Muslim Leader Fights Extradition

MONTGOMERY, Ala., March 23 (AP)--Attorneys for Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin refused to waive his extradition to Georgia in the slaying of a deputy, and told a state judge Thursday the 1960s black militant known as H. Rap Brown is being treated unfairly by jailers.

Lawyer J.L. Chestnut told the court ``hysteria and paranoia'' have surrounded Al-Amin's arrest and confinement. He is being locked up 23 hours a day and allowed only an hour to make phone calls, Chestnut said.

``Is it because he's black? Or is it something he said 30 years ago?'' Chestnut asked after the hearing.

Al-Amin, 56, was a prominent black militant who split from the nonviolent civil rights crusade in the 1960s. He served a five-year sentence for an armed robbery in New York, but associates have said his conversion to the Muslim faith changed his focus.

``His attitude, from the moment of his arrest, can only be described as passive,'' Chestnut told Montgomery County District Judge Lynn Bright.

Al-Amin is charged in Georgia with murder and aggravated assault in the March 16 shooting that killed Fulton County Deputy Ricky Kinchen and wounded Deputy Aldranon English.

The deputies were shot while trying to serve Al-Amin with a warrant at his Atlanta grocery store, officials have said. Al-Amin was captured four days later at a rural Alabama site west of Montgomery.

The judge said Al-Amin was being held without bond and advised him of his rights, including the right to waive extradition. But Chestnut told the court Al-Amin would fight any attempt by Georgia to bring him back.

An extradition request from Georgia is not expected unless a grand jury returns an indictment, officials have said. The next grand jury convenes Friday.

Dressed in a black-and-white striped inmate's uniform, Al-Amin nodded when Bright asked him if he understood the charges against him.

Another defense lawyer, Rose Sanders, said she would like a probable cause hearing ``as quickly as possible'' so authorities can present their case against Al-Amin. A hearing has not been scheduled.

In an interview Thursday, Chestnut said he believes Al-Amin's claim that he is the victim of a government conspiracy, but the defense lawyer did not raise the claim during the brief court proceeding. There has been no elaboration from the defense on the conspiracy claim.

At the hearing, several members of a group called the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement distributed flyers supporting Al-Amin.

''(Al-Amin) has never stopped fighting for our people's rights,'' it read. ``That's why the government's been trying to frame him for 30 years. Don't let them win now.''

Meanwhile, some Muslim residents of the Lowndes County town of White Hall, where Al-Amin was captured Monday, complained about their treatment at the hands of authorities during the search.

Clarence Rasheed was one of four people detained after a black Cadillac was stopped by authorities during the hunt for Al-Amin. He said they had not seen Al-Amin for weeks, but the FBI said an investigation was continuing into who may have aided the fugitive during his flight.

At the court hearing in Montgomery, Sanders asked Bright if Al-Amin could attend Muslim services Friday, which are usually held in the jail.

Bright told the attorneys to take up his jail treatment with Sheriff D.T. Marshall or file a court petition.