------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the July 29, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
LYNNE STEWART AT IAC: PEOPLE'S ATTORNEY FACES "TERRORISM" FRAME-UP
By John Catalinotto New York
The packed meeting hall at the Inter national Action Center here on July 13 quieted as Attorney Lynne Stewart explained the latest developments in her case.
Stewart is charged with "materially aiding terrorism." Attorney General John Ashcroft traveled to New York in April 2002 to charge Stewart and three others connected with the defense of Sheikh Abdel Rahman, who had been convicted of conspiring to carry out the 1995 World Trade Center bombing.
It was a blatant attempt to intimidate progressive lawyers from defending demonized defendants at a time when unknown numbers of immigrants from the Middle East or South Asia had been rounded up and imprisoned or deported as part of the "war on terror."
It is easy to see why Ashcroft would target Stewart. She has defended Richard Williams of the underground United Freedom Front. She was also the attorney for Larry Davis, who won acquittal from charges resulting from a shootout with 30 police officers in the Bronx, who Davis said were trying to assassinate him because he tried to quit a drug-running ring with NYPD connections.
She has also represented Arab and Muslim defendants.
Stewart believes Sheikh Rahman was "wrongfully accused and convicted. It would be the same as charging Cardinal O'Connor with conspiracy because he gave a sermon denouncing abortion and some disturbed youth then attacked a women's clinic." The state's attitude is "once your client is found guilty, you should give up," she said, "but I kept on fighting."
Stewart fervently believes every defendant deserves representation. She said that personally, however, "I couldn't bring myself to defend a cop accused of shooting a youth from a community of color or someone accused of abusing a child." The IAC crowd cheered.
Attorney Michael Tigar, who represented Angela Davis and Abbie Hoff man, is defending Stewart. Stewart described, "The prosecution is bringing into the court tapes made of roving wiretaps, Internet reels, all now degraded and disintegrated but digitalized." They can't be used as evidence of fact. The judge allows them to show the "state of mind" of the defendant and convince the jury that Stewart and the others are dangerous.
No jury-trial outcome is guaranteed. To counter the prosecution's attempt to demonize her, Stewart's supporters are mobilizing people to attend the trial, which takes place most Mondays through Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 40 Foley Square, Courtroom 110, in Manhattan. For more information, see www.lynnestewart.org.
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