In 1970 Conway was a recent Army veteran, a post office worker and was an active member of the Black Panther Party in Baltimore.

He was accused of killing one and wounding another cop. There was no physical evidence linking him to the shootings and the main testimony against him came from a cop stool pigeon. He was sentenced to life plus 30 years.

In a number of ways the case is similar to that of Geronimo Pratt, the former Black Panther who was recently released from prison in California after the frame-up against him unraveled.

In a recent visit to Washington, Pratt said, "Eddie Conway was one of a number of Black Panthers who are wrongfully imprisoned. They are all there because of the FBI COINTELPRO, which is continuing."

On a June 24 visit with Conway and other members of the Writers Club at the Maryland House of Detention here, south of Baltimore, these reporters spent two hours discussing international politics.

The prisoners were inspired by Pratt's victory and the settlement recently won by former Attica inmate Frank Smith who was tortured by the New York cops and guards after the 1971 rebellion there.

At a June 20 Militant Labor Forum in Washington D.C., Conway supporter Nzinga explained that the most damaging evidence against Conway came from a police informer, Charles Reynolds, who was placed in Conway's cell after his arrest.

This snitch testified that Conway told him that he and two others did shoot the two police officers. Reynolds falsely testified that he was not an informer, and he received an early parole for his cooperation.

Geronimo Pratt's brother, Tim Pratt, who also spoke at the June 20 forum. He pointed to the similar testimony of a police informer in originally convicting Geronimo Pratt.

In a phone conversation, Conway explained his latest efforts in the courts: "My lawyer has submitted a writ of habeus corpus. I am petitioning to be let out based in several key issues related to the trial. We had to get the petition in before April 24 to beat the deadline of a new anticrime bill designed to limit the number of appeals by incarcerated people."

Supporters of Conway are involved in organizing a conference on political prisoners to be held October 10-12 at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

For more information, contact the Marshall Eddie Conway Support Committee, P.O. Box 41144, Baltimore, MD 21203-6144; telephone: (410) 655-4405. He can be reached directly by writing to Marshall Eddie Conway, #116469, PO Box 534, Jessup, MD 20794.

Stu Singer is a member of United Transportation Union Local 454 in Baltimore.  
 
 
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