[Photos above: Mumia supporters on a December 2025 103-mile march to Mahoney prison in Frackville, PA for his freedom and for the freedom for all political prisoners. Accompanying photo: Mumia Abu-Jamal]

[Editor’s introduction: We reprint here two articles on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, perhaps the world’s most well known and innocent political prisoner.  Mumia has been imprisoned since 1981 on frame-up murder charges. His attorneys announced last week that they are exploring new possibilities in the legal arena to win Mumia’s freedom. The article immediately below reviews the broad outlines of Mumia’s frame-up conviction at the hands of Philadelphia’s racist political and judicial system.  This includes the infamous quote from racist trial judge Albert Sabo, who stated in his chambers before entering the courtroom to judge the case,  “Yeah, and I’m going to help ‘em fry the n****r.”  The author of this article, Jeff Mackler, has been the director of the Northern California-based Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal since 1985. The second article in this December 9, 2025 Socialist Action website post appeared in Amy Goodman’s publication “Democracy Now! The War and Peace Report.” It covers the recent 103-mile, 12-day march in Frackville, Pennsylvania, where Mumia is imprisoned at the Mahanoy state prison. The march ended on the same day Abu-Jamal was arrested in 1981.]

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a renowned journalist from Philadelphia who has been in prison since 1981 and on death row, 1983 – 2011, for allegedly shooting Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Following several appeals, his current sentence was changed to “Life in prison without parole.”

Mumia is known as the “Voice of the Voiceless” for his award- winning reporting on police brutality and other social and racial epidemics that plague communities of color in Philadelphia and throughout the world. Mumia has received international support over the years in his efforts to overturn his unjust conviction.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was serving as the President of the Association of Black Journalists at the time of his arrest. He was a founding member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Black Panther Party as a teenager. Years later he began reporting professionally on radio stations such as NPR (National Public Radio), and was the news director of Philadelphia station WHAT. Much of his journalism called attention to the blatant injustice and brutality he watched happen on a daily basis to MOVE, a revolutionary organization that worked to protect all forms of life–human, animal, plant–and the Earth as a whole.

The Scene

In 1981, Mumia worked as a cab driver at night to supplement his income. On December 9th he was driving his cab through the red light district of downtown Philadelphia at around 4 a.m. Mumia testifies that he let off a fare and parked near the corner of 13th and Locust Streets. Upon hearing gunshots, he turned and saw his brother, William Cook, staggering in the street. Mumia exited the cab and ran to the scene, where he was shot by a uniformed police officer and fell to the ground, fading in and out of consciousness. Within minutes, police arrived on the scene to find Officer Faulkner and Mumia shot; Faulkner died. Mumia was arrested, savagely beaten, thrown into a paddy wagon and driven to a hospital a few blocks away (suspiciously, it took over 30 minutes to arrive at the hospital). Mumia somehow survived.

The Trial

The trial began in 1982 with Judge Sabo (who sent more people to death row than any other judge) presiding. Mumia wished to represent himself and have John Africa as his legal advisor, but before jury selection had finished, this right was revoked and an attorney was forcibly appointed for him. Throughout the trial, Mumia was accused of disrupting court proceedings and was not allowed to attend most of his own trial. Sabo lived up to his nickname of “Prosecutor in Robes.”

The Evidence

The prosecution claimed that the shot which killed Faulkner came from Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legally registered .38-caliber weapon, contradicting the medical examiner’s report that the bullet removed from Faulkner’s brain was a .44-caliber. This fact was kept from the jury. Moreover, a ballistics expert found it incredible that police at the scene failed to test Mumia’s gun to see if has been recently fired, or to test his hands for powder residue. One of the most damning prosecution claims was that Mumia confessed at the hospital. However, this confession was not reported until nearly two months after December 9th, immediately after Mumia had filed a brutality suit against the police. One of the officers who claims to have heard the confession is Gary Wakshul. However, in his police report on that day he stated, “the Negro male made no comments.” Dr. Coletta, the attending physician who was with Mumia the entire time, says that he never heard Mumia speak.

