25 October 2007

No middle ground

Almost no one who is aware of the case has a neutral opinion on the guilt of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 of the murder of Philadelphia police officer and sentenced to death. Subsequent to his conviction, which is still under appeal, serious flaws in his trial have been revealed. Abu-Jamal continues to profess his innocence despite the fact that his confession to the crime was part of the evidence against him. He has become iconic in Philadelphia, and across the US, either as an innocent black victim of police conspiracy or, perhaps anti-iconically (sic), as a cold blooded revolutionary cop killer who deserved to die long ago.

Today the Guardian publishes his first interview with a British paper. It is worth a read irrespective of which camp you are a member of.

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