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Fw: Mumia Named Honorary Parisian by George Snedeker 07 December 2001 02:01 UTC |
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December 5,
2001
U.S. Inmate Named
Honorary Parisian
By THE ASSOCIATED
PRESS
Filed at 3:35 p.m.
ET
PARIS (AP) -- The Paris city
council has named U.S. death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted for the 1981
slaying of a police officer, as an honorary citizen of Paris.
The show of solidarity with
Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther and journalist, came in a vote Tuesday in the
wake of the Nov. 21 decision by a Philadelphia court, which said it did not have
jurisdiction over a request for a new trial.
Jean Vuillermoz, leader of the
Communist Party grouping on the council, said the decision by the council
follows ``alarming news'' about Abu-Jamal. Vuillermoz said Pablo Picasso was the
last person to receive the title, which is symbolic, in 1971.
Abu-Jamal argued that his former
lawyers did a poor job and that he has new evidence that could clear him. The
death row inmate's federal appeal is pending.
Celebrities, death penalty
opponents and foreign politicians have rallied to Abu-Jamal's cause, calling him
a political prisoner and saying he was railroaded by a racist justice
system.
Human rights groups have
scheduled a demonstration in support of Abu-Jamal in front of the U.S. Embassy
in Paris on Saturday.
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