by Askia Muhammad
White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON�Despite a thickening web of contradictions and inconsistencies in publicly stated police accounts and in the evidence collected against him, law enforcement authorities continued to hold Imam Jamil A. Al-Amin (at Final Call press time) in the Montgomery, Ala., County Jail pending his extradition to Atlanta, Ga.

In Georgia, Imam Al-Amin (known as H. Rap Brown, when he was leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee [SNCC] and a prominent official in the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 1970s) faces charges of murdering Fulton County Sheriff�s Deputy Richard Kinchen and wounding Deputy Aldranon English in a bloody shootout March 16.

"We are outraged at the level of misinformation and lack of informed analysis of the information that has been presented in this case by both law enforcement and the media," Lukata Mjumbe, one of the organizers of "The Committee for Truth and Justice" told reporters at a rally in Malcolm X Park near Imam Al-Amin�s Community Mosque and grocery store in Atlanta�s West End district March 25. "We want a real investigation, not a political witch hunt, not a political red light trial."

Since Imam Al-Amin�s arrest in Lowndes County, Ala., March 20, each potentially incriminating piece of evidence has been widely and sensationally reported, while contradictions concerning the facts and the originally reported police accounts of the shooting have not been publicly discussed, Mr. Al-Amin�s supporters complain. In his only public comment since the incident Imam Al-Amin told reporters, "It�s a government conspiracy," after his brief appearance in Federal Court March 21.

He is a "political prisoner," prominent civil rights attorney J.L. Chestnut said following the court appearance. "Sure he is. He has been fighting the system since he was 16-years-old, and the system has been trying to kill him."

Georgia Gov. Roy E. Barnes (D) has stated that his office will not formally seek the extradition of the Muslim leader until an indictment is returned against him. A Fulton County Grand Jury met March 24, but District Attorney Paul Howard did not present any evidence in the case, leading some Atlanta observers who asked not to be identified to speculate that "the county is having difficulty getting its story straight."

The most glaring contradiction concerns blood splatters found near where the two deputies engaged in the gun fight. Investigators originally reported that Mr. Al-Amin had been wounded when the two officers returned fire. Deputy English, who identified the Imam from photographs between bouts of surgery to treat his wounds, which were serious, told authorities he thought he had shot his assailant in the stomach.

In their initial reports authorities claimed to follow a trail of blood from that shooting site to a shack, where they thought their suspect was hiding. Imam Al-Amin had no injuries when he was captured in White Hall, Ala., police said.

As for the blood found outside the house in Atlanta, police spokesman John Quigley told reporters: "The abandoned house is about a block or more from the actual scene of the shooting. There is no trail of blood that leads from the shooting scene to the house. The blood starts at the house. It was checked because it was not dry. Since a shooting had just occurred a short distance away, it is the investigators� job to check the blood." A sample of the blood was sent to be examined by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The shooting investigation is also fraught with unanswered questions and conflicting accounts. Atlanta police say they believe Mr. Al-Amin was alone when the deputies who were out to arrest him on relatively minor charges were shot.

Deputy English has said no one else was standing outside the Muslim grocery store and no one was inside the black Mercedes-Benz the suspect was said to be driving the night of the shootings. That car, which is registered to Mr. Al-Amin, has not been located.

Other witnesses, however, have given unconfirmed reports to community sources that at least three people were standing near the site of the shooting when police arrived. That one, the shooter�who crawled away, bleeding�was injured in the exchange of gunfire, and that another person drove away in a black car.

There has also been a delay in reporting the outcome of ballistics tests on a gun that was found in a wooded area near where Mr. Al-Amin was captured.

Police claim they found a .223 caliber Ruger rifle and a .9 mm pistol shortly after his arrest. The weapon used in the assault was reportedly a .223 caliber, and .9 mm shell casings were also found near the shooting scene, according to police accounts.

Another troubling development in the case surrounds reports that at least seven "bounty hunters" had devised an elaborate plan to capture Imam Al-Amin as he led Friday prayers (Salat-ul Jumah) at a homeless shelter March 17, but the tragedy, the night before, pre-empted their scheme.

Bounty hunter Buck Buchanan would have collected $3,000 from the AAA Bonding Co. for capturing Mr. Al-Amin, according to the Atlanta Journal & Constitution. The bonding company would lose the $12,000 in bail it posted when Mr. Al-Amin failed to appear in court in January to face charges of impersonating a police officer, and receiving stolen property. Officers Kinchen and English were said to be seeking to arrest Mr. Al-Amin on those charges March 16.

Mr. Al-Amin disputed the charges, claiming that when he was stopped by Cobb County, Ga., police in May 1999, it was during his effort to produce a bill of sale for the Ford Explorer he was driving which police said was stolen, that they saw a badge he was carrying in his wallet.

White Hall, Ala., Mayor John Jackson had made him an auxiliary officer and given him the police badge in the city where he was a civil rights organizer in the 1960s, and where he continues to organize youth athletic activities and assist authorities during parades and other civic events.

Wanting to avoid a trial and its attendant publicity, Mr. Al-Amin offered to plead guilty to reduced charges and a sentence of a fine and community service. The prosecutor, however, insisted on first two years, and eventually at least six months in prison, according to a fact sheet on the case prepared March 20 by Georgia State University Law School Prof. Natsu Taylor Saito.

Associates of Mr. Al-Amin, both from his days as the SNCC leadership and from the last 25-years of his life as a Muslim leader in Atlanta, are steadfast in their support of his record as a peaceful, responsible leader, anti-drug crusader and role model.

"If it wasn�t for Imam Jamil I would have been in the penitentiary or a death chamber," Atif Abdu Samad, a Muslim resident in the area, told The Final Call. "Imam Al-Amin cleaned up the West End  without their (police) help. This is an example of what Islam in its truest form can do and they didn�t do it with bombs and guns and bullets, they did it with prayer," Mr. Samad continued.

Muslim organizations in Atlanta and around the country are cautioning against a trial-by-media in this case. "The first thing we wish to say is that there are many things that we simply do not know," said Atlanta Truth and Justice Committee organizer Lukata Mjumbe.

"We most certainly cannot make a rush to judgment in this case. There are too many blatant contradictions that there is definitely cause (for)reasonable doubt. He is innocent until proven guilty." Atlanta�s Council of Imams agreed.

"We are not here today to judge the guilt or innocence of any party to this tragic series of events," they said in a joint statement following Imam Al-Amin�s capture. "Just as we do not prejudge, we ask that others wait until all the facts are known. In America, as in Islam, anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty."

The role of the Muslim community, they suggested would be to: "Remind everyone of Imam Al-Amin�s longstanding role as a community leader who had a positive impact on the lives of so many people."

The Imams also pledged to ensure that he receives proper legal representation; promised to see that his trial is monitored by observers "who will insist that any legal proceedings be fair and impartial."

Finally, they said: "we make note of a past incident in which Imam Jamil was apparently falsely accused of a similar, though far less serious crime. At that time, the alleged victim recanted and claimed that he was pressured by the authorities to name Imam Jamil as the perpetrator."

(Donna Muhammad contributed to this article from Atlanta.)