Key facts
- Mumia Abu-Jamal, a writer and activist, has petitioned the UN's working group on arbitrary detention.
- He claims he has been subjected to arbitrary imprisonment for a crime he did not commit.
- The petition highlights alleged injustices during his 1982 trial, including the exclusion of Black jurors.
- New evidence disclosed in 2018 raises doubts about the credibility of the state's main eyewitness.
- Abu-Jamal's legal team argues his life-without-parole sentence violates international law.
- The UN working group's condemnation could support efforts for a retrial or sentence commutation in the US.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black radical writer and activist serving a life sentence, has filed a petition with the United Nations' working group on arbitrary detention. The move comes as he approaches the 45th anniversary of his incarceration for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner, a crime he maintains he did not commit. Abu-Jamal, 72, has exhausted domestic legal appeals and is now seeking international intervention after decades behind bars.
The petition, lodged with the UN's Human Rights Council, argues that Abu-Jamal has endured multiple violations of international law. His legal team, including the Abolitionist Law Center, ACLU, and Center for Constitutional Rights, points to alleged prosecutorial misconduct during jury selection, where a disproportionate number of Black potential jurors were excluded. The petition also cites concerns about the credibility of the state's main eyewitness, Robert Chobert, whose testimony has been questioned based on newly disclosed evidence from 2018.
Furthermore, the petition contends that Abu-Jamal's current sentence of life without parole constitutes a form of arbitrary detention, a practice described as 'death by incarceration' or 'slow death row.' Abu-Jamal contrasts this with the sentencing of Anders Breivik in Norway, who received a 21-year maximum sentence for killing 77 people. While the UN working party lacks direct enforcement powers in the US, his legal team hopes a strong condemnation from the UN would bolster efforts for a retrial or sentence commutation domestically.
Abu-Jamal, who co-founded the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther party and served as president of Philadelphia's Association of Black Journalists, has been a controversial figure for decades. While celebrated by progressives as a political prisoner, he is condemned by law enforcement groups as a cop killer. He expressed that while he has little faith in courts of law, he trusts in people and movements to drive change. The long separation from his family has also taken a significant toll, a pain he has articulated in his writings, including 'Live From Death Row.'