On Tuesday, August 25, 2015, the following email was sent by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio. Prison Radio (http://prisonradio.org) has shared the audio commentaries of Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, known to supporters as “The Voice Of The Voiceless”, since his imprisonment in 1981 following his conviction for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, a trial that numerous activists, legal scholars and supporters have charged was ridden with prosecutorial misconduct, judicial misconduct, police misconduct and prejudicial coverage by a compliant law-and-order press that has demonized Black Liberation activists since the 1960’s. Mumia’s initial death sentence was vacated and commuted to life in prison without parole, which Mumia’s supporters assert is simply a “slow death sentence”, one which the prison authorities seem intent on speeding up whenever possible. Earlier this year, a medical emergency saw Mumia’s blood sugar levels spike to near-coma status, and only a concerted effort by supporters and public pressure forced prison officials to act to provide the medical treatment they are supposed to provide to all prisoners. Now, another emergency threatens his life because of the refusal of prison officials to provide the treatment to him that they are obligated to provide.
Here is the text of the email from Noelle Hanrahan:
Dear friend-
We are in court demanding immediate lifesaving medical treatment for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and we are going to win.
Yesterday, Mumia’s lawyers Bret Grote, Legal Director of the Abolitionist Law Center, and co-counsel Robert Boyle filed a preliminary injunction in Abu-Jamal v. Kerestes with Judge Robert Mariani of the Middle District Federal U.S. Court (see link below).
The injunction seeks a federal court order to ensure that prison medical staff provide immediate lifesaving treatment to Mumia.
The prison administration is simply denying Mumia all treatment. Let me be clear: Mumia is weak, his lower extremities still swollen, his skin still severely compromised and raw, and his hepatitis C active and damaging his organs.
Given the severity of Mumia’s organ failure (his skin) and indications of additional potential organ damage, our legal action states that withholding treatment is causing immediate and irreparable harm.
Prison officials have refused to conduct additional viral load blood panels, reveal or conduct additional organ damage assessments, and they are refusing to prescribe simple medications to reduce Mumia’s painful and dangerous skin eruptions.
And in an effort to further delay treatment, attorneys for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections have filed briefs opposing the class action lawsuit for hepatitis C treatment filed in June. We expect they will oppose our injunction filed yesterday as well.
Treatment for Hepatitis C has a 95% cure rate.
By withholding medication, the DOC would like to see this become a death sentence.
In addition to the hepatitis C antiviral cure, we are demanding that prison medical personnel re-proscribe Protopic ointment and the mineral supplement Zinc (220 mlligrams per day) as recommended by his physicians to provide immediate relief to Mumia’s skin rashes- which have become open wounds.
As Mumia’s legal team fights tirelessly for Mumia’s life, we more than ever need your assistance. We need to raise $5,317 in the next 5 days to make it half-way to our goal for this stage of Mumia’s legal and political campaign.
We are amplifying the call for:
1. Immediate treatment of Hepatitis C with the latest Anti-viral drugs that have a 95% cure rate.
2. Treatment of Mumia’s skin condition by re-proscribing protopic cream and zinc supplements.
3. In-person medical exams by Mumia’s independent physicians.
Help us make these demands reality by giving to Mumia’s medical and legal fund now, and by calling the numbers listed in our Action Guide.
Every action and every gift makes a difference.
See the preliminary injunction filed yesterday here.
You can also give to Mumia’s fund through our website, Paypal, or check: PO Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94141
This is but the latest attempt to carry out the death sentence that had originally been meted out in December 1981. Since that time, numerous researchers, most notably Mama Pam Africa of the International Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Professor Johanna Fernandez and Attorney Michael Coard, have made compelling arguments that withheld evidence indicating Mumia’s innocence, fabricated evidence of guilt, mishandling of evidence and numerous cases of police, prosecutorial and judicial misconduct have cast serious doubt on the entire case, including the original guilty verdict handed down by the 1981 jury. Despite this, police, judicial and prison officials not only refuse to acknowledge these discoveries, they have also used every procedural trick at their disposal to deny Mumia medical treatment in an attempt to make good on their promises to see him executed. For more on this situation, visit http://www.freemumia.com and http://prisonradio.org.