FORGOTTEN HERO: IMAM JAMIL AL-AMIN

 

Imam Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, a bold and daring fighter for the rights of the oppressed, has been unjustly sentenced to life without parole in the Georgia State Prison system, where he is currently under 23-hour lockdown. He became involved in the civil/human rights movement primarily in the southern part of the United States as early as 1962. He was one of the most articulate and outspoken critics of the tyranny and oppression perpetuated by the Jim Crow South of the 1960s. As a result of his participation, speech-making, and subsequent election as Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in May 1967, the United States government targeted him in its illegal surveillance and entrapment programs, specifically COINTELPRO, initiated by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Imam Jamil's present circumstances can easily be understood as being part of a concerted effort to undermine his lifelong commitment to realizing comprehensive social justice in America and all that it implies. The threat he presents to the status quo is best demonstrated by his being mentioned by name as a prime target of COINTELPRO. 

 

During his earlier years, the United States government and its state and local branches charged and imprisoned Imam Jamil for counseling to arson, inciting to arson and riot, federal firearms violations, and bond violations. These charges were fabricated and unfounded. By 1968, while under house arrest, U.S. Congress members and governors were calling for law enforcement to arrest him and “slam the doors” of the prisons behind him. On April 11, 1968, the “Rap Brown” Federal Anti-Riot Act passed as an amendment to a fair housing law. This law against dissent made it illegal to travel from one state to another, write a letter, make a telephone call, or speak on radio or television with the “intent” to encourage any person to riot. By 1970, Imam Jamil was placed on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted List,” simply for failing to appear for trial on the fabricated inciting to arson and riot charges.

From 1971 until 1976, Imam Jamil was imprisoned in the State of New York on charges related to eradicating drug activity in African-American communities. It was during this time that he embraced Islam. Upon his release, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where he immediately began to establish and organize a Muslim community. He devoted years to traveling throughout the United States, the Sudan, Pakistan, India, the West Indies, and Saudi Arabia. Apart from becoming a leader of what he simply called “The National Community”—an amalgamation of about 30 masjid-centered communities under his direction—he also served on the boards of major Islamic organizations. During this time, he continued to show his opposition to national and international human rights violations, demonstrating his commitment to the struggle against oppression and injustice in the U.S. and worldwide.

After 24 years, Imam Jamil was arrested on March 20, 2000, and charged with a crime he did not commit: the death of one and assault of another Fulton County (Georgia) sheriff deputy.

 

Click here for a brief chronology of Imam Jamil's life.
To learn how you can support Imam Jamil, click here. 

 

CASE DETAILS

Due to a gagging order placed by Judge Manis in August 2000, Imam Jamil has not been able to publicly proclaim his innocence. She ruled against lifting the gagging order a year later in August 2001.

 

At the beginning of January 2002, several newspapers published portions of a 20-minute interview Imam Jamil gave by telephone from Fulton County jail. He stated that the FBI had found nothing from the 44,000 documents they had gathered over him since the 1960s (a fact revealed by the Freedom of Information Act), so “…at some point, they had to make something happen to justify all the investigations and all the money they’ve spent.” He did not discuss the shootings on March 16, 2000, but emphasized that it was his embracing of Islam that led to his arrest. He criticized the gagging order, stating “I can’t even say I’m innocent. Do you know of any other defendant who is not allowed to say he is innocent?”

 

As a result of the telephone interview, Imam Jamil was found in contempt of court. Judge Manis stated that the timing of the comments would prejudice potential jurors. For a period of about 4 weeks, Imam Jamil was not allowed to make telephone calls from the jail, send any letters, or receive visitors other than his lawyers until jury selection was completed. He was held in solitary confinement in the Fulton County jail and denied the one-hour break outside which is designated to all detainees, in fear of his violating the gag order.

 

Later in January 2002, the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, summoned a jury pool of approximately 1500 residents of the county to be considered to serve as jurors in the case against Imam Jamil. Charged with 13 counts, including the murder of one Fulton County sheriff’s deputy and the wounding of another deputy on the evening of March 16, 2000, Imam Jamil retained a team of four attorneys—Atlanta attorneys Jack Martin, Tony Axam, and Bruce Harvey, and New York attorney Michael Warren—to present his defense.