The Witnesses

The star prosecution witness, a prostitute named Cynthia White, was someone no other witness reported seeing at the scene. During the trial of Billy Cook (Mumia’s brother) just weeks before Mumia’s trial, White gave testimony completely contradictory to what she stated at Mumia’s trial. Her testimony at Billy Cook’s trial placed someone at the scene who was not there when police arrived. This corroborates the other five witness accounts that someone fled the scene. In a 1997 hearing, another former prostitute, Pamela Jenkins, testified that White was acting as a police informant. Other sworn testimony revealed that witness coercion was routinely practiced by the police. In 1995, eyewitness William Singletary testified that police repeatedly tore up his initial statement–that the shooter fled the scene–until he finally signed something acceptable to them. The following year, witness Veronica Jones came forward to testify that she had been coerced into changing her initial statement that two men fled the scene. Witness Billy Cook, who was present the whole time, has stated very clearly that Mumia is absolutely innocent.

The Sentence

Due to police manipulation of witnesses, fabrication of evidence, and the rights of the defense severely denied, Mumia was found guilty. He was sentenced to death during the penalty phase based solely on his political beliefs. Mumia has been unjustly separated from his family ever since 1981, with the threat of death looming over his head.

New Witnesses

In 2001, court stenographer Terri Maurer-Carter came forward and stated that in 1982, before Mumia’s trial began, she heard Judge Sabo say, “Yeah, and I’m going to help them fry the n****r.” He was referring to Mumia. This backs up evidence of judicial bias and racism in Mumia’s case. In the same year, esteemed Philadelphia journalist Linn Washington stated that on the morning of December 9th, 1981, he went to the scene to report on it–and no police were present. This backs up prior claims that police didn’t handle the crime scene properly.

The Confession

In 1999, Arnold Beverly confessed to killing Officer Faulkner. This confession is validated by a lie detector test administered by eminent polygraph expert Charles Honts. Despite concrete evidence supporting this confession, the Philadelphia District Attorney has refused to investigate, and the courts have not even allowed it to be heard. The injustice continues . . .

The Decisions

On December 18th, 2001, Judge Yohn issued a decision on the Habeas Corpus petition in Federal District Court. He upheld Mumia’s unjust conviction, but challenged the sentencing phase (the death sentence). As a result Mumia’s death sentence has subsequently been changed to life in prison – though the state of Pennsylvania is appealing this and poised to get to the death penalty reinstated.

On October 8, 2003, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected the appeal, stating that the Beverly confession cannot be heard due to time limitations. The court also stated that Terri Maurer-Carter’s testimony is irrelevant. The struggle continues.

Today, with Mumia’s defense presenting Mumia’s last best appeal for a new trial, and the authorities trying to get Mumia’s death sentence reinstated, Mumia is only one legal decision away from winning a new trial, or death.

The Movement

A broad international movement has formed in support of Mumia. Celebrities such as Danny Glover, Ossie Davis, and Susan Sarandon, world leaders like Nelson Mandela, Danielle Mitterand (former First Lady of France), and Fidel Castro, governing bodies such as the Japanese Diet, 22 members of the British Parliament and the European Parliament, as well as numerous groups like trade unions, the NAACP and Amnesty International have all recognized the blatant injustice in this case and have called for a new trial at the very least. Millions of people throughout the world have taken to the streets to protest his unjust imprisonment.

Mumia’s case has been a unifying point for many social struggles because it concentrates issues vitally important to our future, such as the rise in prison populations, police brutality, the death penalty, persecution of political dissent, and the continuation of white supremacy and racism in the U.S. From death row, Mumia has continued to speak out for all who are oppressed through his journalism. He has published 12 books, and his weekly columns are published throughout the world. His case is one of the most important social justice fights of our time.

