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Imam Jamil Al Amin (H. Rap Brown)
Zoharah, I talked with Karima last night and she did not hear from
Jamil on any of designated times for him to call last week. We are
praying he will call today, one of designated days. His attorneys are
working on a habeas corpus case to have him brought back to Georgia,
and am hoping Ramsey Clark can reach Holder, but holiday is barring
much progress. Will keep you posted. Connie
On 7/3/2014 11:03 PM, Simmons,Gwendolyn Delores wrote:
Dear colleagues,
Connie can you let us know if Karima heard from Jamil on Thursday,
Saturday of last week, or Tuesday or Thursday of this week? Can she
call him? Who are his lawyers? Can't they call and get an update on
his health. Is it unusual for Karima not to get calls at least once a
week?
I like all of us am worried that the prison officials may know that he
is very ill and do not want us to know. Of course it could even be
worse.
If Bennie is not able to get an update on his health quickly, I feel
we need to do a full court press. This should include getting info to
Amy Goodman at Democracy Now, to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Tavis
Smiley, the Red Cross, Amnesty International among others.
It seems that in view of Jamil's "silence," he might be seriously ill.
Perhaps a barrage of calls to the Prison and the Justice Department
would be a good thing to do. For everyone's information, Jimmy found
the numbers for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Attorney General
Holders's numbers, which I am including, which I am including here:
1). Federal Bureau of Prisons - (202) 353-1555
2). U.S. Justice Dept/ Attorney Holder - (202) 514-2001.
The address for Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin is Reg. No. 99974-555@www.bop.gov
I look,forward to hearing any updates of what we know about Jamil's status.
Zoharah
here:
Sent from my iPad
On Jul 3, 2014, at 12:15 PM, "Constance" <cw.curry@comcast.net> wrote:
Really appreciate everyone's response to this situation. Am
suggesting we wait to hear from Bennie Thompson on Jamil's condition
and latest info on move before we mount our campaign which at some
point will also be to get him back to Ga. correction facilit. from
whence he was lifted by night seven years ago an taken to federal
underground in Florence, Colorado. Thanks, Connie
On 7/3/2014 11:50 AM, James Garrett wrote:
Fannie and Zoharah:
I thank all of you who have and are now taking up the banner
to move Jamil to a safe medical facility.
I have shared with Barbara Lee's local office the scan received from Gwen.
If it is ok I will also push the text of Fannie Rushing's letter.
Finally, I suggest that a media platform may be available via Karen Finley
the MSNBC commentator who co-hosted the Dinner with Danny Glover..
If someone has contact Ms. Finley may be a useful pursuit to get Gwen or even
one of the Congress people on a larger platform.
Be Well, all
Aluta,
jimmy garrett
> From: FRushing@ben.edu
> Subject: RE: update
> Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2014 15:05:24 +0000
>
> Dear Connie and Zoharah,
>
> Connie, I just want to reaffirm what Zoharah has said. We all owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude for your selfless commitment to this issue. It is one that SNCC and others have lagged and drug their collective feet about. Zoharah, thank you for picking this up and getting us in movement. I know how busy and tired you are from all the work you have been engaged in during the past few months.
>
> I added Dorothy Dewberry to the email list. I am thinking it might be helpful to make little reports on what we are doing so that we do not duplicate and dissipate our energy.
>
> I have emailed Bobby Rush and will send him a copy of the signed letter. I will follow up with phone calls. If I do not hear back from him, I will find him this weekend while he is at home.
> I have contacted a friend who is the editor of "The Chicago Reporter". She called the prison and got a nonsense bill of goods. I explained that it was all nonsense and will send her the signed letter.
> I have sent the following to friends, Educators for Liberation, Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Educators for Social Justice and Portside Monitor. Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known as H. Rap Brown, was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s and a advocate and fighter against injustice and for liberation.As part of this fight and a shooting incident with police in 2000, he was imprisoned in a maximum security prison in Georgia. In spite of this in 2007, he was transferred, in the middle of the night, to another maximum security prison in Colorado further from family and friends. All of this time, he has been held in solitary confinement and for the last seven years, confined in a underground facility in the prison. Iman Al-Amin has not received proper medical care . As a result, he has lost teeth, developed an infection, lost weight, has body bloating and respiratory problems. His treatment is an example of cruel and unusual punishment and an act of inhumanity in violation of the principles of the Geneva Conventions and the laws of humanity. This is not an appeal regarding the merits of his case. It is an appeal to express the same concern for undocumented immigrants, prisoners at Guantanamo and people in countless countries around the world engaged in human rights violations of this type. Please,Call, not write your congress people, media and friends. This is a matter of life or death. Ask for : immediate medical attention for inmate Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (Reg.# 99974-555); his transfer to a different facility where his medical needs are more assured of being met, such as the prison medical facility located in Butner, North Carolina. Make CALLS TO:Charles E. Samuels Jr. the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons 202-307-3198 #9 for Press Office.(DIRECT LINE: 202-307-3250) and to Lisa Gregory, Director of Health Services, North Central Region - 913-621-3939 .
