PHILADELPHIA—For Mumia Abu-Jamal, the summer of ’99 is proving to be the hottest on record in more ways than one. Supporters of Mr. Jamal are expecting Gov. Tom Ridge to issue a new death warrant for him in August. This is based on a July story in the Philadelphia Daily News, which reported "the state of Pennsylvania intends to sign a new death warrant next month." Writer John Baer said in part that, "Abu-Jamal ... is due to get his second death warrant from Governor Ridge as soon as next month (August)."

As a result supporters are calling for mass mobilization. They are urging people to write Gov. Ridge’s office asking him not to sign a new death warrant. Pam Africa, of International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, is a major organizer for the anti-death warrant campaign. Supporters are pressing their argument that the death row inmate, a former Black Panther and community journalist, is innocent and was wrongly convicted of the 1980s murder of a police officer.

Mr. Abu-Jamal’s supporters also say successful protests—a shut down of the Liberty Bell in July and a major demonstration in April—have provoked a negative white-hot reaction from the so-called majority press. Mr. Abu-Jamal, a writer and columnist, has dubbed the reaction "snuff journalism," citing negative reports in Vanity Fair’s August edition and on ABC News’ 20/20 program. Both put forward accounts by Philip Bloch who claims he heard Mr. Abu-Jamal "confess" in the later part of 1992 to the killing of Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.

According to activist and journalist C. Clark Kessinger the author of the Vanity Fair piece was a publicist for Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, who was district attorney at the time of Abu-Jamal’s trial.

An Aug. 3 story by Milton McGriff of the Philadelphia Tribune, supported by a same day press conference broadcast live by WHAT radio, revealed Mr. Bloch wrote Mr. Abu-Jamal a letter seven months after the alleged confession. In the letter, Mr. Bloch said Mr. Abu-Jamal could be vindicated if given a new trial. The letter, obtained by The Final Call and dated July 17, 1993, discussed several subjects, including the acquittal of political prisoner and American Indian activist Leonard Peltier and his co-defendants in an unrelated case.

The letter concludes, "So it is possible to get justice from a jury not always—but sometimes. So, when you get a new trial—I think that there is a good chance of acquittal."

Mr. Jamal, in a recent column called "Anatomy of a Lie," asked: "Why write a guy and write about new trials, or acquittals, if that guy confessed his guilt to you? Answer: Simple. There was no confession. Period. Mr. Bloch knew that six months after the time of an alleged ‘confession,’ which means he is lying now."

For his part Mr. Bloch, a onetime hippie, does not deny writing the letter. He said pro-Abu- Jamal forces were "misinterpreting" the letter. "It looks to me like a left-winger trying to express solidarity with another left-winger," he said. "It was obvious when I wrote that, I wanted to let Mumia know I was still in his corner."