Vol. 73/No. 46      November 30, 2009

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Lynne Stewart, center, with supporters across street from federal courthouse in Manhattan November 17 after appeals court upheld her conviction on frame-up “conspiracy” charges and ordered judge to consider longer sentence. Stewart had been lawyer for Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted in 1996 for “seditious conspiracy.”

Stewart was convicted four years ago for "conspiracy to provide material aid to terrorist activity" and "defrauding" the government. She has been out on bail awaiting the outcome of appeals. As of this writing she remains free, but Pat Levasseur of the Free Lynne Stewart Committee said the judge could send her to prison at any time to begin serving her original sentence.

Speaking to supporters and the press outside the federal courthouse here in lower Manhattan, Stewart said she had done nothing illegal. The Court of Appeals decision "sends a warning to lawyers" to not represent defendants accused by the U.S. government of "terrorism," she said. The ruling came four days after Attorney General Eric Holder announced that five 9/11 suspects imprisoned at Guantánamo will be brought to New York for trial in federal court.

Stewart was convicted for distributing a press release from an imprisoned client, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. He had been sentenced in 1996 to life in prison plus 65 years, framed up on charges of "seditious conspiracy" based on alleged links to the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. In prison, officials had imposed draconian restrictions on Abdel-Rahman's ability to communicate, give interviews, or even call his family.

Stewart put out the press release in 2000. It was not until 2002—on the heels of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center—that then attorney general John Ashcroft announced the indictment of Stewart. She, her Arabic translator Mohammed Yousry, and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a paralegal for Abdel-Rahman, were tried in 2005. Much of the evidence was based on wiretaps of conversations between Stewart and Abdel-Rahman and videotapes of their meetings in prison, a blatant violation of attorney-client privilege.

The government asked for a 30-year sentence for Stewart. Judge John Koeltl sentenced her to 28 months. Yousry was sentenced to 20 months, and Abdel Sattar, who faced additional charges, to 24 years.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the convictions of all three. By a 2-1 majority that court ordered Judge Koeltl to consider a higher sentence for Stewart, particularly if it was determined she committed perjury at trial.

Judge John Walker dissented from the majority ruling, saying it did not go far enough in imposing a higher sentence on Stewart. Walker called the 28-month term Stewart got "breathtakingly low."

Judge Koeltl has scheduled a consultation on the resentencing of Stewart for December 2.
 
 
Related articles:
5 Guantánamo inmates to be tried in N.Y. for 9/11
Drop charges against Stewart!  
 
 
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