which has rented its hall for a benefit to take place August 9, "We want to make it clear that they understand that they're openly advocating the murder of police officers."
Local 1199C president Henry Nicholas told the Militant, "We have a right to rent our hall to anyone we want so we're not going to be intimidated by the FOP."