WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) – Jamil Al-Amin, charged with killing a Georgia sheriff’s deputy and injuring another (both African Americans), fought extradition from Alabama on Tuesday, insisting that there was a government conspiracy against him.
Al-Amin did not speak in court but his attorney, J.L. Chestnut, said: “He said he did not shoot anyone. He said he did not have a gun. He fled Atlanta to save his life. He said they had been trying to kill him for years. He said it was a real conspiracy.”
Chestnut added that Al-Amin “will not be the first or the last black man framed by the system.”
The imam from Atlanta will be held in an Alabama jail pending the extradition request from Georgia Governor Roy Barnes. That request will have to await an indictment, which won’t be considered until a grand jury convenes Friday. After that, Al-Amin can still take the case to a circuit court.
Meanwhile, Islamic organizations held a news conference in Washington to demand a Justice Department investigation into the Al-Amin case.
“We are not here today to judge the guilt or innocence of any party to this tragic series of events,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “We want to ensure that Imam Jamil receives proper legal representation.”
CAIR, the American Muslim Council, the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim American Society said they would start a legal defense fund for Al-Amin.
Parts of the police account of the events that led to Al-Amin’s plight continued to defy logic. After the alleged shootout between him and police officers, the wounded officer, Deputy Aldranon English, insisted that he fired on Al-Amin and hit him in the middle of his body. The police found a blood trail leading from the site to a nearby vacant house. But paramedics who examined Al-Amin on Tuesday said he had no injuries.
Police claim the Imam was wearing a bulletproof vest when they caught him, but investigators said it was an old model, and they doubted that it could have deflected a direct shot, assuming he was wearing the vest on Thursday.
