By Kenneth J. Theisen, 10/16/06
On October 16, 2006 the Bush regime struck another blow against the few freedoms we still have with the sentencing of attorney Lynne Stewart, 67, to federal prison. In this case the government is attempting to intimidate attorneys who dare to zealously represent anyone the government designates as a terrorist or enemy combatant. Lynne, a civil rights attorney who was facing a possible 30 year sentence, was sentenced to 28 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl for allegedly providing material support for terrorists. She represented Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Islamic fundamentalist scholar, who was convicted and sentenced to life in 1996 for seditious conspiracy related to alleged plots to attack New York landmarks.
Federal prosecutors had sought a 30-year sentence for Lynne who was
diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Her attorney, Elizabeth Fink
told the judge: “If you send her to prison, she’s going to die. It’s as
simple as that.” In other words, if she goes to prison, it is really a
death sentence.
But the judge had to deviate from the federal
guidelines that would have put her in prison for 30 years. In the
courtroom crowded with Lynne’s supporters (many more had to be outside
due to lack of space), he cited Lynne’s more than three decades of
service to the poor, disadvantaged, and “unpopular” clients. At the
sentencing he stated, “Ms. Stewart performed a public service, not only
to her clients, but to the nation.” He also permitted Lynne to remain
free while the case is appealed.
The stakes in this case are very
high, both for the Bush regime and also for all of us who oppose the
regime. From the very beginning, this case has been directed from the
top levels of the regime. In April 2002, then U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft announced to the news media that the government had
indicted Stewart on charges of “conspiracy, providing material support
to terrorists and defrauding the U.S. government.” On February 10, 2005
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales bragged to the media about her
conviction on all five counts that she faced.
This was one of the
first “terrorist cases” brought by the Bush regime after 9/11 and it
was no accident that it was directed at an attorney. In referring to
this case, defense lawyer Stanley Cohen said, “I don’t think that
there’s a political lawyer in this country who doesn’t believe that the
government has a plan to target the lawyers who do what we do and to
silence us. If anything, it will make us more determined.”
The
government set its sights on Stewart because of her determined work as
a defense attorney for her client. The government had been monitoring
conversations between Stewart and her client in direct violation of the
attorney client privilege. Starting in 1997, the Bureau of Prisons had
imposed special administrative measures (SAMs) on Rahman, limiting his
access to the mail, the media, the telephone and visitors. Stewart was
forced to agree to the SAMS in order to see her client. She agreed not
to “use my meetings, correspondence, or phone calls with Abdel Rahman
to pass messages between third parties and Abdel Rahman.”
But
prosecutors claimed that Stewart allowed an Arabic translator to read
letters to Rahman regarding Islamic Group (an alleged terrorist group)
matters, and to conduct a discussion with Rahman regarding whether
Islamic Group should continue to comply with a cease-fire in Egypt.
They also claimed that she kept those discussions from prison
authorities by distracting the guards. The regime claims they know this
because they were actually videotaping her conversations with her
client. So much for confidential discussions with a client! She was
also accused of giving a press release to Reuters (a news service) that
Rahman had withdrawn his support for the cease-fire, in violation of
the SAMs.
Lynne testified that she had a good faith belief that
relaying Rahman’s statement calling for more consultation about the
Egyptian cease-fire did not violate the SAMs. She stated that she was
representing her client and attempting to have him transferred to Egypt
to serve his sentence by keeping him visible to the public. She had
based her interpretation of the SAMS on actions of former U.S. Attorney
General Ramsey Clark, another of Rahman’s attorneys. Clark, who had
never been prosecuted, had also signed these SAMs and regularly held
press conferences where he conveyed Rahman’s statements to the press.
More
restrictive SAMs were initiated under Attorney General Ashcroft on the
same day the PATRIOT Act was signed into law by President Bush. They
permit the Department of Justice (DOJ) discretion to eavesdrop on
confidential attorney-client conversations of persons in DOJ custody,
with no judicial oversight and no meaningful standards. It applies to
all persons, including pretrial detainees, material witnesses, and
immigration detainees who have not been accused of any crime.
At
her trial the prosecution did everything possible to pin the
“terrorist” label on Stewart. They even showed videotapes of Osama bin
Laden in the courtroom. But as the New York Times noted, “The
government never showed that any violence resulted from the defendants”
actions. The Islamic Group never canceled the ceasefire. The defendants
were not accused of terrorism in the United States.” The judge himself
told the jury that bin Laden and al-Qaida were not at issue.
Lynne
Stewart pointed out what the government was doing, “If you mention
Osama bin Laden’s name, you don’t have to present any evidence. You can
tell the jury that he has nothing to do with the case, but there’s been
this discourse, this drumbeat, that makes it very difficult for our
voice to be heard.”
Stewart’s case is not just about her. After
her conviction Lynne stated, “I see myself as being a symbol of what
the people rail against when they say our civil liberties are eroded.
This case could be, I hope it will be, a wakeup call to all of the
citizens of this country and all of the people who live here that you
can’t lock up the lawyers. You can’t tell the lawyers how to do their
job. You”ve got to let them operate. And I will fight on. I am not
giving up. I know I committed no crime. I know what I did was right.”
One
of Stewart’s attorneys, Michael Tigar, put the case in perspective,
“The only way that we will ever get to the bottom of the American
concentration camp abuses at Gitmo [the U.S. military prison at
Guantánamo, Cuba] and Abu Ghraib is that if lawyers for these prisoners
are permitted to tell their stories to the world. If the government can
shut off that communication, which they have attempted to do over and
over and over again, these activities will continue in secret- blessed
as they are by the highest officials of government””
This case is
a blatant attack on the right to counsel, the right to the attorney
client privilege, and freedom of speech for attorneys and all of us.
The purpose of this case is to send a message to all attorneys that
they had better think twice about representing “alleged terrorists or
enemy combatants” unless they want to share cells with their clients.
And if an attorney does represent someone, that attorney better not
talk to the media. Keep your mouth shut and let the government do what
it wants to your client. And of course the government will not be bound
by the same rules. Prosecutors and government spokespersons will be
free to lie to the media as they have always done.
Attorneys and
others across the country have been outraged by this case and many have
spoken out on Lynne’s behalf. A statement issued by the National
Lawyers Guild on February 10, 2005 quotes Guild President Michael
Avery: “The U.S. Department of Justice was resolute from day one in
making a symbol out of Lynne Stewart in support of its campaign to deny
people charged with crimes of effective legal representation. The
government is bent on intimidating attorneys from providing zealous
representation to unpopular clients. The National Lawyers Guild
strongly urges its own members and other defense lawyers to continue to
proudly represent clients who are openly critical of government
policies. We will not be intimidated and this prosecution has only
strengthened our resolve to oppose the repressive attacks this
government has made on the civil liberties of everyone in this country.
We will also continue to stand by Lynne Stewart.”
Fellow defense
attorney Ron Kuby said, “It’s a dark day for civil liberties and for
civil liberties lawyers in this country. In the post 9/11 era, where
dissidents are treated as traitors, it’s perhaps no surprise that a
zealous civil rights lawyer becomes a convict.”
We will not let
this attack stand. The implications of this case must be broadly
publicized. Now that Lynne has been sentenced, we need to re-double
our resistance to the Bush regime and drive it from power. This attack
is in line with all the other repressive acts of the regime, such as
the Military Commission’s Act (which allows torture and severely limits
other legal rights), that have been emanating from the stench on
Capitol Hill and the White House in recent weeks. We must continue to
expose the crimes of the regime and make sure that no one, including
attorneys, is kept silent in the fight to retain our freedom.