A DAY OF ACTION” (Public Rally) for Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin
Monday, March 19, 2012, at the Georgia State Capitol
For Immediate Release:
March 16, 2012
Contact information: Heather Gray
404 234 4630 - heather@wrfg.org
ATLANTA....March 16, 2012, marks the 12th anniversary of a tragedy that
affected three families and an entire community. It was on March 16, 2000,
at around 10 PM at night, that two Fulton County Sheriff Deputies got into
a gunfight with an assailant that left one deputy dead and the other
seriously injured. Jamil Al-Amin (the former H. Rap Brown), the accused
assailant (who has consistently maintained his innocence), was arrested
days later in White Hall (AL), and charged with first degree murder and
assault.
After a deeply flawed trial that resulted in Al-Amin receiving a life
sentence, the leader of the West End Muslim community was confined to
Georgia’s maximum security prison in Reidsville. In 2007 Al-Amin was
arbitrarily deemed a “security risk” - despite having no serious
infractions within the institution – and was moved from state custody into
federal custody, and assigned to the federal admax facility (aka,
“supermax prison”) in Florence, Colorado - 1,400 miles away from his
family and attorneys.
This abrupt move, which was made without even informing his family, led to
a number of pressing questions, beginning with the federal government's
complicity in his case. It raised the question of whether Al-Amin was
being punished because he is a prominent Muslim, and also begged the
question of whether his civil rights past - principally through the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960's - and his
ongoing demands and activism for civil and human rights in the U.S. may
have also factored into the equation?
It should also be noted that just prior to his abrupt move to Florence,
Colorado, in 2007, Muslims in Georgia's prisons had asked that he serve as
the Imam for Muslim prisoners throughout the State. This was without
Al-Amin's prompting, and was a clear acknowledgement of the broad based
respect for him and his leadership.
Al-Amin’s case was, and is, a local case. There were no federal charges,
conviction, or sentences. In spite of this, the State of Georgia chose to
move him out of Georgia's prison population into a high-cost federal
institution at Georgia taxpayer’s expense! The conditions in the prison
are extraordinarily punitive, including 24-hour isolation in an
underground facility with no human contact. (Notwithstanding the moral
considerations, the material cost of such punishment is un-called for.)
On Monday, March 19, 2012, at 3 PM, there will be a demonstration in front
of the Georgia State Capitol - designated as a "Day of Action in Support
of Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin" - to demand that “Imam Jamil” (as he is
commonly known) be returned to Georgia state custody, where he rightfully
belongs, until such time that he can receive a new trial, a fair trial,
with all of the relevant and available evidence allowed to come into the
proceedings.
The speakers for Monday’s press conference will be (in alphabetical order):
Michael Bond (City Councilman - Atlanta)
Ramsey Clark (a former US Attorney General – New York)
Connie Curry (a veteran activist, and SNCC alumni - Atlanta)
Pastor Kenneth Glasgow (Christian clergyman)
Heather Gray (WRFG Radio - Atlanta)
Vincent Hardin (distinguished visiting scholar, Morehouse College)
Dianne Mathiowetz (International Action Center - Atlanta)
Min. Akbar Muhammad ( International Representative, Nation of Islam)
Imam Furqan Muhammad (a highly regarded Muslim chaplain - Atlanta)
Abdul Muhayman (Rep. for The Community Masjid - West End)
Nan Orrock (State Senator, District 36, Atlanta)
Imam Farid W. Rassool (Masjid As-Sabiqun, Chester, PA)
Mauri' Saalakhan (The Peace Thru Justice Foundation – Washington, DC)
Imam Zaid Shakir (a nationally known, California-based Islamic scholar)
Aaron Ward (District Director for Congressman John Lewis, D-GA)
The State Capitol is located at 206 Washington Street in Atlanta, Georgia.
Additional information on this case is available at www.freeimamjamil.com
<http://www.freeimamjamil.com/> .
For interviews on Imam Jamil's case please call Heather Gray at (404)
234-4630 or email her at heather@wrfg.org
###
No comments:
Post a Comment