Save Mumia’s Eyesight: Supporters March to Prison to Demand Medical Care for Him & Aging Prisoners

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

One of the world’s most well-known political prisoners, Mumia Abu-Jamal, was arrested on this day in 1981 for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, for which Mumia Abu-Jamal has always claimed innocence. Amnesty International and human rights groups have found he was deprived of a fair trial. His lawyers say evidence shows his trial was tainted by judicial bias and police and prosecutorial misconduct, like withholding of evidence, bribing or coercing witnesses to lie. Evidence in boxes discovered in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office by DA Larry Krasner in 2019 includes notes from one of two key witnesses to prosecutors requesting, quote, “the money owed to me,” unquote.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was an award-winning journalist, member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party, ultimately sentenced to death, but went on to write 15 books and record a weekly column while a global movement built around his case. He spent 29 years in solitary confinement. In 2012, Mumia Abu-Jamal was moved from death row to the general prison population after a federal appeals court in 2011 upheld the overturning of his death sentence by a federal judge, citing improper jury instructions, and prosecutors agreed to a life sentence rather than a new sentencing hearing.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is now 71 years old, was recently blind for eight months until he had cataract surgery, but needs more medical care to prevent him from permanently losing his vision. Dozens of his supporters who hope to draw attention to his claims of medical neglect are on 103-mile, 12-day march that’s ending today in Frackville, Pennsylvania, where Mumia is imprisoned at SCI Mahanoy.

ZAYID MUHAMMAD: We’re taking that long walk, because the walk for freedom is a long walk. And we do it with an intense, extra motivated passion, because we just lost a bold freedom fighter in Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin in the clutches of the state, and that should not have happened. So, under no circumstances can we allow the state to take any more of our freedom fighters. It’s time to get Mumia all the healthcare he needs.

AMY GOODMAN: In a minute, we’ll speak with someone on the march and a member of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legal team. But first, this is a Prison Radio commentary that he recorded in August, titled “Mumia’s Vision: A Message for the Movement.”

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I have been reluctant to talk about my eye problems. The reasons may have eluded some, but I explain that, you know, in the context of being in prison, any sign of weakness is to be avoided at all costs. These are, unlike many other institutions in society, heavily male, and therefore gender-conscious in a way that society is not. Weakness brings predation.

So, I kept it quiet. And I kept it quiet simply because I wrongly believed that once I got examined and once it was clear that this was a real visual contextual problem, that I would get a rather quick response. Boy, was I wrong. I was, as the saying goes, as wrong as two left feet. What I got was evaluation after evaluation after evaluation after evaluation, literally. It was only when I went outside and those prior evaluations were repeated by a noted ophthalmologist that the ball began to roll. And even then, the ball rolled exceedingly slowly.

I have been, for all intents and purposes, unable to read, unable to write, unable to see anything more than the masthead of a newspaper and not even its headlines, blurry television bursts of color. The television is my radio now.

AMY GOODMAN: Mumia Abu-Jamal, speaking from prison, SCI, State Correctional Institution, Mahanoy in Pennsylvania.

For more, we’re joined by Larry Hamm, chair of the People’s Organization for Progress, one of the elders on the March for Mumia. He is in Frackville, Pennsylvania, where the prison is. And here in New York, one of Mumia’s lawyers, Noelle Hanrahan, founder and producer of Prison Radio, which has been recording and distributing Mumia’s commentaries from prison since 1992.

Larry, let’s begin with you. You’re on this more than 100-[mile] march that’s ending today. Why did you march? What are you calling for?

LARRY HAMM: Good morning, Amy. Good morning, Juan. Good morning, Noelle.

We are marching to free Mumia and free all political prisoners. We are marching to draw attention to Mumia’s medical problems, but, more importantly, to demand that he get the surgery and medical treatment he needs. We are marching for humane treatment for all prisoners, especially our elders. I’m a witness to the fact that we have an aging prison population, and, like Mumia, many of them are not getting the medical care they need. So we’re marching today to demand freedom for Mumia and all political prisoners and to demand that Mumia get the urgent surgery and medical treatment he needs.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Noelle, I’d like to ask you: In terms of his battle for healthcare, Mumia’s battle for healthcare, why has it been so difficult for him to get that healthcare?

