FREE WERC RAHMAN!
AFRICANS HAVE A RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS!
PHILADELPHIA MAYORAL CANDIDATE ILLEGALLY ARRESTED IN WEST VIRGINIA ON GUN CHARGE!
ARREST EXPOSES THE DESPERATION OF THE COLONIAL STATE TO STOP THE 'NO PAYCHECK FOR THE POLICE' REPARATIONS MOVEMENT!
Comrade Werc Rahman shown after his release from jail standing with a supporter
on sunday, august 8, 2026 our comrade and philadelphia mayoral candidate wali 'werc' abdur-rahman was arrested in jackson county, west virginia and charged with the misdemeanor "persons prohibited from possessing a firearm". he was arrested as a result of an illegal search by jackson county sheriff department forces.
werc is a truck driver by occupation and was stopped by the cops on interstate 77while driving his 26 ft box truck carrying freight from daytona Beach, fl to norwalk, oh.
reportedly, the police stopped WERC because the roof of his truck was damaged. during the stop the cops demanded to see his license, insurance, registration as well as the deliverys bill of lading.
however there was no justification to search him. according to the u.s. constitutions fourth amendment, the police cannot search someone during a traffic stop without probable cause or reasonable suspicion that a crime has or is being committed.
driving with a damaged roof is not probable cause for a search.
during the search the cops found a pistol on werc and promptly arrested him before impounding his truck and transporting him to the jackson county jail where he was arraigned and formally informed of his charge and bail amount which was $7500. he was then transported to the south central corrections institute, where he is currently being held prisoner.
on wed, aug 11 werc was transported back to jackson county court for an additional hearing. it was there that he met his public defender attorney who informed him that the district attorney offered werc a plea deal of 30 days in jail if he pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge of illegal possession of a firearm.
if he turned down the deal, werc was told, the DA would likely upgrade the charge to a felony, due to a predicate felony of aggravated assault on a philly cop in 2009.
werc turned down the plea deal offer because he was aware of the fact that no evidence can be admitted into a trial if it was obtained by the police through illegal search and seizure. therefore his decision to turn down the plea deal was part of a strategy to file a motion to suppress the evidence (wercs gun)
subsequently, werc instructed his lawyer to request a motion to suppress hearing. the date of that hearing has not yet been set.
in the u.s., where 40% of all prisoners are African, yet we only make up 13% of the country's population, it must always be concluded that all Africans are in jail/prison as a consequence of racial profiling and special political repression.
therefore, we are certain that the police politically targeted werc for a search, not because of his damaged roof, but because his truck was covered with political messaging. the sign on the back of his truck states
"werc4mayor.org - no paycheck for the police - sign the petition"
this is the sign that the cops saw on the back of werc's truck when they pulled him over. the political nature of the illegal search is evident!
in support of this point the question must be raised of the arresting officer, "however many white people who you stopped for a traffic violation did you search throughout your career?"
we are certain that the colonial police force in this country has ALWAYS had an obsession with denying Africans our supposedly constitutional right to bear arms, hence the illegal search and seizure of werc's weapon.
most importantly, we know that the u.s. colonial police force, along with the white capitalist ruling class and their sellout neo-colonial dogs, are among theost vicious opponents of the werc 4 mayor campaign that is currently being waged in philadelphia. these reactionary forces understand that our victory in the 2027 mayoral election represents an immediate threat to their ability to continue to extract BILLIONS of dollars from tax payers across the country in the form of police dept budgets, the bulk of which go to the police's salaries/paychecks.
in Philadelphia, annual police dept budget exceeds 900 million dollars. $877 million of that goes towards the salary for the police dept staff and personnell - a list of people that is no more than 5000.
in contrast, the city workers of philadelphia receive only $550 million for their salary budget - a sum which must be divided amongst a workforce of over 35,000 workers! the economic situation faced by the city workers in philadelphia is so deplorable that the sanitation workers had to go on strike for 2 weeks last year just to get the small pay raise that brought them to 550 million dollars.
the werc 4 mayor 2027 campaign is ABSOLUTELY COMMITTED to re-writing the city budget in such a way that eliminates the police's salary and reallocates that money to what we have determined to be the real security concerns of the people: food, housing, transportation, childcare, laundry mats and other essential goods and services necessary to sustain life.
this is the greater context in which we must understand brother werc rahman's arrest and this is the context in which we all must understand the need to unite with the struggle to free werc from all charges by the colonial State.
we urge all comrades and supporters of the fight for Black liberation and self determination for all oppressed peoples to sign the petition on our website, to join and build the International African Workers Council and to call the jackson county district attorney office demanding the immediate dismissal of the charge against comrade wali 'werc' abdur-rahman. the following is the info:
Prosecuting Attorney: D. Kyle MoorePhone:
(304) 373-2270
Fax: (304) 372-3094
Email: kyle.moore@jacksoncountywv.com
Mailing Address: PO Box 800, Ripley, WV 25271
*note to reader: since this article was written comrade werc had been released from jail on bail and the DA has in fact escalated the charges to a felony punishable by more than 1 year in prison. the motion to suppress hearing has been set for oct 8, 2026 at 10am before magistrate laura pursley at the jackson county magistrate court, located at:
100 main St
p.o. box 368
ripley, WV 25271
we encourage everyone to call magistrate pursley at 304.373.2313