 

The jury of nine African-Americans, two Caucasians, and one Hispanic took less than 10 hours to reach its verdict in the three-week trial. The sentencing phase began on March 11, 2002, with relatives of the deputies reading victim impact statements. For three days, Imam Jamil’s defense called 20 character witnesses, including former Mayor and Ambassador Andrew Young, and Imam William Abdur-Rahim, the presiding head of the local Council of Imams, and father of then Atlanta Hawks star Shareef Abdur-Rahim. On March 14, 2002, the same jury that found Imam Jamil guilty of all 13 counts of the indictment pronounced the sentence of life without the possibility of parole on the murder and felony murder counts. In addition, the presiding judge imposed an additional 30 years to the sentence as punishment on the remaining 11 counts. The jury declined to pronounce the death penalty.

Trial Facts

• Prosecution almost systematically eliminated older African-American women who could have been expected to have some knowledge of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program, which targeted African-American leaders.

• Deputies stated that one or even both deputies had shot the assailant. The Imam, when found, had no injuries of any kind.

• The surviving deputy was emphatic when describing the assailant as having gray eyes—the Imam’s eyes are brown.  

• The crime scene contained blood on the street and in a neighboring abandoned house, however the blood was discounted.

• The deputies offered conflicting accounts of the description of the assailant and clothing worn—the descriptions did not match the Imam.

• Testimony of 911 tapes confirming reports of a wounded person in the area of the Imam’s store on the night of the shooting was not admitted into evidence.

• The Imam’s fingerprints were not found on any firearm associated with the crime.

• Pieces of evidence relating to the sheriff’s vehicle were either lost or destroyed prior to court proceedings.

• FBI agent Ron Campbell admitted at trial, and nearly two years after the incident, that he kicked and spat on the Imam as he was handcuffed on the ground in White Hall, Alabama. Moreover, three U.S. Marshals and Ron Campbell claimed the individual who ran into the woods in White Hall, Alabama, shot at them, although local residents testified for the defense that the Marshals were the individuals who fired shots in the woods.

• Evidence that an individual, Otis Jackson, confessed to be the shooter on the evening of March 16, 2000, was never introduced at trial by the prosecution or defense. He was not even allowed to meet the defense team. Within days of his confession, it was announced that Otis Jackson had recanted it. His recantation was immediately accepted and further investigations were not made despite his detailed knowledge of the events on the night of March 16, 2000. New evidence (below) shows that in actuality, Otis Jackson has continued to maintain that he was the assailant. 

There is consensus that Imam Jamil was convicted well before the jury announced its verdict. Contradictions highlighted during the trial and comments made by the prosecution smacked at First Amendment rights. Moreover, Imam Jamil’s history as a civil/human rights leader at the time of the trial spanned nearly 35 years of government surveillance and harassment.

 

An Update

The Georgia Supreme Court agreed that the prosecution committed a grave constitutional error in its closing argument when the assistant district attorney directed jurors to consider posed questions pertaining to the failure of Imam Jamil to present testimony or evidence. Nevertheless, the Georgia Supreme Court would not reverse the conviction.

 

On November 14, 2005, counsel for Imam Jamil filed a Habeas Corpus (Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin v. Hugh Smith) in the Superior Court of Tattnall County, State of Georgia. The habeas corpus cites 14 grounds for reversal of Imam Jamil’s conviction and sentence of life without parole.

 

Grounds presented included ineffective assistance of counsel based on the failure of trial counsel to do the following:

• investigate the confession of Otis Jackson;

• request a change of venue due to negative publicity;

• permit Imam Jamil to testify in his own defense;

• challenge the issue of the prosecution striking all persons from the jury who indicated an affiliation to Muslims.

