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Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin: In the Shadow of 9/11
By El-Hajj Mauri' Saalakhan
30/10/2001
"That justice is a blind goddess, is a thing to which we blacks are wise; her bandage hide two festering sores, which once, perhaps, were eyes." - Langston Hughes
A few years ago, as we were entering the most critical phase of our involvement in what has since been described by many as one of the most important criminal cases in Maryland state history (the case of Terrence Johnson), I received a letter of encouragement from former New York State Supreme Court Justice Bruce Wright. The gist of his message has reverberated over and over in the years since: "The inability of an African American, or any other person of color, to get a fair trial in America is a national scandal... All of us must never forget the loving injunction of Frederick Douglas in his Last Will and Testament to 'Agitate, agitate, agitate...'"
More than a year and a half has passed since the events of March 16, 2000, and just when it appeared that the unfortunate drama that engulfed one of America's most recognized and controversial leaders was about to come to a head, the attacks of September 11 took center stage, and has remained the focal point of a nation still in shock and presently engaged in unjust war. Jury selection in the case of Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, originally scheduled to begin on September 12, 2001, was pushed back at the request of his defense attorneys, and is now re-scheduled for January 7, 2002.
At a recently held town meeting on this troubling case - convened in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of The Peace And Justice Foundation and Black Studies Division of the Martin Luther King Memorial Library - Mona Cadena of Amnesty International observed the following:
"Amnesty, and also me, personally, find it very tyrannical that our government, and individual states, can choose which citizens in this country are going to live, and which citizens are going to die. As I've said, and as we all know, innocent people are executed, and throughout the death penalty system there are serious issues and concerns on top of arbitrary and unfair proceedings.
"We know that most defendants receive inadequate defense; we know that there is systematic police and prosecutorial misconduct. Often in cases there is perjured testimony, mistaken eyewitness testimony, tainted jailhouse testimony, suppression of evidence, misinterpretation of evidence - and in many cases, community pressure that results in someone getting a death sentence."
Ms. Cadena also noted, "Looking at this case [involving Imam Jamil], and talking to our Atlanta office about it, this case is really representative of so many cases..."
Another speaker at the forum - Steve Hawkins, executive director of the National Coalition To Abolish The Death Penalty - made a number of salient observations that would behoove all who are genuinely concerned about fairness in this highly politicized case to consider. He began by raising the following question, "What is our concern now, in light of what's happened on September 11?"
After recounting the conspiracy case that was made by the government against Ethel and Julius Rosenberg during the Korean War, he noted the following: "What happens in a country during war time when all the hype is up? Right now we have hundreds of Muslim brothers and sisters in detention, without lawyers in this country. We have an attorney general who's trying to get broad sweeping powers now to paint the brush of terrorism, and conspiracy to commit terrorism, on all kinds of people..."
"I helped to represent Mumia Abu-Jamal for years, and when we finally got Mumia's FBI file, do you know that even while he was on death row they were still surveilling him? There were FBI reports showing the people who had come to visit Mumia, where they had logged in their visits. So he was still under surveillance from death row. So you know that Jamil Al-Amin has been under constant surveillance from the 1960s on. They tell us that COINTELPRO {the government's Counter-Intelligence Program} ended, but it never ended.
"So what do we know going into this trial that he faces? First let me explain two things about a death penalty trial. There is what is called a guilt-innocence phase; and then there's another part of the trial called the sentencing phase. They don't change juries in both phases, they don't change judges, they don't change prosecutors - you sort of roll from one to the other. And I would say that both phases of this trial stand to be tainted with a terrorist brush; and other things will be said that shouldn't be said. The prosecutor will say, 'O your honor, I didn't mean to say that.' The defense attorney will [then] move for a mistrial, and the judge will warn the prosecutor not to say it again, but deny the call for a mistrial...that's going to happen, I can tell you that right now. Because whenever the stakes are high, and they're very high right now, these tactics are used."
Mr. Hawkins continues: "We will also see a jury that's completely poisoned. It's ridiculous to think that they can move the trial from September 12 to January, with nothing from the other side, no other perspective being given, but the American media's perspective 24 hours a day. What fair jury can be picked anywhere in this country right now, let alone in the state of Georgia? The jury's mind is already poisoned with respect to anyone who is of the Muslim faith right now.
"[U.S. President George W.] Bush can say, 'People shouldn't do anything prejudicial against Muslims'... that man has hundreds of Muslims in detention right now, and three unsolved murders of Muslims going on in this country as of tonight; and the FBI isn't looking to solve those crimes. There have been Muslim store owners that have been murdered in several states, killers not found, no one even picked up yet...
"And then what can we expect further in this trial? We can expect that there will be stooges - that there will be inmates who are going to come forth. He's in Fulton County Jail, and even if he's in isolation I guarantee you that there's going to be somebody brought forward, who will say, when I walked by his cell he told me, 'Good, I'm glad I killed those cops.' These people come out of the woodwork because they're trying to get some leniency for themselves...That's what we face. I don't know more particulars about all of the evidence, but I do know the patterns that I've seen.
"How can we fight it? I think people here, and in Atlanta, and elsewhere are going to have to really raise the pressure; really try to fill that courtroom; try to expose the police; try to talk about the things that I've talked about - putting his trial and what's going on in the country in context. If we're quiet on it, if we decide to not be vocal, we do so not only in a way that harms us, damages us, but I think we will damn our children for a generation."
There we have it from an expert in the field of political trials, and I couldn't agree more. What Mr. Hawkins is calling for is the very thing that we have been emphasizing for over a year. While money is indeed needed in order to insure that Imam Jamil will not be shortchanged in the manner that Mumia and a countless number of other men, women and children, facing a state's ultimate sanction, have been throughout American history, let us not be under any illusion that Imam Jamil is going to be able to buy justice if a magical figure is raised. It ain't gonna happen.
Nothing can replace a balanced, intensive and consistent public education and mobilization campaign, especially on the front line in Atlanta (before the start of jury selection). Toward this end, our Muslim organizations have got to start putting up, and masjids and Islamic centers in a position to help must stop placing impediments in the way of those of us on the frontline as we attempt to secure resources to do the work that needs to be done. Saturday, December 29, 2001, is the new date for the national rally in Atlanta, Georgia. We should all mark our calendars, and make a genuine
niyah (intention) to go.
It is indeed a sad commentary that out of all of the major Muslim organization conferences and conventions which have taken place since this case erupted more than a year and a half ago, not one has featured in their overall program a scheduled, structured, and well publicized panel on this case, and the equally important peripheral issues which surround it. It's sad, and it has to stop. As Steve Hawkins said, if we're negligent about this case not only will it harm Imam Jamil and us, but it will also "damn our children for a generation." Something to think about.
Special Note: For those residing in the New York City area, A Seminar on the Case of Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, will be held at the YMCA on the corner of 90th Avenue & Parsons Blvd., in Jamaica, New York, this Friday, November 2nd, from 6-9pm, insha'Allah. Scheduled speakers for the forum are Imam Aiyub Abd' Baki of the Tauhid Islamic Development Center; Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid of the Mosque of the Islamic Brotherhood, and El-Hajj Mauri' Saalakhan of The Peace And Justice Foundation. A $10.00 donation is requested for this event. For additional information call (718) 262-8865, or (202) 246-0092.
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