Former Black Panthers to Speak in Galway

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release

Wednesday March 28, 2007 19:16

by Ecosoc

The Free Mumia Tour

EcoSoc Presents... April 10th O’Flaherty Theatre, Nuig Galway. Addmision Free.

Film Premiere and Speaking tour :
Mumia Abu Jamal is an award-winning journalist who was charged on July 4th 1982 with the killing of a white police officer. He was convicted of the crime in a deeply flawed trial. The presiding judge held the record number of death row convictions, in the state. Many of these convictions were later overturned as blatant anti-black bias was found in many of his decisions. However the Mumia case was not overturned, the reopening of the case would have discredited the entire justice system.
The evening’s events will include talks by a delegation of top-level African American activists. They are in Galway as part of a world tour aimed at raising awareness about the miscarriages of justice, which have placed political prisoners on death row in the USA.

Speakers for the evening will include
Fred Hampton Junior-Son of the legendary Black Panther chairman.

Noelle Hanrahan -Award winning investigative journalist and director of Prison Radio.

Move (Family Africa members)
Pam Africa -campaigner against the death penalty and leader of the struggle to get justice for JAMAL

Carlos Africa-Jailed for fourteen years as a political prisoner due to his membership of the Move organisation.

JR Valrey - Minister of Information of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC) and writer with
the San Francisco Bay View newspaper.

Follewed by an exclusive opportunity to preview the new documentary

'In Prison My Whole Life'
This is the world premier of a new documentary that looks at the life of imprisoned political activist and former Black Panther member, Mumia Abu-Jamal. Although sentenced to death for killing a police officer in 1982 his sentence was overturned in 2001 due to errors made during his original sentencing hearing. He remains imprisoned to this day and faces the possibility of execution this year. This documentary Features Abu Jamal himself, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky and Alice Walker. The film director Livia Guiggoili Firth ,will be present at the Galway event. Amnesty international Ireland has recently launched a campaign to outlaw the death penalty and Galway’s own literary festival Cuairt is also to focus on the death penalty this April.

The delegation will speak in Galway, Dublin, Belfast and Rossport, and will also visit the Dept of Foreign Affairs and urge the Irish government to raise Mumia’s case through the EU parliament and directly with US politicians. Further detailas of the Dublin, Belfast and Rossport events will be published as they become available.

The group will be available for interview.
For further details call Mick McGilligan at 087-6124011

April 10-Galway
April 11-Dublin
April 12-Belfast
April 13-Rossport
www.mumia.org
www.onamove.org
www.prisonradio.org