Other grounds included error on the part of the judge by denying Imam Jamil the following:

• the right to counsel of his choice by eliminating all but one of four trial lawyers from participating in voir dire of the jury;

• the opportunity to present favorable evidence, including two 911 tapes, which directly contradicted the State’s position; the right to introduce evidence relating to his work to improve the West End community;

• the presentation of favorable testimony;

• the opportunity to confront an FBI agent in the case with prior misconduct against a Muslim, his misleading and false testimony, and questionable activity in the case, including tampering of evidence.

Counsel also raised errors committed by the State, including:

• failure to provide discovery to the defense;

• inappropriate statements regarding the failure of Imam Jamil to testify and his courtroom conduct by not standing for the jury as members entered the courtroom. 

The habeas also challenges the government-sponsored oath taken by the grand and petit jurors and witnesses which resulted in a conflict between religious practices and state function in violation of the Establishment Clause and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Counsel also addressed the issue of violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments based on jury selection procedures.

 

Latest Developments

After seven years of solitary confinement at the State Prison in Reidsville, Georgia, the Imam is still in high spirits and hopeful of his release. His comment that “They ain’t make me … so they can’t break me” has inspired scores of supporters.

However, he is not being treated in accordance with international human rights standards. Although his record does not indicate institutional behavioral problems, the Georgia Department of Corrections continues to isolate Imam Jamil. In a list of grievance that Imam Jamil has filed against the State Prison over conditions and policies that violate his human rights, he has included:

• Denial of basic human rights: Confined to a cell at least 23 hours out of each 24-hour period and denied human contact except for delivery of mail and meals, a level of incarceration defined as administrative segregation. When allowed out of the cell, he is kept in a cage which is covered with a fence.
  
  
• Denial of due process: Although housed in administrative segregation since his arrival, the official reason given for his A.S. status is violation of a dress code for an inspection that took place eighteen months after confinement.

• Denial of religious rights: No communal observance of any Islamic practices; denied the right to attend the Jumu’ah prayer service and serve as imam to the prisoner and employee population at the prison.

• Denial of legal rights: Imam Jamil’s legal mail is still being interfered with despite a court order.

The prison is also trying to bring into effect a media blackout on Imam Jamil. All recent interviews with known writers, newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV channels, Internet services, or any other known forms of public communication have been blocked.

 

However, on a positive note, new evidence which has been revealed through sources close to Imam Jamil offers great hope and encouragement for his case. It has been discovered that Otis Jackson, who had previously confessed to the crime of shooting the two Fulton County Sheriffs but then had recanted, has now disclosed in a letter that ‘he never recanted his confession, rather it was recanted for him.’ His letter states:

 

“Unfortunately the law enforcement officials wanted him [Imam Jamil] and so they were willing to let me walk on the death of one of their own… I looked into the eyes of English so he must remember me but he was never [shown] my picture and I never recanted anything, they recanted for me. I pray to Allah (SWT) that this murder is taken off of the Imam and put on the right person, [i.e.] me… The man has sat in prison for six years for something that I did [and] I don’t feel good about that.”  

 

Hence not only has Jackson admitted to the crime but he is willing to accept the punishment as well. This recent discovery clearly proves Imam Jamil’s innocence and it also reveals the injustice of the U.S. judicial system which is adamant upon detaining an innocent man and willing to let the offender go free.

 

In light of this new evidence, Imam Jamil’s habeas corpus hearing, which was held on February 27, 2007, concluded on a positive note and his case still remains open. If he is granted a new trial, at least $200,000 will be needed to assure minimal legal representation. If he is denied the trial then his case will have to be pursued at the federal level. 

On July 31, 2007, the State of Georgia moved Imam Jamil from the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville to the maximum-security, underground federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, known as “Florence ADMAX”, despite his not having any federal charges. No specific reason was given other than “security concerns.” He was placed in a unit where prisoners have absolutely minimal human contact. “[This] is not just about isolation, it is about breaking people down emotionally, physically, morally, and psychologically,” says Karima Al-Amin, Imam Jamil’s wife. The lengthy distance of the facility from family, friends, and attorneys has made it very difficult for them to have regular visits. 

 

For the latest details in Imam Jamil’s case, visit the “Free Imam Jamil” MySpace page. Be sure to visit the sites listed in the “How to Support” page to get more background information concerning his case.