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Government Recommends 30-Year Sentence for Lynne Stewart
by Jeff Mackler / July 2006 issue of Socialist Action
newspaper
The U.S. Probation Department filed a report in late
June for Federal District Court Judge John G. Koeltl recommending that
attorney Lynne Stewart, 67, be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Stewart was the victim of a government
frame-up when she was convicted in February 2005 of conspiracy to aid and
abet terrorism. The spurious charges stemmed from her work as chief counsel
for the blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rachman, an Egyptian cleric convicted on
conspiracy charges a decade earlier, who asked Steward to release a press
statement expressing his views on the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarack.
The government's report states, "We hope that this
sentence of 30 years will not only punish Stewart for her actions but serve
as a deterrent for other lawyers who believe that they are above the rules
and regulations of penal institutions or otherwise try to skirt the laws of
this country."
Despite over 80,000 wiretaps against
Stewart, the government was unable to produce a single piece of evidence
indicating her involvement with any terrorist group or individual.
Stewart is being punished essentially for a
single act, the public release of a press statement, a commonplace among
lawyers who fight for the democratic and constitutional rights of their
clients. Elizabeth Fink, Stewart's attorney for the sentencing aspect of
the case, called the 30-year recommendation “draconian, inhumane, and
ludicrous.” “The deterrence they want to accomplish here,” said Fink,
“is to frighten lawyers into submission and destroy zealous advocacy.”
Fink filed papers urging Judge Koeltl to
sentence Stewart, currently undergoing breast cancer treatment, to zero
prison time and probation. Koeltl will rule on Sept. 25 and decide whether
to grant Stewart bail pending her appeal.
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