A federal appellate court has ruled Georgia prison officials may have improperly opened political prisoner Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin's mail when he was not present. Formerly known as H. Rap Brown, Imam Jamil was once the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the justice minister of the Black Panther Party.

In 2005, while incarcerated at Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Imam Jamil sued prison officials for opening mail from his wife Karima, an attorney, outside his presence. In its decision Monday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the prison's mail practice interferes with protected attorney-client communications and impinges on free-speech rights.

Since filing the lawsuit, Al-Amin was transferred to Supermax, the nation's most secure federal prison, in Florence, Colo. The prison is known as the mainland Guantanamo.

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