Suzanne Ross of the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition writes: "In a surprise move, strongly reminiscent of his original trial, Mumia
Abu-Jamal has just been ordered to be kept away from his upcoming August
17th court hearing. On July 27, 2001, Judge Pamela Dembe ordered Mumia
Abu-Jamal to appear in the Pennsylvania State Court of Common Pleas. Yet,
yesterday, August 13, 2001, the Court Administrator of this same court,
Joseph J. DiPrimio, the Court Administrator of the First Judicial District,
stated that Mumia should not be transported down to Philadelphia, as there
will not be any room in the Philadelphia prisons to house Mumia. Of course
we know that in 1995-6, when Mumia was present in the courtroom, he was
actually housed in a prison outside of Philadelphia.



They already picked a date that Marcus Garvey supporters always celebrate
with a yearly parade in Harlem; that Sharpton and the Vieques supporters are
gathering on the release of Sharpton from jail; that Maddox has a annual
founding anniversary dinner; that students are out on vacation and many
professionals are out of town on vacation.



With all that we‚ve been able to mobilize many people across the east coast
to Chicago and info Canada, and have even organized a delegation from
France. It is clear that the forces that want to see Mumia executed did not
expect us to be able to mobilize this kind of enthusiastic response for
Mumia that is clearly evident, and are now trying to derail us, once again,
by announcing that Mumia will not be in court on the 17th. The international
concerned family and friends of Mumia has declared that this is an
outrageous move by the government, and that once again this system is
determined to deny Mumia the right to be present in the courtroom when his
life is at stake. For ourselves, for our movement, for all Mumia supports,
for all
anti-death penalty activists, for all justice and freedom-loving people, we
demand that Mumia have the right to hear the legal proceedings about his
case. We urge all activists and supporters to come to Philadelphia in even
larger numbers, because if Mumia is NOT there, then we must stand not only
WITH Mumia, but FOR Mumia.



All out to Philadelphia on the 17th. Ona Move."