Vol. 73/No. 46      November 30, 2009

Stewart, translator Mohammed Yousry, and legal aid Ahmed Abdel Sattar were tried in 2005. Stewart was convicted of "conspiracy to provide material aid to terrorist activity" for distributing a press release from an imprisoned client, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who had been framed up on charges of “seditious conspiracy” to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993 and other city buildings.

Their trials were characterized by gross violations of their rights. Much of the evidence was based on wiretaps and video recordings of Stewart’s meetings with Abdel-Rahman in prison, trampling on the constitutional right to meaningful access to legal counsel and freedom of speech.

The moves by the federal government against Stewart and the others comes as the Obama administration is planning to try five people accused of “conspiring to commit the 9/11 attacks.” Capitalist media outlets in New York and nationwide have been on a drive to use the controversial trial as a way to rationalize the U.S. rulers’ course against the democratic rights of working people.

As Stewart has said, these convictions and sentences send a clear warning to attorneys, legal aids, translators, or anyone considering defending those accused of “terrorism”: You could be next!

Wiretapping and other police surveillance and violations of attorney-client privileges are not aimed primarily at lawyers, but at working people. Many of the 7.3 million people in U.S. jails, prisons, or on parole or probation know how these attacks make it harder for workers and others to defend themselves from government prosecution.

Working people should join in demanding an end to these attacks on our rights. Drop the charges against Lynne Stewart and her codefendants!
 
 
Related articles:
Appeals court upholds Lynne Stewart conviction
5 Guantánamo inmates to be tried in N.Y. for 9/11  
 
 
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