Civil rights activists, actors and others call for release of former Black Panther
Seventy-five public figures sign letter to New York governor asking for release of Jalil Muntaqim after 48 years in prison
Leading civil rights activists, academics, actors and writers are calling on Andrew Cuomo to release Jalil Muntaqim, a former Black Panther who has been in prison for 48 years for one of the most high-profile killings of the 1970s black liberation struggle.
Seventy-five prominent public figures have signed a letter to the governor of New York state, headlined: “48 years is enough”. The letter asks Cuomo to commute Muntaqim’s sentence to time served. They include the writer and activist Angela Davis, who was herself put on trial for a 1970 courtroom kidnapping but later acquitted.