Vol. 74/No. 29      August 2, 2010

The charges were brought against Stewart for her work as one of the lawyers for Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Muslim cleric who was found guilty on frame-up charges of “seditious conspiracy” for allegedly plotting to blow up the United Nations headquarters and other structures. No physical evidence linking Abdel-Rahman to any crime was presented during his trial.

Abdel-Rahman was sentenced to life in prison. U.S. officials also imposed a draconian ban, prohibiting him from most communications with people outside the prison. His lawyers were required to agree to abide by these Special Administrative Measures.

Stewart, 70, began serving the original sentence November 19 after losing appeals of her conviction on frame-up charges of “conspiracy to provide material aid to terrorist activity” for releasing a press statement on behalf of Abdel-Rahman to Reuters in 2000.

A federal appeals court ruled that the sentence imposed by Judge John Koeltl in 2005 was too light, instructing Koeltl to resentence her.

In his ruling Koeltl said that Stewart’s statements after the first sentencing indicated a “lack of remorse.”

A headline in a New York Daily News editorial July 16 gloated, “Right where she belongs.” The paper said that the sentence “still let her off way too easy.”

“I’m somewhat stunned by the swift change in my outlook,” Stewart told the judge. “We will continue to struggle on, and we will take, of course, all available options to do what we need to do to change this.”  
 
 
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