‘A victory for the movement’

A political victory was won on Oct. 16 when long-time civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart was given a 28-month prison sentence by a Manhattan federal judge. The Bush administration, through its prosecutors, had been pushing for the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Lynne Stewart, right, at rally before receiving judge’s decision on Oct. 16. She is joined by Pam Africa, left, leader of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Photo: Roberto Mercado

Hundreds of Stewart’s political supporters from around the country gathered outside the New York City courtroom before and during the sentencing, demanding that she not be given any prison time at all, especially after her recent struggle with breast cancer. Holding up signs and banners, they chanted, “Free Lynne, Free Lynne!” as she went into the courtroom.

U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl, who presided over the proceedings, told Stewart that she would be allowed to stay out of prison while she appeals her conviction. The appeals process could take at least a year, if not more. In the meantime, she has been barred from practicing law.

Thousands of letters supporting Stewart were reportedly sent to the judge before the sentencing.

Stewart was found guilty on Feb. 10, 2005, of helping a former client, Omar Abdel-Rahman—a blind Egyptian Islamic cleric sentenced to life for plotting to blow up New York City landmarks—to communicate with his followers on the outside. Abdel-Rahman had been labeled a “terrorist” under the repressive U.S. Patriot Act, which was passed following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.

This racist legislation has legally sanctioned the outright political persecution of thousands of Arabs and South Asians by the U.S. government, resulting in long periods of jail time without charges and trials as well as massive deportations.

Stewart’s co-defendant, Ahmed Abdel Sattar, formerly a postal worker in Staten Island, received a 24-year prison sentence. Mohamed Yousry, an Arabic translator Stewart depended on for translating between herself and Abdel-Rahman, was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

When Stewart was first arrested in 2002, it was John Ashcroft, the notorious former U.S. attorney general, who publicly read the charges against her. Her arrest was meant to send a clear message to all progressive lawyers not to energetically represent any Arab, South Asian or Muslim whom this government painted as a “threat” to the national security of the U.S.

Many activists are convinced, and understandably so, that the U.S. government wanted to make an example of Stewart because of her consistent, and in many cases successful, legal defense of poor and oppressed peoples for the past 30 years.

She had represented, among other people, David Gilbert of the Weather Underground; Richard Williams of the United Freedom Front; Larry Davis, acquitted by reason of self-defense of the attempted murder of New York City police officers; Sekou Odinga of the Black Liberation Army; and Nasser Ahmed, released after being imprisoned for over three years on non-existent “secret evidence.”

Before her sentencing, a number of solidarity meetings were held for Stewart in New York. These included an Oct. 12 cultural event at Solidarity Center sponsored by the International Action Center; an event in Harlem on Oct. 13 that included an array of speakers representing the Black and Latin@ movements, and a meeting at Riverside Church on Oct. 15. Stewart attended every one of these events, where many of the African American speakers compared her to the historic anti-slavery fighter John Brown.

In response to her sentencing, Stewart stated that it was “a victory for doing good work all one’s life. You get time off for good behavior usually at the end of your prison term. I got it at the beginning.” Stewart also said she hoped to once again be able to work in court on behalf of defendants, as she had done for 30 years.