Uhuru 3 appeal filed, to set case law protecting free speech Campaign launched to repeal FARA and conspiracy laws
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**On June 16, 2025, attorneys representing the Uhuru 3—Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, and Jesse Nevel—filed an appeal brief in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn their 2024 conviction on a bogus conspiracy charge.
If the Uhuru 3’s false conspiracy conviction is overturned, precedent-setting case law will be established to constrain the government’s ability to criminalize speech merely by alleging a relationship between the accused and a foreign government, NGO, private entity or individual.
Such precedent will have a major impact on scores of free speech cases currently underway across the U.S.
Concurrently, the “Hands Off Uhuru! Fightback Coalition” has announced a campaign to repeal FARA conspiracy laws that and fight for anti-colonial free speech and expose the history of the U.S. “foreign agents” laws as political weapons used to attack anti-colonial speech!
The Uhuru 3’s appeal follows a successful 3-year popular campaign to ensure that the DOJ’s primary target, 83-year-old African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela, along with two white Uhuru Solidarity leaders, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, were not sent to prison for exercising their free speech rights.
The U.S. government has spent tens of millions of dollars, employed over 30 FBI agents and conducted violent raids on seven homes and offices in 2 American cities to deny the public access to the African Internationalist perspective on our changing world. The DOJ sought to lock up the Uhuru 3 for 15 years and fine them $250,000 each. They failed.
** On December 16, 2024, Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel were sentenced to 3 years probation and 300 hours community service in their conviction of the bogus charge that they conspired to be unregistered agents of Russia.Â
The U.S. government has spent tens of millions of dollars, employed over 30 FBI agents and conducted violent raids on seven homes and offices in 2 American cities to deny the public access to the African Internationalist perspective on our changing world. The DOJ sought to lock up the Uhuru 3 for 15 years and fine them $250,000 each. They failed.
On September 12th, 2024 a federal jury in Tampa, Florida had returned a verdict in the anti-colonial free speech trial of the century.
The 12 person jury concluded a not guilty verdict on the foundational charge, “working as an unregistered agent of the Russian Government”. The jury contained no black jurors, but to their credit, they saw clearly that African people have agency and sovereignty over their actions. The government presented 14 witnesses, 12 of them FBI agents, while the defense needed to present no witnesses to show that the government’s accusation of being Russian agents was fabricated.
The jury returned a contradictory guilty verdict on the lesser charge, “conspiring to work as an unregistered agent of the Russian government.” This charge carries a maximum sentence of five years and $250,000 each.
The not guilty verdict on the primary charge was a devastating blow to the prosecution whose main objective was to convict on the Russian agent charge. With their lack of evidence and exposed lies, they were unable to convince the jury that Russia was behind the 60 year legacy of anti-colonial struggle led by Chairman Omali Yeshitela.
The lawyers are preparing to appeal to ensure all of the baseless accusations are defeated and no prison time is served. Sentencing on the conspiracy conviction is set for December 16. This is a precedent-setting case where the government seeks to end First Amendment protections for everyone by criminalizing dissenting speech and opinion.
The trial took place 2 years after a militarized multi-city FBI raid used flash bang devices, drones, armored vehicles, automatic weapons and scores of flak-jacketed soldiers to seize computers, hard drives, phones and files from seven homes and offices of Uhuru Movement leaders.
The facts are:
50+ years on a consistent trajectory
The African People’s Socialist Party was founded in 1972 and has, for over 50 years, maintained a consistent world view and carried out a consistent program of organizing for the liberation of African people worldwide. It is guided by the political theory of African Internationalism, developed by Chairman Omali Yeshitela and published in numerous books as well as on the pages of The Burning Spear newspaper, issues of which can be viewed in the digital newspapers collection of the University of Florida. Chairman Omali’s groundbreaking work on the colonial mode of production as the foundation of the world capitalism system has influenced policy-makers, academics and activists.
We claim our right to organize internationally
Chairman Omali Yeshitela has traveled to over 19 countries organizing for African liberation and winning support for the African liberation struggle. He has spoken at the United Nations and represented the African Nation at gatherings in Nicaragua; Big Mountain AZ (Navajo aka Dine); South Africa; Namibia; Sierra Leone; Ghana; Kenya; England; Ireland; France; Spain; Germany; Sweden; Netherlands; Jamaica; Bahamas; Canada; Suriname; and Russia. In 2019, Chairman Omali won the “Africa Debate” at the Oxford Union in England.
We charge genocide
From its earliest days, the APSP publicized the fact that African people face genocide at the hands of the U.S. government and brought this charge before the world community and the United Nations. The APSP held the first “International Tribunal on Reparations for Black People in the U.S.” in Brooklyn, New York in 1982. The Tribunal heard testimony to show how the U.S. violates the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. For 40+ years, the APSP introduced the reparations demand into Black community struggles against police violence, unjust imprisonment, and the denial of decent housing, education, healthcare and economic development, making “reparations” the household word it is today. As part of the current U.S. government attempt to cover its own crimes against African people, an Uhuru Movement petition titled, “We Charge Genocide” with over 130,000 signatures was abruptly removed by Change.org.
