After 32 Years Why is Jalil Muntaqim Still In Prison?!

After 32 Years

Why is Jalil Muntaqim Still In Prison?!

By Bro. Zayid Muhammad

In 1975, Jalil Muntaqim, (pronounced ‘moon-tah-keem’) formerly known as Anthony Bottom, Herman Bell and the late Albert ‘Nuh’ Washington, all formerly of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, were convicted for the killing of two New York City police officers in 1971.

As a consequence of the incredible ordeal that they have faced together, they became known as the ‘NY3’.

Since then, an enormous amount of information has surfaced fully exposing how this conviction was thoroughly and criminally orchestrated by that sinister covert operation of the united states government against the Black Liberation Movement, and against the Black Panther Party in particular, known as COINTELPRO.

Since then, considerable evidence has also surfaced pointing to the NY3’s innocence. Pathetically, no court has properly addressed this new evidence.

Since then, most tragically, Albert ‘Nuh’ Washington died of liver cancer in April 2000 while being in his 28^th year in prison for a crime his captors know that he did not commit!

So what has surfaced?

First, the NY3 were casualties of a particular COINTELPRO operation known as OPERATION NEWKILL. This illegal operation led to the manufacture and perjure of evidence and the suppression of evidence that pointed to innocence.

1971 not only saw the two NY police officers killed and the NY3 being charged and later convicted for that; It also was the year that a much better known case came to head. The NY 21 Case where 21 members of the NY chapter of the Black Panther Party were charged with conspiring to blow up Botanical Gardens, a beautiful New York City park. They could have all been given life in prison if convicted. Instead, a jury acquitted the Panthers on all counts and was very critical of the character of prosecution itself.

Angered by the failure to secure the conviction and anxious to especially “neutralize” the Black Liberation Army, the criminally corrupt Nixon white house and J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI initiated a special covert operation aimed at Panthers in the New York area, especially those it had forced underground. Hence, OPERATION NEWKILL was hatched. When Herman and Jalil were captured in ’71 and when Nuh was captured in ’75, NEWKILL went into full gear against them.

What played out?

As a consequence of collusion between the NYPD and the FBI, ballistics evidence, which proved that the weapon Jalil was captured with was not the weapon that killed either of the two officers, was suppressed.

Further, as a consequence of collusion between the NYPD, the New Orleans PD and the FBI, the testimony of a particular witness Ruben Scott, was produced through coercion. Scott had not only been beaten in custody; He even endured electrical shock to his testicles, as well as isolation and death threats. At one isolated moment during the trial, Scott even tried to tell the presiding judge Edward Greenfield of how he had been tortured and how he was being threatened. The judge responded by placing Scott back into police custody! Scott has since recanted all of his previous testimony in support of the NY3’s appeals efforts in the early ‘90’s.

Records will show that the other witnesses against them were later monetarily compensated for fingering these freedom fighters!

All of this information came to light as a consequence of the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) declassification and disclosure of FBI documents in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

In 1993, a federal judge actually granted the NY 3 a hearing on these issues. As one of many who organized community support for our heroes for this critical hearing, we expected that a confrontation of this tainted record before a packed courtroom of supporters would compel a judge to ‘do the right thing’…release Jalil, Herman and Nuh, and grant them a new trial. This is exactly what happened three years earlier for Dhoruba Bin Wahad, who also framed through NEWKILL. Dhoruba did 19 years as a consequence of his conviction. He was released based on the FOIA disclosure of the evidence withheld in his case on March 22, 1990.

We were wrong.

All the judge did was acknowledge that there were some “irregularities” in how the police handled the evidence. He did not vacate the convictions and grant them a new trial.

It has been nine years since that court appearance and 32 years since Jalil has been in prison even after evidence has come to light indicating his innocence.

So the question has to asked. Why is Jalil Muntaqim still in prison? And Herman Bell too, for that matter.

They are still in prison because of the concerted effort within the judicial order of this system to punish them and make examples out of them, just like the master did the rebellious slave on the plantation, even if they are innocent!

They are still in prison because they dared to express their bravery and valor through their proud involvement in the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. For Jalil, this also means him being a pioneering citizen of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika. Not only is Jalil a serious citizen; He is also one of the conceptual architects for the Jericho ’98 March On Washington, the first national march in support of political prisoners inside the united states. He is one of the conceptual architects for New Afrikan Liberation Front, and he is the author of the ‘3 Phase Theory’ to independence, a theoretical framework centrally important to New Afrikan thought and practice.

It is time for the Black Nation to say, ‘enough is enough!’

Jalil is up for parole consideration for the first time in July.

This brave, visionary man has been an exemplary father, grandfather, mentor to perhaps hundreds of young Black men who have gone through the New York state prison system since ’71.

Become a part of the effort to bring him home.

Efforts are being organized to get supporters to write letters to the parole board in support of Jalil.

The guidelines for these letters were outlined in our last issue of Nation Time. Contact Jalil’s lawyer Royce L. Hawkins, Mitigation /Sentencing Project, Center For Community Alternatives, 115 East Jefferson Street, Suite 300, Syracuse, New York 13202, 315-422-5638, ext. 220. Royce must review these letters beforehand to make sure that they meet the parole board’s guidelines.

Consider hosting a teach-in at your organization, business, institution or home, for Jalil. Contact the New Afrikan Liberation Front at 718-949-5153, and we will work with you. And by all means, write Jalil, send him some commissary, and tell him how much you appreciate his enormous sacrifice for our people. He can be contacted at Jalil Muntaqim (aka Anthony Bottom), 77A4283, Auburn Correctional Facility, P.O. Box 618, 135 State Street, Auburn, NY 13024.

Time is of the supreme essence.

‘Bro.Zayid’ is the national minister of culture and eastern regional chief of staff for the New Black Panther Party. He is also an associate editor of Nation Time Newspaper, The Voice Of The New Afrikan Liberation Front….

’Bro. Zayid’ Kazi Angaza Kikongo Muhammad

Last Updated: 01.31.2004