World-renowned political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is 72 years old, suffering multiple health problems, and may die in prison, say legal advocates in a new request they filed today that asks the United Nations to support his release. Abu-Jamal’s legal team decided to appeal to the UN after having exhausted nearly every legal avenue for relief available in the United States. “He is old and he is sick,” Samah Sisay, an international human rights lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told Truthout. Left to right: Noel Hanrahan, Robert Saleem Holbrook, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Bret Grote, andLumumba Bandele stand together during a visit at SCI Mahanoy on March 20, 2026. The UN has a chance to recognize how Abu-Jamal’s “continuing incarceration is in violation of international human rights norms.”