Death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal made honorary citizen of Paris [FRANCE ALERT]

Yahoo Singapore ^ | October 5, 2003 | nwrep

[nwrep]

US death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal honorary citizen of Paris by the Mayor of Paris, above

Death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal made honorary citizen of Paris

Sunday October 5, 1:49 AM

The city of Paris made an honorary citizen of celebrated US death row inmate and black activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, sentenced to die for the 1981 murder of a white Philadelphia policeman.

It is the first time Paris has bestowed the honor since Pablo Picasso was made honorary citizen in 1971, Socialist mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe told an audience of 200 people, taking the occasion to attack the "barbarity" of the death penalty.

Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther civil rights activist and journalist who has maintained his innocence, had his death sentence overturned in December of 2001 but that decision is currently on appeal.

In attacking the "barbarity called the death penalty," the mayor said "as long as there is a place on this planet where one can be killed in the name of the community, we haven't finished our work."

Raising his fist in a sign of solidarity, Delanoe then shouted "Mumia is a Parisian!" as the crowd of mostly-leftist activists cheered and applauded.

Black activist Angela Davis, a former member of the Black Panthers and the Communist Party, hailed the "profound sense of humanity" of Abu-Jamal, attacking American "unilateralism" and racist attacks against immigrants.

The movement to free Abu-Jamal "takes on a new sense in face of American unilateralism, the aggression against the Iraqi people and the racist attacks against immigrants which can only further gnaw away at the vestiges of democracy in the United States," Davis, a professor at the University of California in Santa Cruz, said.

Abu-Jamal, sentenced to death 21 years ago for the murder of Daniel Faulkner, has always insisted he was innocent, and scores of movements and organizations have sprung up around the world in his defense.

His opponents view him as an unrepentant murderer.

His case has provoked particularly vivid debate in France, which abolished the death penalty in 1981. French school children are required to study the case as part of their education.

[breakem]

Is the state appealing or rehearing the sentencing phase. Or is it over?

[dagnabbit]

I didn't know that. When did that happen? Damned shame that this POS won't be killed by the State of PA. Would have been a great occasion for a rub-their-noses-in-it party.

[Guillermo]

Just when you think it is not possible to despise Parisians more, they do something like this...

[Redcoat LI]

Heartwarming.

[dougherty]

How about making Gary Ridgway aka the Green River killer an honorary citizen of Paris? Or, how about a posthumous honrorary citizenship for Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy? They love killers so much they may as well have the best.

[Batrachian]

Mumia is no longer on death row. That part of his sentence was overturned.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Man, are they going over the edge.

[Timesink]

Just a reminder that Motel 6 and Red Roof Inns are both part of the same FRENCH company. Keep that in mind next time you travel.

[metalboy]

My boycott of France just went up 1000%...Now I`ll be looking for anything that has the slightest connection to that pusshole. There was some Senator from Florida a while back that was trying to get some resolution passed that would allow families of D-day vets buried in that toilet to returned them here. I don`t know what`s going on with that, but I`ll tell you one thing; My father fought in WW2. If he was buried there, everything in my power, every last cent I had would be spent to get him out of there. I don`t care what it took, because the way I see it, it`s like burying those vets in a latrine and God knows they deserve a hell of a lot better than that!

[jpthomas]

U.S. District Judge William Yohn made his ruling on Mumia's death sentence in December 2001:

Judge throws out Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence

There's a lot of info on the Mumia case and this ruling on a website dedicated to the memory of police officer Daniel Faulkner, who was fatally shot by Mumia. Here's a link:

Justice for Police Officer Daniel Faulkner

[AGreatPer]

I don't get it. Why would France even care?

I mean, this guy is a Philly nothing. And, where was this award presented?

[Huber]

We should take the mayor at his world and assume that he is metaphorically commenting on the ultimate meaning of secular humanism and its epicenter, Paris. What he means is that without God, Paris = death row (only with more lights (assuming the utility workers aren't striking)) /sarcasm.

[BillF]

FRY MUMIA!

[cookcounty]

"His opponents view him as an unrepentant murderer. "

No, a jury of his peers viewed him as a murderer. That he is unrepentant is obvious to any human with a brain.

[jpthomas]

I think it's over, but I'm not absolutely certain. The judge ordered the state of Pennsylvania to either conduct a new sentencing hearing within 180 days or sentence Abu-Jamal to life imprisonment. The state appealed this federal judge's ruling to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals back in December of 2001. I haven't heard what the result of that appeal was.

[breakem]

thanx

[OldFriend]

This scum pig mumia gives commencement speeches around the country at various leftist colleges. He makes his speech via video from his prison cell.

Can anyone tell me why Pennsylvania allows such a travesty. And why colleges in the United States would choose him for a commencement speaker.

THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM

[wolficatZ]

L'Islam pour Paris

[genefromjersey]

Uh...perhaps they would do us the favor of guillotining the S.O.B.
That would work.