LATEST FROM LYNNE...
Waiting
Dear Friends, Comrades, et. al.,
Two months since the oral argument before the 2d Circuit, US Court of Appeals and folks in the know tell me that it could be 2009 before we get a decision. When I’m asked how I feel about it I reply that it’s like having a bad tooth–every once in a while you bite down and OUCH!! It is stressful–the waiting...
I’m also asked about my predictions–for me, the Best would be that the Court would reverse on some issue we’ve raised (1 Amendment, the overhearing of Attorney Client conversations, the overbroad use of terrorism law etc.) and send back for a re-trial. I think the times are more favorable–much more scepticism and a different (I hope) view of standing against the onslaught. Who knows–maybe a new administration would want to ditch this albatross of Ashcroft? (I don’t really believe this–the Justice Department, like all entrenched bureaucracy, gets invested in a case, no matter how rotten.) My other prediction deals with the sentence. Even if the Bush relative Judge Walker got his way and the case was sent back to Judge Koeltl for re-sentencing, I believe that the 28 months was a thoughtful reaction to the conviction and that it will not be increased. Of course, I stand by my original and statement of now, almost 6(six!) years, that I have committed no crime, that I acted only as an attorney for my client and should not go to jail at all.
I’m also asked what I do with myself, now that I am disbarred and completely cut off from the legal profession. Well, as many of you know (and have observed), the political climate keeps onel very busy on behalf of human rights!!! I am most active in political prisoners–especially Mumia Abu Jamal (Come out to Philly on April 19!!!) and the San Francisco 7 (hearings scheduled to begin soon) and always, Leonard Peleteir and the other long timers who languish in our gulags. I’m also organizing for the National Assembly–an Open conference to bring the troops home Now, to be held June 28,29 in Cleveland. (Come on out–everyone votes and has a voice) In my “spare time” I’m attending demos for Palestinian rights, dinners for the restoration of Pakistani judges, Sean Bell’s (killed by 50 rounds of NYPD on the eve of his wedding) murderer’s trials and promoting Cynthia McKinney for President on the Green Party line. (Voting for someone who represents ME , for the first time since ???)
We also manage to get up to the country to chill out – and this winter there were record snows to aid in that!! Ralph’s prodigious wood pile (featuring maple and apple logs) has kept us snug and my culinary adventures have also contributed to the well-being. Health is good–could be better, but hey, at 68 and 74–we’re glad for what we got. We are stressed by the case, the direction the world seems headed and less so by our precarious financial situation. We have always dealt with fluctuating fortunes and we are indeed blessed (in a non religious sense!) by friends, family, comrades who periodically drop a few bucks in our cup(s). We have travelled to the California Bay area for speaking engagements in February, courtesy of Jeff Mackler’s planning, and down to Florida for a grandchildren “fix” in March.
So–we are active and dedicated and waiting, waiting, waiting. Stay tuned.
LOVE STRUGGLE,
Lynne
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UPDATES & ARTICLES
Lynne Stewart received a 28-month sentence in October 2006, but is free on bail pending appeal.
Click here to read
sentencing transcripts. (PDF)
Who is Lynne Stewart?
Radical human rights attorney Lynne Stewart has been falsely accused of
helping terrorists. Now
convicted, she faces 30 years in prison. On Tuesday, April 9, 2002, she was arrested and agents
searched her Manhattan office for documents. She was arraigned before Manhattan
federal Judge John Koeltl. This is an obvious attempt by the U.S. government to
silence dissent,
curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and install fear in those who would fight against the U.S.
government's racism, seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free
speech and defend the rights of all oppressed people.
To read Lynne Stewart's entire remarks to her supporters who had waited outside the courthouse for hours for Lynne to emerge after her sentencing on October 16, 2006 before the Hon. John G. Koeltl,
click here.
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We need your support now more than ever!
Photo courtesy of New York Law Journal.
CALENDAR
May 16
Nakbah 60 Anniversary Founding of Israel-- Catastrophe for Palestinians, at DagHammarskjold Plaza, 47 Street between 1 and 2d Avenue(United Nations), 1 to 6pm Among Speakers-- CYNTHIA MCKINNEY
May 17
1 to 7pm Fort Drum Springfest, Watertown NY (!), Blackwater (!) Park and Different Drummer coffee house, 12 Paddock Arcade (8pm) Working on a Motorcade for Peace Now! from S. Bombay NY *
May 20
9 am at Federal Court, Southern District 500 Pearl Street and Worth Street Rally and Court Date for Heshem Fahad, muslim student New Yorker wrongfully accused of materially aiding terrorism. FREEFAHAD.com
May 22- 25
WPA (World Prout Association) Conference: "Building a New World" at Radnor University, Radford Virginia.
Lynne Stewart Keynote Speaker
Click here for flyer!
"Defense Attorney Lynne Stewart, who spent her entire life fighting for justice, who always kept herself at the vanguard of that fight, who always loved and defended those persons whom the rest of the world scorned and whom the mainstream press vilified, who lives as the mother of the country and the world, whom, due to that very love the judge could not prosecute, is coming to give the Conference Keynote at the "Building a New World" Conference, taking place May 22-25 at Radford University, Radford, Virginia. Please come and listen to her speak, and meet many more wonderful people who are fully engaged in the fight for justice and the struggle to build a better world." - Garda Ghista
w. Cindy Sheehan, Michael Parenti, Kathy Kelly and more http://www.wpaconference.org*
Sunday, June 8
At 6:00 pm
An event to support political prisoner Marilyn Buck
at Bluestockings bookstore, 172 Allen St (b/n Stanton and Rivington),
Manhattan -- a reading and discussion of Cristina Peri Rossi's "State of Exile,"
translated by U.S. political prisoner Marilyn Buck. - free
In a collaboration across prison walls, continents and states of exile,
U.S. political prisoner and poet Marilyn Buck has translated "State of
Exile," the poems of Cristina Peri Rossi, into English. The bilingual edition also includes two brilliant essays
on exile, one by Peri Rossi and the other by Marilyn Buck. Peri Rossi, a
lesbian poet, author, journalist and social activist, wrote these poems
in her first year of exile from Uruguay. Spare, beautiful, and fueled by
the experiences of forced migration, the poems are so personal that Peri
Rossi didn't publish them for almost 30 years. Marilyn Buck has been in
prison for nearly that long. Join us for a book release celebration with
readings of the poems by Asha Bandele and others and a talk on Marilyn
Buck by attorney Soffiyah Elijah. "State of Exile is a haunting work
that sat for decades, awaiting, like cicadas, its proper season. That
time is now." --Mumia Abu-Jamal
June 28-29
National Assembly to Bring the Troops Home Now, Cleveland Ohio (lynne is on the cc along with more than 35 others. This conference was endorsed by over 400 individuals and groups nationwide including Ramsey Clark, Howard Zinn, Cynthia McKinney and Cindy Sheehan.) http://natassembly.org*
10/3 - 10/6
San Francisco Radical Feminists' 41 Anniversary Conference: The Persistent Power of Socialist Freminism
Lynne to keynote on Friday October 3.*
10/7 thru 10/13
West Coast Events*
For more information e-mail us at
info at lynnestewart.org
The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
350 Broadway, Suite 700
New York, NY 10013
212-625-9696
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