Free Lynne Stewart!

Lynne Stewart, who is affectionately known as the “People’s Lawyer” for her tireless defense of clients in social justice and human rights cases, has been ordered to prison after her bail was revoked.

In 2005—as the U.S. government was using their phony “war on terror” to justify their invasion of Iraq—Stewart was falsely accused and convicted of aiding terrorists by forwarding messages from one of her clients. She was sentenced to 28 months in prison in 2006, and has been free on bail since that time, pending appeal.

Now the U.S. is whipping up another round of anti-Muslim hysteria and repression—including the FBI assassination of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah in Detroit, the attempted seizure of mosques and other properties from a Muslim organization in New York, and the continued frame-ups and convictions of young Muslim men such as the Fort Dix 5.

With this backdrop, a three-judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not only upheld Stewart’s conviction on Nov. 17, but remanded the case back to the judge who originally sentenced her, urging him to consider a longer sentence. Prosecutors in the 2005 trial had wanted 30 years.

The “Justice for Lynne Stewart” Web site (www.lynnestewart.org) describes the government’s case against Stewart as “an obvious attempt ... to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and install fear in those who would fight against the U.S. government’s racism, seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech and defend the rights of all oppressed people.”

Stewart, 70, is known for seeking justice not only in the courts but also on the streets, appearing at many protests and rallies.

We must fight these attempts to shut down resistance. Free Lynne Stewart and all political prisoners! Stop all attacks on Arab and Muslim peoples!