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Mumia Abu-Jamal - Legal Update and news [PLEASE CIRCULATE]

Dear Friends:

There are many developments on the legal and other fronts concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal. We remain in active litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and also have issues pending in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mumia has been honored by fellow writers through acceptance into a prestigious organization, a Nobel Prize winner recently visited him, an excellent new book was released in France, a leading British newspaper has published a major article on Mumia, and a superb film recently premiered in London and Rome. The following are the highlights.

PEN membership Mumia has been accepted into the membership of PEN, the worldwide human-rights organization of prominent writers. This is a great honor. He was thrilled upon learning that the application I filed on his behalf last spring was granted. In two decades of knowing each other, I have not seen Mumia so happy. The recognition from his peers is well deserved.

In a quarter of a century of being locked up in a small cell on Pennsylvania's death row, Mumia's literary output has been prodigious. He has written five outstanding books that are published in various languages, and also writes weekly commentaries that are published and broadcast internationally.

PEN was founded in 1921 to dispel national, ethnic, and racial hatred, to promote understanding among all countries, and defend the freedom to write. PEN American Center, into which Mumia has been accepted, is the largest of the 145 centers in 104 countries of International PEN. It exists to fight for freedom of expression, represent the conscience of world literature, and foster friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. It is the world’s oldest human rights organization and also the oldest international literary group.

The support provided by Alice Walker, E.L. Doctorow, Bell Chevigny and othe