By Brian Benn
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was to be executed on December 3 has received a stay of execution.
Mumia is a political activist who has been imprisoned for 17 years in the United States for a crime he did not commit.
The stay of execution not only stops Mumia's execution date from December 3, but it also allows Mumia to be transferred from the "Phase Two" area of the Greene County State Correctional Institute.
Since Mumia has been in the "Phase Two" area of this jail he has been subjected to very inhumane treatment. He has been under surveillance for 24 hours, been subjected to random strip searches at any time and has had the lights on in his cell at all times.
Mumia was to be executed on December 3 after Governor Thomas Ridge of Pennsylvania signed his death warrant.
But the signing of the death warrant reignited protests and demonstrations throughout the world.
In North America there were demonstrations in cities such as Halifax, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Seattle.
These and other demonstrations were important because they put pressure on the state of Pennsylvania to give Mumia a stay of execution.
Mumia's case not only highlights the problems in the justice system but it also highlights the problems with the death penalty. The state of Pennsylvania like many other US states with the death penalty has a disproportionate number of African-Americans on death row.
Some 62 percent of death row inmates in Pennsylvania are African-American but only nine percent of the population in this state are of African-American descent.
Although Mumia was granted a stay of execution it is important that protests are kept up to free Mumia. The stay of execution does not mean Mumia is free or that a new trial has been granted for Mumia.
The stay of execution only means Mumia's execution will be put off until next year. This is why it is important to continue the protests and demonstrations until Mumia is free.