Any black man would do.

Blacks who kill whites are 11 times more likely to be executed than whites who kill blacks.

On 19 August 1989 a 27 year old white police officer, Mark MacPhail, was brutally shot outside a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia. He had been hit twice, one bullet in the face and one to his lung. He had been running to the side of Larry Young, a homeless man who was being badly beaten.

Troy Davis is the man who has been convicted of the murder of Mark MacPhail, even though a murder weapon or any physical evidence linking him to the crime has ever been found. Seven of the nine witnesses against him have now recanted or changed their initial testimonies in sworn affidavits,  many citing police coercion. One of the only remaining witnesses testifying against Troy is Sylvester Coles, the principle alternative suspect, in which there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. The other is Steven Saunders who said he had seen a “black male wearing a white hat and white shirt, black shorts” he also said “he wouldn’t recognise them again except for their clothes”. Daniel Kinsman, a colleague of Steven Saunders who was with him at the time, states he cannot recall what the gunman was wearing but he remains convinced he was firing the gun with his left hand. Troy Davis is right handed.

Watch the CNN news item: Death row mistake?

As Justice David Scouter said in a different 2006 ruling:
“Most of the wrongful convictions and sentences resulted from eyewitness misidentification, false confession, and (most frequently) perjury, and the total shows that among all prosecutions homicide cases suffer an unusually high incidence of false conviction, probably owing to the combined difficulty of investigating without help from the victim, intense pressure to get convictions in homicide cases, and the corresponding incentive for the guilty to frame the innocent.”

There is a significant amount of detail behind Troy’s case of innocence, yet he has been on death row for nearly 18 years, and has faced execution three times in the last two years.

I attended a talk last Wednesday hosted by Amnesty International at their Human Rights Action Centre (HRAC) in Old Street, London, where Troy Davis’s sister Martina Davis-Correia and his nephew De’Jaun Davis-Correia, as well as Richard Hughes (drummer from Keane and long-term supporter of Troy Davis), spoke about his case and innocence, alongside Kim Manning-Cooper, Amnesty UK's Death Penalty Campaign Manager. Listening to all of these people speak so passionately about Troy’s innocence, especially his strong and relentless sister Martina, would make any individual want to speak out. His family have visited Troy every weekend for the first fifteen years he spent on death row, travelling 3 hours each way. They have kept up their fight for his innocence, and always continued to raise awareness and seek the truth.

As his sister rightly said at the talk, as long as her brother is on death row:
“My name is Martina and I am on Death Row, because I am the voice of my brother.”

The police knew that a black man had shot Mark MacPhail, but in their desperation to convict someone for this horrendous crime, as Kim Manning-Cooper said, “any black man would do”. Martina has correctly spoken out that she is “beginning to think this is more about racism than the truth, more about the State of Georgia’s defiance than justice.”

Due to the exceptional circumstances of Troy’s case the US Supreme Court has finally ordered an evidentiary hearing into Troy Davis’s claim of innocence. US federal judge, Rosemary Barkett, has asserted: “To execute Davis, in the face of significant amount of proferred evidence that may establish his actual innocence, is unconscionable and unconstitutional."

Now this hearing is due to happen, we must make sure that the eyes of the world are watching, and we must collectively ensure on a global scale that we speak out and raise awareness about his case. If not, another man’s death will be added to this tragedy.

To find out more about Troy’s case and read about all the activity Amnesty International has been doing visit http://www.amnesty.org.uk/troy

Sign the online petition to tell the Georgia authorities that you support full justice for Troy.

Visit the Troy Davis website at http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/

'Amnesty International opposes the death penalty because it is a violation of two fundamental human rights, as laid down in Articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• the right to life, and
• the right not to be tortured or subject to any cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments.'