When we abridge the rights of Americans to free speech, the terrorists win.
The following story is appaling in that this attorney was prosecuted, and because she had to sign any agreement to abridge her clients first ammendment rights at all. If Bush wants to get cruel and unusual then extradite prisoners like this to prisons in North Korea, Zimbabwe, or Sudan. Don't trash my country and my laws.
If we can outsource high paying American jobs for less overseas, then we should be able to outsource our torture too. China has a billion people and almost no respect for human life. They would be great at taking over the torture and Constitutional violations that we don't want to sully our reputation by doing in house.
This is going to be a long four years...
N.Y. Lawyer Convicted of Aiding Terrorists
By Gail Appleson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York lawyer aided terrorism by helping a client send messages to militant followers, a federal jury found on Thursday in a case critics said stemmed from Bush administration efforts to discourage the defense of accused terrorists.
Lynne Stewart, 65, long a defender of the poor and unpopular, was convicted of helping her imprisoned client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, to contact followers in Egypt with messages that could have ended a cease-fire there and ignited violence.
Abdel-Rahman was found guilty in 1995 of conspiring to attack U.S. targets, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was serving a life term when the crimes charged against Stewart occurred.
Stewart was convicted of all five counts against her, including two terrorism charges that combined carry a maximum 15-year prison term. All five counts combined carry a maximum term of 30 years, but it is unlikely she will be sentenced to such a lengthy term.
The complex trial lasted more than seven months. The Manhattan federal jurors deliberated 13 days.
"I committed no crime. I know what I did was right," Stewart said, adding that she would appeal. She remains free until her sentencing, tentatively set for July 15.
"I was a poster girl for John Ashcroft (news - web sites) and his Patriot Act," she told reporters after the verdict, referring to the former U.S. attorney general.
Prosecutors said Stewart enabled Abdel-Rahman to communicate with the Islamic Group, which they said is a terrorist group that had Abdel-Rahman as its spiritual leader.
Stewart maintains she was just zealously representing her client and her defense team argued she was a victim of a Bush administration effort to discourage lawyers from defending those accused of terrorism.
Stewart began to cry outside the courthouse while speaking after the verdict and was comforted by her husband as supporters chanted, "Hands Off Lynne Stewart."
WAKE-UP CALL
"I hope this case will be a wake-up call to all citizens of this country," Stewart said. "You can't lock up the lawyers. You can't tell lawyers how to do their job."
In addition to the terrorism counts, she was convicted of three charges related to lying to the government by breaking a pledge to prevent her client from communicating with followers.
"I'd like to think I would do it again," she said. "It's the way a lawyer is supposed to behave."
Stewart's co-defendants Ahmed Sattar, a postal worker who acted as a paralegal for Abdel-Rahman, and Mohammed Yousry, an Arabic translator, were also convicted. Sattar, charged with the conspiracy to kill people outside the United States, could be sentenced to life in prison.
The case attracted attention from U.S. lawyers, some of whom believed Stewart was the target of vindictive prosecutors who wanted to punish her for her leftist beliefs and others who said she willingly broke the law.
"It's unbelievable," said Ivan Fisher, a New York defense lawyer. He said she was "absolutely" a target of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies.
Jeff Fogel, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said, "There are some (lawyers) who will be scared and won't take these cases, but there are others who might be even more zealous to demonstrate that we won't be cowed."
Others, such as Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet, said Stewart broke the law: "This case had nothing to do with zealous advocacy and everything to do with obeying the law."
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the convictions "send a clear, unmistakable message that this department will pursue both those who carry out acts of terrorism and those who assist them with their murderous goals."
During the trial, prosecutors said Stewart signed and then broke a deal with the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) to prevent Abdel-Rahman from sending messages that could cause violence.
Evidence included a call Stewart made in 2000 to a Reuters correspondent in Egypt in which she read a statement issued by the cleric saying he had withdrawn his support for the Islamic Group's cease-fire in Egypt. The group had observed the cease-fire since a 1997 attack on tourists in Luxor.
