To the editor:
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The FBI stalked Jamal from his early teens, when he was a founder of the Philadelphia Black Panther Party. Over 700 pages of recently released COINTELPRO files reveal a string of botched attempts to link Jamal to a variety of bizarre crimes, including the 1973 assassination of the Governor of Bermuda. Later, as a radio and newspaper journalist, Jamal earned the name “Voice of the Voiceless,” as well as the hatred of Philly cops, for his commentaries which tirelessly championed the oppressed in segregated Philadelphia. In 1979, Jamal supported the black MOVE organization against a vicious cop assault in which thousands of rounds of ammunition were pumped into MOVE’s communal home. At that time, Philadelphia’s racist top cop Frank Rizzo warned Jamal that he would be “held accountable” for what he wrote.
Jamal’s trial was an obscene travesty of justice. Denied the right to represent himself, Jamal was saddled with an incompetent appointed attorney who didn’t even know the case. All but two prospective black jurors were excluded on the basis of race while admittedly biased white jurors were allowed to sit. The hanging judge, Albert Sabo–who has sent more defendants to death row than any other U.S. sitting judge–was admittedly biased in favor of the prosecution. Jamal himself was excluded from most of the proceedings. At the sentencing phase of his trial, Jamal was cross-examined on his political past and the prosecutor told the jury Jamal should get the death sentence for his decade-old membership in the Panthers.
Spartacus Youth Club