> A Luta Continua, The Struggle is at home as well as abroad,
>
> Fannie Theresa Rushing
>
> I will continue to pursue Rush, Jessie Jackson and several local radio stations. I believe we should appeal to the United Nations and Amnesty International What do you al think? Do you think we should give ourselves a name so it does not seem as if we are just individuals?
>
> Fannie
> ________________________________________
> From: Simmons,Gwendolyn Delores [zoharah@ufl.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2014 8:24 AM
> To: Constance
> Cc: Rushing, Fannie; docgarrett@hotmail.com; dan harmeling; Kathy Sarachild; Simmons,Gwendolyn Delores
> Subject: Re: update
>
> Dear Connie,
>
> Thank You! You have never forgotten Jamil; we owe you for reminding us of what is being done to him. Dan Harmeling and Kathy Sarachild helped me get the packet out.
>
> I will mail both packets to you today.
>
> I will call about other ideas later today.
>
> I also got your phone message.
>
> Talk to you soon! Take good care and be well!
Zoharah
On Jul 3, 2014, at 9:10 AM, "Constance" <cw.curry@comcast.net> wrote:
Zohorah, please forgive silence yesterday--phone problems--land and cell lines. You all are just unbelievable. Please send materials to me at 930 Myrtle Street, NE, Atlanta, Ga. 30309--you can send Karima's to me as well. No word on his health but Bennie Thompson working on getting a report. Will keep you up to date. love and gratitude, Connie
>
>
| End the persecution of Imam Jamil Al-Amin By Askia Muhammad Senior Correspondent Updated Aug 14, 2007 - 10:51:00 AM |
- Fight to free Jamil Al-Amin (FCN/Mumia Abu-Jamal, 11-20-2001)
|
| Imam Jamil Al-Amin Photo: Getty Images ?What?s needed is more public awareness of the fact that he?s an innocent man. He?s a political prisoner who is serving time for a crime that he did not do. If he?s guilty, he?s guilty of fighting for the rights of African Americans and, fighting for the rights of Muslims. And trying to make America the democracy that it claims to be. Yeah, he?s guilty of that.? -Hodari Abdul-Ali Executive Director, The Imam Jamil Action Network |
In March 2002, Imam Al-Amin was convicted of murdering a Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Deputy and wounding another in an incident March 16, 2000. Mr. Al-Amin steadfastly maintains his innocence. His supporters insist that he was convicted not based on the evidence, but because he is a Muslim, because of his militant past and his former association with the Black Panther Party.
There is a consensus among Imam Al-Amin’s supporters that he was convicted long before the jury announced its verdict and that prosecutors intentionally ignored the truth in order to punish someone with whom Atlanta authorities have had a long-running feud.
Law enforcement officials “know they’ve got the wrong people, but as long as they can do it in the darkness, or as long as there’s no mass protest, then they can just say, ‘Hey. We got another leader off the streets. So what if he didn’t do it. We’ve been after him since the ’60s’ COINTELPRO,’” complained Hodari Abdul-Ali, executive director of the Imam Jamil Action Network.
“What’s needed is more public awareness of the fact that he’s an innocent man. He’s a political prisoner who is serving time for a crime that he did not do. If he’s guilty, he’s guilty of fighting for the rights of African Americans and, fighting for the rights of Muslims. And trying to make America the democracy that it claims to be. Yeah, he’s guilty of that,” said Mr. Abdul-Ali.
Imam Al-Amin’s second unjust sentence, his supporters insist, is his treatment in the Georgia prison system where he has been on 23-hour lock-down since 2002, despite many public complaints, even petitions from among the Muslim population at Reidsville that he join them for Jumu’ah prayers as their Imam.
He gets one hour out of the cell to shower and also to walk around, what is considered a ‘Dog Pen’ for exercises, according to Mrs. Al-Amin. Authorities even tried recently to humiliate him by passing his meals to him through a slot on the floor, his supporters pointed out. That practice was ended after many vocal complaints.
