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

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

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 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.

There is an irritating "sense of superiority" that SOME French people seem to nurture, which I occasionally see publicly evidenced. This "MAJ" one, once again, seems to be an example. Perhaps it's an inner conviction that the French are endowed with a nobility of sorts, that plain-speaking and simple-minded Americans lack.

A sort of "noblesse oblige", if you will.

Now me, I was born in Italy and was educated in the usual French/English/German starting in 5th grade (1950s). I do speak fluent French, but never occurs to me to make a show of it.

Except once, coming back from Rome to LA, via Air France, I got bumped from economy to FIRST CLASS, (lucky so-and-so). The steward kept making asinine comments full of blatantly false praise to "your country", as if I didn't know where he was actually coming from. I let him carry on for a while until I hit him unexpectedly with a fusillade of fast patois that blew his cravatte to the ceiling. He was red-faced and silent for the rest of the otherwise admittedly posh flight. The boob probably played condescendent to his high class passengers as often as he could and got away with it. A silly way to put some career risk and excitement into his workday.

Found this excellent summary of the case...

On December 9, 1981 a Philadelphia Police Officer was shot and killed. Twenty-five-year-old Daniel Faulkner was a decorated five-year veteran of the police force, recently married, a U.S. military veteran, a son and a brother. When police arrived, the shooter was still at the scene. His name was Mumia Abu-Jamal, AKA Wesley Cook.

On the morning he murdered Daniel Faulkner, Jamal was working as a cab driver. At 3:55 AM on December 9, 1981, Faulkner, a twenty five year old Philadelphia police officer, observed a light blue Volkswagen driving the wrong way down a one-way street and then turning east onto Locust Street. Officer Faulkner then pulled the Volkswagen over in view of several eyewitnesses. Prior to leaving his car, Faulkner radioed for a police wagon to back him up. Unknown to him, this would later help preserve the scene of his own murder.

Officer Faulkner exited his vehicle and approached the driver's side of the Volkswagen, which was being driven by Mr. William Cook. Officer Faulkner asked Mr. Cook to exit his car. As the officer was looking away, several witnesses stated that they saw Mr. Cook punch Officer Faulkner in the face, violently attacking him. The officer responded by striking Cook, apparently with his flashlight, and then turned Cook towards the car attempting to subdue him. For reasons that remain unknown today, sitting in a taxicab across the narrow street and watching the events as they unfolded, was William Cook's older brother, Wesley Cook (AKA Mumia Abu Jamal).

According to witnesses, Jamal exited his taxi and ran across the street toward the officer and his brother. While Officer Faulkner was distracted by Cook, with his back turned to Jamal, Jamal was seen raising his arm and then firing one shot that found it's mark in Officer Faulkner’s back. Tests showed that the shot was fired from approximately 10-12 inches. Officer Faulkner was able to draw his gun and fire one return shot at his assailant. This bullet was later extracted from Jamal’s upper abdomen.

Having fired this shot, Officer Faulkner fell to the sidewalk. While the wounded officer lay helpless on his back, Jamal stood over Danny with his five-shot, .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver and from approximately 3 feet, began to fire at the officer’s upper body. In an attempt to save his life, Faulkner began to roll from side to side as Jamal fired at him. Jamal missed his first several shots. He then moved closer to Faulkner and bent down over him. Jamal put the muzzle of his gun within inches of Officer Faulkner's face, and squeezed off the final, and fatal, shot. The bullet entered the officer’s face slightly above the eye and came to rest in his brain, killing him instantly.

In June of 1982 a trial was convened to hear the case against Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner. In the 1982 courtroom, acts of civil disobedience, shouting, chanting, violent outbursts, disruptions, forced removals, threats and even physical altercations were daily occurrences. Jamal regularly disrupted the proceedings, and because of his intentionally disruptive actions, he was removed from the courtroom over 13 times. A running verbal battle was waged between Jamal and his attorney, the prosecutor, and the judge.

On July 3rd, 1982, having heard the evidence against him, it took the jury just 3 hours to unanimously convicted Mumia Abu-Jamal of the premeditated murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner. In the sentencing phase of the trial, which proved to be plagued by the same disruptions as the guilt phase, the same jury unanimously sentenced Jamal to death.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.