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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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URGENT ALERT UPDATE
14 March 2002
IMAM JAMIL: JURORS DECIDE ON LIFE IMPRISONMENT WITHOUT PAROLE
After 4 and a half hours deliberation on Wednesday 13 March, Fulton County Jury reached the conclusion of the penalty phase of the trial and decided that Imam Jamil should spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole. Judge Stephanie Manis also added another 30 years to the sentence for other crimes related to the shootings on the night of March 16 2000.
Seventeen characters witnesses, including community members from the West End neighbourhood of Atlanta, where Imam Jamil lived and ran his grocery store from, and former Black Panther activists testified for him during the penalty phase of the trial. After the sentencing the reactions ranged from law officers stating he should have received the death penalty to sadness that an innocent man should have to spend the rest of his life in prison.
One supporter of Imam Jamil, a law professor and former Black Panther stated:
“It is disheartening to see how Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin has been persecuted, prosecuted, demeaned and silenced. But still we have to be pleased that we have his light – even though it will be locked up in a cage.”
The defence intends to appeal against the sentence, but in the meantime letters of support can be sent to Imam Jamil, at the following addresses:
Imam Jamil (0013284)
Fulton County Jail
901 Rice Street
Atlanta
GA30318
or
Imam Jamil
PO Box 115363
Atlanta, Georgia
30310 USA
The view of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which had reported the case from the beginning, was as follows:
“… Al-Amin will die in prison, probably many years from now. His passing will be noted by a paragraph or two on a back page of a newspaper, noting his one-time prominence as a black activist and also his terrible crime.
And that’s how it should be.”
All supporters of Imam Jamil who believe in his innocence should not let that be the case.
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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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