A high ranking member of the controversial New Black Panther militant group was jailed yesterday on charges of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

…or so says his jail paperwork.

The real reason that Hashim Nzinga, 49, sits behind bars is that $10,000 “bounty” that the Black Panthers announced for the capture of George Zimmerman, the man who gunned down 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla.

The media is making a mockery of this shocking case of racial profiling gone wrong.

In a shameless rush to blame the victim, the national media is portraying the middle class Miami teenager as a gold teeth wearing thug who was suspended for 10 days for having weed residue in his book bag.

According to a DeKalb arrest warrant, Nzinga pawned a FN Herstal 5.7 x 28 handgun at a shop on Rockbridge Road. That alleged transaction is illegal due to Nzinga’s convictions last month for felony deposit account fraud in Gwinnett County, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution which quoted a source at the DeKalb Sheriff’s Office.

Meanwhile, New Black Panthers leader Mikhail Muhammad mentioned the $10,000 bounty again at a rally he held Saturday in Sanford, where Martin was killed on Feb. 26. Muhammad told FOX News that celebrities are reaching out to him to contribute monies toward a $1 million bounty, which he says is placed on Zimmerman’s head.

Muhammad’s record must be clean as a whistle. The feds and local law enforcement haven’t found anything to pin on him yet. But you know they’ll keep trying.

Zimmerman and his family have gone into hiding, and he is in fear of his life, according to friends.

“He should be fearful for his life,” Muhammad told the Orlando Sentinel. “You can’t keep killing black children.”