Mumia Abu-Jamal, a 72-year-old writer and prisoner, has lodged a petition with the United Nations' working group on arbitrary detention in Geneva. This action, taken on Tuesday, 28 July 2026, marks his latest attempt to seek relief after exhausting all domestic legal channels.
Abu-Jamal, who is approaching the 45th anniversary of his incarceration in December, claims he has been subjected to arbitrary imprisonment for a crime he did not commit. He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at Mahanoy correctional institution in Pennsylvania.
His legal team, including Bret Grote of the Abolitionist Law Center, the ACLU, and the Center for Constitutional Rights, argues that there were multiple injustices during his 1982 trial and subsequent appeals. The petition claims the prosecutor excluded almost all Black jurors and that the trial judge, Albert Sabo, was overheard making a prejudicial comment.
The petition also asks the UN rapporteur to consider new evidence disclosed in 2018, which raises doubts about the credibility of the state's main eyewitness. Additionally, it argues that Abu-Jamal's current sentence of life without parole is a form of arbitrary detention that breaches international rules.
While the UN working group has no direct enforcement powers in the US, Abu-Jamal's legal team hopes a strong condemnation from the body could support calls for a retrial or a commutation of his sentence.