In a few days, Imam Jamil Al-Amin will step into a Georgia courtroom to face charges that he shot and killed a Black sheriff�s deputy nearly two years ago.

His case could generate a lot of attention given America�s search for terrorism behind every Muslim name, the imam�s past militancy when he was known as H. Rap Brown during the 1960s Black Power movement, and his strong stand against U.S. foreign and domestic policy that oppresses and exploits the poor and the weak.

But he deserves to be judged on the evidence in the case and not media hype, his faith, his race, his politics, nor his history as an outspoken critic of what he sees as wrong.

Not only has it been nearly two years since Deputy Sheriff Ricky Kinchen was shot and killed and his partner Aldranon English wounded, it has been just a few months since two planes flew into the World Trade Center and one struck the Pentagon, killing thousands and heightening suspicion and misportrayals of Islam as a religion of fanatics eager to kill themselves and to take the infidels with them.

The climate is ripe for punishing anyone who would dare speak contrary to popular pro-war views and there is a readiness to scapegoat those who question what America is doing and why.

There are glaring questions in the Al-Amin case, from him not matching the first description of the shooter to initial reports that the shooter was injured, and the fact that the imam was uninjured when arrested. Evidence has disappeared, including blood evidence that might have exonerated the imam. It has also been revealed that informants were sent into the imam�s mosque for several years, reportedly to uncover crimes, but no criminal activity was ever found.

There are also charges that the imam has been kept away from other prisoners during his incarceration and now it appears he will be tried by a secret jury. That means jurors will be identified by numbers and won�t be seen in the courtroom.

With the current climate, it wouldn�t be too far a leap to worry that jurors� points of view could be colored by being told the secrecy is necessary for their safety. The Al-Amin trial needs to be closely monitored and scrutinized. Anything less may allow for another case of using a Black man to satisfy a lust for blood�even if the man is innocent.