Fellow activists and supporters of imprisoned Imam Jamil Al-Amin (fka H. Rap Brown) mobilized en masse before the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta Monday, March 19.

They demanded that the political prisoner of war be brought back to the local jurisdiction of his questionable March 9, 2002, conviction for allegedly killing a Fulton County deputy and wounding his partner two years prior, on March 16, 2000.

Also presented at the rally was the possibility of a new trial, as supporters claim that Al-Amin was taken off Atlanta’s streets due to his vigorous efforts to rid his community of illicit drug activity and help unite the youth there.

Mauri’ Saalakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation said in a statement, “Our voices will demonstrate that we across the country demand that Georgia end its excessive punishment of the imam.”

Although the former chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced in Georgia, on Aug. 2, 2007, he was secretly transported from Reidsville’s Georgia State Prison to the Federal Bureau of Prisons transfer center in Oklahoma City.

Then, on Oct. 21, 2007, Al-Amin was shipped off to ADX Florence, the underground super-max prison in the Colorado Rockies that contains approximately 500 of America’s most vicious convicts. There, he is about 1,200 miles away from his family and legal council and endures inhumane conditions like 23-hour solitary confinement with no human contact.

Advocates for the Black Panther Party’s ex-minister of justice contend that he was placed in the federal penitentiary system due to his immense respect, leadership and influence on the general population and Muslim community behind bars in his home state, while prison personnel claim it’s because of his high-profile status.

His many supporters say he is being punished for being a revolutionary freedom fighter who loyally campaigned for the civil and human rights of his people, as well as for his brash assessment of this country’s oppressive conditions. “I say violence is necessary…Violence is as American as cherry pie,” he once declared.

For more information, visit www.freeimamjamil.com or www.peacethrujustice.org or contact Heather Gray at (404) 234-4630 or heather@wrfg.org.