NOELLE HANRAHAN: [inaudible] healthcare in this country, and in particular for prisoners, there are contracts by Wellpath that specifically state that they limit ophthalmological care in prison to on-site monitoring. They do not send people routinely out for specialist care. We had to fight. The Abolitionist Law Center, the lawyers and the movement had to come together to demand that Mumia get care just for post-cataract surgery. When we got the specialists to look at Mumia, they discovered two other conditions that could mean that he loses his eyesight permanently if he is not treated. He has not been treated for these conditions since June.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what are you demanding right now?

NOELLE HANRAHAN: That Mumia get specialist care for his glaucoma and his diabetic retinopathy, and that he is given the treatment that he deserves. But we’re not just calling for Mumia, because there are many inmates. They know who’s blind in prison. They are refusing care to save money for Wellpath.

AMY GOODMAN: Why is ophthalmological care particularly limited?

NOELLE HANRAHAN: I don’t know if it’s particularly limited. It’s the one we’ve researched right now. I believe that they likely limit all care that might cost them money. Like our lawsuit for hep C care in 2017 that won care, the first preliminary injunction for hep C care, they did not treat Mumia with a fast-acting cure for two years, causing, likely, the diabetic retinopathy.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Noelle, Philadelphia has a supposedly progressive DA, District Attorney Krasner, who his own office found forgotten files on Mumia that showed bias in his trial. Why has there been no movement by the DA to reopen his case?

NOELLE HANRAHAN: I think the DA has been pressured to actively litigate this case by being impeached by the Pennsylvania Senate, also by being called up in a special — there was a King’s Bench petition that deposed Larry, that asked him specifically if he was going to prosecute Mumia. There are pressures. Mumia is the third rail in Philadelphia. He is like everyone else in prison, the 5,000 people that are serving life without possibility of parole just in Pennsylvania. He’s one of a class of many. And Krasner, he will do the right thing. He is elected by the people. He’s elected by the abolitionist ecosystem. We have an obligation to make it impossible for him to not support us. But there’s pressure.

AMY GOODMAN: And on what grounds are you asking for his case to be reopened now?

NOELLE HANRAHAN: There are three ways that any lifer can get out. It would be a post-conviction relief application, which we are developing, that he doesn’t have one in court right now. His last one was denied in March by a lower court that did not fairly review his case. He can also go through the pardon board, which is a five-member panel and also the governor, six — have to be unanimous — or compassionate release, which is extremely limited.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, if you can comment, Larry Hamm, on what you’re doing today in front of the prison in Frackville, Pennsylvania, what this more than hundred-mile march has meant for you? You’re about the same age as Mumia Abu-Jamal.

LARRY HAMM: I am exactly the same age as Mumia, and our birthdays are in the same month.

Yesterday, we reached the hundred-mile mark, and today we will march the last three miles to Mahanoy prison, where Mumia is incarcerated. We will have a press conference and a rally there to once again make the call for Mumia to get the medical care that he needs, and for all prisoners, especially our elders, to get the medical care that they need.

AMY GOODMAN: And, Noelle Hanrahan, 10 seconds.

NOELLE HANRAHAN: It’s relief from the inside out. This was built by prisoners. It was built by prisoners’ families, the Abolitionist Law Center, Saleem Holbrook, Bret Grote, the lead attorney. We are going to win and create the world that we deserve.

AMY GOODMAN: Noelle Hanrahan is one of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s attorneys and founder and producer of Prison Radio. Larry Hamm is chair of the People’s Organization for Progress, on the March for Mumia, speaking to us from Frackville, Pennsylvania, where he is imprisoned. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

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