Court Orders Life-Saving Treatment For Mumia Abu Jamal

By Staff, www.http://www.prisonradio.org/

January 4, 2017
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Above Photo: Mumia Abu-Jamal is serving life for the murder of a police officer. | Photo: Reuters

Late yesterday, Federal Judge Robert Mariani ordered the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to immediately give Mumia Abu-Jamal the life-saving latest direct-acting antiviral medications that have a 95% cure rate!

After a year and a half of constant legal battling, near death hospitalization, and agonizing chronic sickness, Bret Grote of the Abolitionist Law Center and attorney Robert Boyle, and thousands of activists, on behalf of Mumia, have prevailed. It took two lawsuits hundreds of hours of motions and your calls, letters and demands.

Winning a preliminary injunction is a tall order and requires proving there will be irreversible harm in delaying the order. This is a tremendous victory. It will pave the way for all incarcerated people who seek hepatitis C treatment.

“This is the first case in the country in which a federal court has ordered prison officials to provide an incarcerated patient with the new medications that came on the market in 2013” –Bret Grote Esq., Abolitionist Law Center

This victory is yours. I want to take a moment to let this sink in: nearly two years ago when Mumia fell into diabetic shock and was near death, you fought with us through the many phone calls, action alerts, fundraising campaigns, and the continuous struggle to keep Mumia alive, stabilize his health, and get him treatment. When Judge Mariani denied our preliminary injunction in August on a technicality, you stuck with us again to raise funds, re-file, and persist onwards. In 2015 and 2016, we raised over $130,000 for Mumia’s Medical and Legal Defense because of your support.

Now we need to turn up the pressure more than ever. We expect that the DOC will quickly appeal Mariani’s ruling in the coming days.

As Robert Boyle, Esq. said, “The struggle is far from over: the DOC will no doubt appeal this ruling. But a victory! Thanks Pam Africa and all the Mumia supporters and all of you.”

“Everyone has to get on board to keep the pressure on. We have an opportunity here that we have never had before. We are going to do it as a unified community, everyone together.” – Pam Africa

Let me be honest. We fundraise like we breathe. We have to. We are going to win– with your key help. We’ve got until midnight tomorrow to raise just $2,021! We’re 97% there. Please pitch in today to help us reach $60K!

Tomorrow your phone will ring with a special message from Mumia. In it, he says, “This is indeed a serious time for me, and for us all. It is not easy to take on the state and prevail; however, it is right to do so. With your help, we may be able to prevail. This is Mumia Abu-Jamal, thanking you for supporting Prison Radio.”

Friend, the clock’s running out- but it’s not too late to chip in and help us reach our goal! You can open the airwaves for prisoners to speak out in this urgent time of massive incarceration.

Will you pitch in with a gift of $103, $35 or even $250 to bring us to our goal by midnight and amplify the voices of prisoners?

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At 12:00 PM, Governor Cuomo will make an announcement in New York City.