He is one of America’s best and brightest orators. He is a nationally known and respected religious leader. He rid entire inner city neighborhoods of drugs, encouraged the establishment of small businesses, and established mentoring programs for black youth. For his efforts, he is currently serving a life term in Georgia State Prison. His name is Jamil Al-Amin.
Jamil Al-Amin was convicted for the murder of a sheriff’s deputy after a trial in which very significant exculpatory evidence was never presented. The reason for this, given by some Al-Amin supporters, is that his attorneys were not paid, and hence plea bargained with the prosecution. The neglected exculpatory evidence includes: 1) the absence of wounds on Al-Amin’s body when he was taken into custody (although the deputy involved in the incident which led to Al-Amin’s imprisonment clearly stated that the suspect was shot and bleeding); 2) a confession for the shooting of the deputy by another man, Otis Jackson; 3) ballistic evidence showing that the deadly shots were not fired by any weapon which could be associated with Al-Amin.
A habeas corpus hearing determines whether a person is serving a lawful sentence and/or whether he or she should be released from custody (Blackstone). It is viewed as an opportunity for the defense to convince the court that previously suppressed or unknown evidence warrants a prisoner’s release. In Al-Amin’s case, the prosecution has repeatedly requested postponements of this hearing, perhaps indicating the strength of the unpresented evidence. The hearing is currently scheduled for February 27, 2007.
For an excellent background article on the case, see:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020318/thelwell
On December 30, I attended a fundraiser for Imam Jamil Al-Amin at Masjid Al-Islam. The masjid stands proudly at the corner of Benning Road and C Street in Southeast DC, two blocks from the subway, in a poor black residential area, a far cry from the exclusive suburban mosques hidden away in the countryside, away from bus lines and poor people. I could imagine El-Hajj Malik Shabazz preaching at Masjid Al-Islam. The AmeriKKKan flag, found at the entrance of many U.S. masajid today, was nowhere to be found.
Inside, Imam Abdul Alim Musa was scheduled to lecture—but not before he personally served dinner to the men who were there to hear about the Jamil Al-Amin case. Imam Musa, for some reason, had determined that he—and only he—would serve food to the men. The result was a long line of hungry bruthas—perhaps an exercise in sabr? Just yards away, across the prayer hall, two sisters served food to the women. I found Imam Musa’s wife, and introduced myself. She greeted me with a warm hug and welcomed me. I was seated with three young women--Amatullah, Tazkiya, and Hajure. As we talked, I realized how politically astute they were. Tazkiya, a college student, had spoken in public forums on Imam Jamil’s case. Two of the sisters were either readers or contributors to New Trend (Muslim e-journal). Masjid Al-Islam clearly did not limit its women to the baking committee.
Finally Imam Musa began his presentation. A tall, built brother with dark skin, graying beard, and just the hint of a stoop that betrayed his position as a veteran in the Islamic movement, he looked distinguished in all black as he took the podium. He spoke comfortably without notes, his speech articulate and sprinkled with wicked humor.
“What makes Imam Jamil so special?” he asked the audience.
“He is the only one on the COINTELPRO list who’s still alive,” he said, referring to the U.S. government’s counterintelligence program, which used highly questionable means to target Black, Native American, and other activists during the 1960s and 1970s. “And he was the only non-immigrant imam on the Majlis-e-Shura [of North America.] The immigrant imams on the Shura Council, they couldn’t forecast things like Imam Jamil.”
“The big crews have not helped,” Imam Musa continued. He’d asked Muzammil Siddiqui and others for support for Imam Jamil—to no avail. Then he’d suggested if they didn’t want to help directly, they could just give him a letter of support for Imam Jamil—again to no avail.
I was aghast. The very Shura Council of which Imam Jamil was a member up until his arrest, refused to support him! What happened to the “Muslims are part of one body; if one part hurts, the rest feels the pain” popularly spouted at ISNA conventions and elsewhere?
“All the big fundraisers, they done sold out” said Imam Musa, shaking his head. “We Americans, they say, we going to stand up for America.”
“Remember when they kicked in the doors in Virginia, tore through their homes, with the wives sitting there with no hijab on?” said Imam Musa, referring to the March 20, 2002 FBI raids on the homes and offices of officials connected to IIIT, SAAR, WAMY, Safa Trust and other pro-government Muslim organizations. “Well, they [the Muslim leaders] stayed mad for two days. After that, it was business as usual.”
Imam Musa started fundraising. The atmosphere was solemn, quite unlike other fundraisers I’d experienced in the past, perhaps in the realization that the collective efforts of the community could determine whether a beloved imam-political prisoner would continue to suffer in jail.
Imam Musa teased and cajoled the congregation into emptying their pockets. During a lull in the fundraising, he told the audience, “Yeah I know, if you or I donate $50, we may not eat for a week. Them that got it, ain’t givin’ it. So, we gotta do this for our brutha.”
The resident Muslim women’s organization, An-Nisa of Masjid Al-Islam, donated $250, which they’d worked hard to raise, encouraging others in the audience to follow suit. Masjid Al-Islam’s working class Muslims, slowly but surely donated their hard earned dollars to Imam Jamil’s case. The imam himself donated a large bundle of bills, all one dollar bills, he jokingly assured the congregation.
The fundraising came to an end, and Imam Musa talked in a somber tone about Al-Amin’s condition. The Atlanta imam had already been imprisoned for six-and-a-half years; serious psychological changes occurred in a prisoner after his sixth or seventh year, said Imam Musa. The prisoner’s mind gets used to the concrete and the bars.
“Meaning he may be broken, disoriented, his spirit destroyed” I thought to myself. No wonder Islam talked extensively about freeing the slave, the modern day versions of whom, off course, fill America’s jails.
“That is why it is so important we get him out. We need him out here,” said Imam Musa.
During Q&A, a non-Muslim progressive, one of the few whites in the audience, brought up the important point that the very Habeas Corpus rights, which Imam Jamil had invoked as a legal defense, were under attack by the Bush regime.
Had any lawyers expressed an interest in representing the imam pro-bono, I asked. Imam Musa said they had not, running scared after the Lynne Stewart witchhunt.
The shooting in which Imam Jamil was railroaded and the Saddam execution both occurred on the eves of Eid, the former in 2000, the latter in 2006, pointed out a sagacious Caucasian brother. Subjecting the Muslim community to such acts on a major Muslim holiday exhibited the arrogant character of Dajjal.
I left the event inspired that this independent mosque, with its fiery leader, not only refused to celebrate the Eid on the incorrect date, despite the Saudi dictate, but used the eve of the holiday to bring to light the victimization of an innocent Muslim imam. And the next morning, the congregation would again come together for an Eid prayer, held according to sunnah. This, it seemed to me, was the true spirit of the Eid!
Further donations for Imam Jamil’s defense are badly needed. Checks may be made out to the Masjid (with "Imam Jamil fund" noted on the memo line) and mailed to:
Masjid Al-Islam
4603 Benning Road, SE
Washington, DC 20019
For updates on the case, and what you can do to help:
http://myspace.com/freetheimam
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