NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York attorney convicted of aiding terrorism by helping a client smuggle messages to militant followers was sentenced on Monday to 28 months in prison. Lynne Stewart, 67, was convicted in February 2005 of helping her imprisoned client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, to contact the Islamic Group, which is listed by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.
Prosecutors said messages Stewart passed on for Abdel-Rahman could have ignited violence in Egypt. The sheikh was convicted in 1995 of conspiring to attack U.S. targets in a plot prosecutors said included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Stewart, long a defender of the poor and unpopular, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan federal court. Her supporters rallied outside the courthouse chanting and carrying banners.
The civil rights lawyer has defended her actions, saying she was only zealously representing her client.
Tagged as both heroine and radical leftist, Stewart is the only U.S. lawyer to be indicted on terrorism charges. Some observers said the case stemmed from Bush administration efforts to discourage the defense of accused terrorists.
Since her 2002 indictment, Stewart has spoken at rallies, endured a seven-month trial, been convicted, undergone treatment for cancer and become the subject of a documentary called "Who's Afraid of Lynne Stewart?"
Poster Comment:
As I remember the case, all she did was to announce his statement to the press. You have to wonder about juries and jury selection processes that would hand out convictions for trash cases like this. I had heard that the IRS uses computers to screen jurors. Has anyone read about the Feds screening out people based on their views expressed online? I think that would be the next step. If they already have a list of Americans who cannot fly and a list of people to round up in case there is a "terrorist event", then there just might be a list of people who are never seated on juries.