“The [Prison] Commissioner, when questioned on the phone [recently] by [Imam Al-Amin’s] brother Ed Brown, said, ‘We’ll consider [modifying his conditions] once the situation changes.’” said Sister Al-Amin. “He was asked, ‘What is the situation?’ He could not come up with anything. He doesn’t have any infractions against him. He would be considered a model prisoner anywhere else.”
And there is the fundamental injustice of his conviction, insists Imam Al-Amin’s wife. The Imam has been a target of government harassment since the 1960s when he was the leader of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). At that time he was known as H. Rap Brown and was known for militant civil rights rhetoric.
The fiery civil rights leader was singled out individually, by name, as a threat by FBI Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) agents. “Spiro Agnew, who was then governor of Maryland said: ‘Throw Brown in the jail and throw away the key,’” Nkechi Taifa, then Director of the Equal Justice Program at Howard University School of Law told The Final Call at the time of Imam Al-Amin’s trial in January 2002.
The facts in the case also strongly support Imam Al-Amin’s claims of innocence.
There was testimony during the trial that within minutes of the shootout March 16, 2000, in which deputy Ricky Kinchen died, a caller to Atlanta’s 911 Emergency Telephone line reported seeing a bleeding man a few blocks from the scene of the confrontation, begging motorists for a ride. That fact is important because both Deputy Kinchen and his partner, Aldranon English, claimed to have wounded their assailant.
There was also testimony of a trail of fresh blood leading from the scene to an abandoned house, which was not investigated by the police, according to Sister Al-Amin, and “the Imam’s fingerprints were not found on any firearm associated with the crime,” she wrote in The Weekly Mirror. When Imam Al-Amin was arrested three days after the shooting in White Hall, Alabama, after a massive manhunt, authorities were shocked that he had no injuries.
Prosecutors managed to stack the jury, said Mrs. Al-Amin, excluding Muslims, Black women who might be old enough to recall COINTELPRO involvement in civil rights and campus rights activities.
Another puzzling development is the recent appearance of an un-dated and unsigned letter, purportedly written by a Mr. Otis Jackson who in the typewritten letter identifies himself as Mr. Bey. In his confession letter, Mr. Bey writes: “I pulled out and opened fire with my 9 mm hand gun. I then went to my car and got my M-14 and fired off some rounds. Deputy Kinchen shot me two times in the arm so I shot him. I shot Deputy English as well. I remember standing over him and him telling me about his family, but I was upset and hurt and I hate cops so I shot him anyway.
“I got in my car, went to the home of [redacted] She along with [redacted] removed the bullet. One went in and came out. The one that was in there, they got it out. I went home, on the 17th or 18th I found out that they were looking for Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. So I called my parole officer and told her what I had done,” the confession letter continues. “I was sent back to Vegas. I had to beg the FBI to investigate and I was told that I was not the one that they wanted. I was told that I should be honored that I had gotten away with killing a police.”
With such potentially convincing evidence available for his legal team, why is he still behind bars?
“That’s what we’re dealing with right now,” said Sister Al-Amin. “We’ve been in court in the county where he’s being held with a habeas corpus (petition). We have two new attorneys, not the original trial attorneys. We raised 14 grounds for reversal and for him to have a new trial,” she continued.
The plight of Imam Jamil Al-Amin is not new in the persecution of freedom fighters. We must not forget, and continue to organize and mobilize our community to support, defend, and with God’s help, gain the release of our Brother, another political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row in a Philadelphia, Pa. prison for the past 25 years.
Like the case of Imam Al-Amin, wicked forces do not desire to look at the truth of the evidence in his case that would free him.
The Final Call will continue to monitor, investigate and report on the legal proceedings of both cases involving Imam Jamil Al-Amin and Mumia Abu-Jamal.
H. Rap Brown (Man with Match)
1967
17.00 in HIGH x 22.00 in WIDE
(43.18 cm HIGH x 55.88 cm WIDE)
(43.18 cm HIGH x 55.88 cm WIDE)
All Of Us Or None Archive. Fractional and promised gift of The Rossman Family.
2010.54.2906
Lower right corner of drawing has: "Emory". Verso upper left corner has handwritten: "New Day 12/82" and "to Rlebleck".
Poster is printed in black ink on white paper. Poster has a drawing of H. Rap Brown figure, shown from the shoulders up he is wearing black sunglasses and has a mustache. Brown is looking at a lit match he is holding between the finger and thumb of his left hand. H. Rap Brown (later known as Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin) was a civil rights activist associated with the rallying call "Burn, Baby, Burn." [LMC]
© 2014 Oakland Museum of California
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