Assata Shakur, black Liberation activist exiled in Cuba dies at 78

Assata Shakur, an activist with the Black Liberation Army exiled in Cuba for four decades, has died in Havana, aged 78.

Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, died Thursday of unspecified health conditions and “advanced age”, Cuba’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Friday.

She had been on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list for years after she escaped in 1979 from a New Jersey women’s prison, where she was serving a life sentence following her murder conviction in a shootout that killed a New Jersey state trooper and a fellow activists.

Shakur maintained her innocence and reappeared in Cuba in 1984 where she was granted asylum by former president Fidel Castro.

Shakur was born JoAnne Deborah Byron in July 1947 in New York City and was raised between the city and Wilmington, North Carolina. She was the step-aunt and godmother of the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

She became involved in political activism for black Americans while in college, first with the Black Panther Party, a group that favoured radical resistance to racism in the United States and developed schools and other social services for black people.

The movement was heavily surveilled by the FBI, which considered it a threat to the US. Shakur also joined the more radical Black Liberation Army whose members consisted of former Black Panthers.

Shakur was travelling with fellow activists in 1973 when their car was stopped by New Jersey officers. A shootout ensued which killed state trooper Werner Foerster and fellow activist Zayd Malik Shakur. Assata Shakur was also injured in the shootout.

She was arrested and tried for Foerster’s death but she denied shooting him and said her trial in front of an all-white jury was unfair.

She told NBC News in a 1998 interview filmed in Havana that she escaped because she was afraid for her life and that she “would never receive justice” in the US.

Her exile in Cuba was among the many thorny issues between the communist-run island and the US.

Shakur was the first woman to be added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. The agency and New Jersey each offered a $1 million reward for information leading to her arrest.

She was celebrated in music with her name featured in songs including the 1998 song “Rebel Without a Pause” by hip hop group Public Enemy and “A Song for Assata” by the rapper Common.

Shakur is survived by her daughter Kakuya Shakur, who wrote on Facebook: “Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I am feeling at this time.”