PHILADELPHIA -- A federal appeals court has agreed to consider Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal of his conviction for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer.

In the most significant ruling in the case in four years, the 3rd U.S. Circuit of Appeals said it would consider three of the celebrity death row inmate's claims.

Mr. Abu-Jamal's San Francisco-based attorney, Robert Bryan, told Salon.com that the court's decision is a "great victory." He did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.

Assistant District Attorney Hugh Burns called the decision a blow to Mr. Abu-Jamal's defense because the court dismissed dozens of his claims as frivolous. "The case is moving after four years, which is good," he said yesterday.

Mr. Abu-Jamal, 51, a one-time radio reporter and former Black Panther, was convicted in 1982 of shooting Daniel Faulkner, 25, after the white police officer pulled over Mr. Abu-Jamal's brother on Dec. 9, 1981.

Mr. Abu-Jamal's writings and taped speeches on the justice system have made him a cause celebre among Hollywood activists, foreign politicians and some death-penalty opponents who believe that he was the victim of a racist justice system.

In December 2001, a federal judge overturned Mr. Abu-Jamal's death sentence but upheld his conviction. Both sides have appealed that ruling, and Mr. Abu-Jamal remains on death row in Western Pennsylvania.

The appeals court said Tuesday that it will consider Abu-Jamal's claims that prosecutors illegally removed qualified blacks from the jury pool, that a prosecutor gave an improper summation to the jury and that the judge in a previous appeal was biased. If the court decides that the claims have merit, it could order a new trial for Mr. Abu-Jamal.

University of Pennsylvania law professor David Rudovsky, a defense attorney who worked on Mr. Abu-Jamal's case in the 1990s, called the court's action a modest victory for the defendant. "There's no assurance he'll win on any of this. But the fact they think there is an arguable claim, that's a positive sign for him," he said.

Mr. Rudovsky also noted that prosecutors will only have to defend against three claims, not dozens.