Embraced by groups opposing the death penalty and those who feel he is being held as a political prisoner because of his views, Abu-Jamal has been thrust onto the martyr s stage nearly twenty years after the murder as Philadelphia s Hurricane Carter. At the conference, death row spiritual advisor Steve Wiser told how Abu-Jamal is kept locked away in a tiny cell to the point that he doesn t know what is going on. He s in total isolation on death row. On Sunday Night, Wiser proclaimed, we rather clandestinely made a tape of his statement for you folk. While the tape played, a mechanical monotone female voice interrupted Abu-Jamal to inform the receiver that this call is coming from a correctional facility.
Critics find it curious that a person in total isolation still has access to telephone service.
When questioned by a woman claiming to have an implanted government microchip, he said that he was shocked, in fact, that you have the type of implant that you can break away enough to do what you re doing. Gregory continued by claiming that Abu-Jamal had a .38 and the cop was killed with a .44. Flynn also notes that Abu-Jamal s own ballistic analyst undermined the defense s case by admitting on the stand in 1995 that the bullet which killed Officer Faulkner was not .44 caliber. Since Abu-Jamal s appeals are almost exhausted, and a date with the executioner looms near, groups in search of a cause have taken up his case. Supporters took this matter to President Clinton in an attempt to get him to direct Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate Abu-Jamal s case.