Group aims to free convict

Freeing death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal is crucial in combating police brutality and false imprisonment, professor Lionel Mandy said during an on-campus presentation Wednesday.

"I believe that Mumia is innocent," said Mandy, a Cal State Long Beach black studies professor, during the event in the North Campus Center. "Was I there? No. Have I seen similar situations? Yeah."

Many feel Abu-Jamal didn't receive a fair trial when he was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in the early 1980s. In fact, the case motivated CSULB students to form the Coalition to Defend Mumia Abu-Jamal.

To protest Abu-Jamal's incarceration, people from 70 countries will demonstrate May 13 for his release. Some CSULB students will travel to San Francisco that day for a rally to free Abu-Jamal.

"To execute Mumia would be a crime against humanity," said Jeff Mackler, spokesman for the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal.

In Abu-Jamal's last trial, prosecuting attorneys contend Jamal is guilty, saying they have the murder weapon, four witnesses and a confession from Abu-Jamal. However, Mackner said, that weapon was incapable of firing the bullet removed from Faulkner's body. Abu-Jamal, a political activist and former radio journalist, said he never confessed.

The medical examiner's report, witness testimony and other information proving Jamal's innocence was not presented in that trial, Mackler said.

"Mumia has become a symbol of a society that solves its problems by incarcerating people," Mackner said.

Mandy compared Jamal to civil rights leaders such as Nat Turner, an ex-slave who led a revolt, and Assata Shakur, member of the Black Liberation Army. U.S. courts persecuted all for their political beliefs.