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*In advance of his involvement in last weekend’s “Black August” benefit concert in New York, Mos Def made his feelings known regarding the criminal justice system in America.
Organized by The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, "Black August" is designed to promote awareness about the cases of people that the organization believes has been unfairly convicted.
"We all know the history of insufficient evidence or testimony under duress — at the very least, legal circumstances that demand some sort of reinvestigation, a new consideration for facts, and just the truth — basically saying these people are not the criminals they're being made out to be," he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.
"(It's) the climate that we live in, people's rights and liberties being taken advantage of — the whole situation with Jose Padilla," he said. "Basically the state being able to just charge any individual with anything and prosecute them on the basis of that."
Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was found guilty of supporting terrorism. Last week he was convicted along with two defendants of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas. The three were accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of Islamic extremists. The defense contended they were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid.
The flyer for Black August features former Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, who escaped prison in 1979 after being convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper. She currently lives in Cuba as a fugitive.
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