Vol. 77/No. 14      April 15, 2013

More than 3,000 people have signed an online petition, which will be turned into prison authorities along with formal requests for compassionate release. “The sinister meaning of the relentless persecution of Lynne Stewart is unmistakably clear. Given her age and precarious health, the 10-year sentence she is serving is a virtual death sentence,” the petition reads.

Stewart, 73, has been in jail since November 2009 on trumped-up charges, including “conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist activity.”

The charges stem from Stewart’s defense of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim cleric convicted in 1995 of “seditious conspiracy” for alleged links to a plot to bomb the United Nations and assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Stewart was found guilty in February 2005 of violating Special Administrative Measures the government imposed on Abdel-Rahman to strictly limit his communication with the outside world.

Stewart was convicted for violating the measures because she gave information to a Reuters reporter about Abdel-Rahman’s opposition to a cease-fire between the Islamic Group and the Egyptian government.

Judge John Koeltl initially imposed a sentence of 28 months on Stewart.

“I don’t think anybody would say that going to jail for two years is something you look forward to, but as my clients have said to me, I can do that standing on my head,” Stewart said in a speech to supporters after the sentencing.

When Stewart appealed her conviction, the government cross-appealed her sentence, arguing her statement showed she lacked remorse. On Dec. 23, 2009, the Court of Appeals denied Stewart’s appeal and instructed Koeltl to resentence her with “terrorism enhancements.” On July 15, 2010, Koeltl gave her 10 years.

Stewart was scheduled for a hysterectomy. “It took her 18 months to get the surgery after she was sent to prison,” Ralph Poynter, Stewart’s husband and a leader of her defense effort, told the Militant in a March 28 phone interview.

Stewart is shackled and cuffed every time she is sent to the hospital. “They even shackle her to the bed when she has an operation,” Poynter said.

She was worried after one operation that she would run a risk of infection in her prison cell. But when Stewart got back “she saw the cell was clean and the other inmates told her ‘we’ve got your back. We’re changing your sheets twice a day.’”

Stewart has been helping other prisoners obtain legal counsel. “She was sanctioned for having another prisoner’s papers on her,” Poynter said. “No telephone calls, no commissary, no visits for a month. But the prisoners rose up. So the staff told her to try to be more circumspect.”

On Feb. 21, Stewart filed an appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her conviction, arguing that public statements conveying opinions of Abdel Rahman were protected by the First Amendment. The appeal adds that increasing Stewart’s sentence because she exercised her right to free speech has a “chilling effect” on others. U.S. prosecutors have until April 26 to reply, Stewart’s counsel, Jill Shellow, told the Militant.

Under the 1984 Sentencing Reform Act, the Bureau of Prisons must petition the court to request compassionate release. “The warden said more or less when she has a year left to live” prison authorities will consider it, Poynter said. “They’re misreading the statutes, saying they’ll let prisoners go only when they’re ready to die.”

For more information on how to support Stewart’s fight, go to lynnestewart.org.  
 
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