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Report from Northern California
Lynne Stewart: Attorney Charged with
"Terrorism"
because she stood for Rights
of Blind Scholar Shaikh Omar 'Abdel Rahman
[This report is from an area where Hamza Yusuf,
self-styled scholar of Islam,
has mesmerized Muslims with his knowledge of
Arabic. Such is the "Islam" of
these people that NONE of them was present at Ms.
Stewart's important speech.
In fact the only Muslim there was the
representative of
Jamaat al-Muslimeen
who
wrote this report.]
On Saturday, June 14th, the Marin County Peace
and Justice Coalition
sponsored Civil Liberties: Endangered. The
program included the film, UNCIVIL
LIBERTIES, a 30 minute video documenting the
plight of
Palestinian
professor, Mazen
Al Najjar, who has been jailed in a kind of limbo
situation (based on secret
evidence) since 1999. Daniel Glick, a community
organizer in Marin, spoke about
resistance to the Patriot Act and the success of
resistance so far. He
asserted that we are living in a time of
incipient fascism, then he listed the
markers of fascism: creation of scapegoats to
distract; beligerant nationalism;
cheap jingoism; disdain for human rights; control
of the
media;
corrupt
elections; cynical use of religion. Sound
familiar?
A representative of the Labor Action Committee to
free Mumia Abu-Jamal was
also a panel member during the question and
answer segment of the program. The
main speaker, however, was Lynne Stewart, a
criminal defense attorney for more
than 25 years and the attorney for Sheikh Omar
Abdel Rahman. She was
arrested April 9, 2002 for "materially aiding
terrorism." The charge was based on
the following: a press release she gave;
overheard privileged attorney-client
interviews, wiretapped conversations with the
interpreter and paralegal on the
case. The paralegal and the interpreter were also
indicted.
The indictment came two years after the alleged
acts but the motivation is
transparent to anyone willing to look at the
situation honestly. It is an
obvious attempt to instill fear in lawyers who
dare represent controversial
defendants, especially immigrant detainees caught
in the current post
9-11
sweep or
those whom the
U.S.
government has targeted for
purposes of setting an example.
As Ms. Stewart pointed out, Sheikh Abdel Rahman's
true offense is that he is
an Islamic scholar and
Egyptian
leader who dared
to speak out against
Mubarak.
She then laid out the basics of her own case.
According to the government, she violated Special
Administrative Measures
imposed by the Bureau of Prisons. These measures
are designed to restrict the
ability of Sheikh Abdel Rahman to communicate
outside of the Minnesota Prison.
That's a nice way of putting it. Sheikh Abdel
Rahman, who is blind and in
poor health, is being held in complete isolation,
kept from having contact with
other inmates, family, or friends.
The hearing for a motion to dismiss the
government's case against Lynne
Stewart had taken place just the day before (June
13, 2003). She expressed some
cautious optimism. The judge (John G. Koeltl)
overseeing the case had seemed
discerning enough to ask the government
prosecutors probing questions for which
they seemed ill prepared to answer. One central
question was not answered at
all. When he asked for a specific definition of
"material aid" (since she is
accused of giving material aid to a terrorist
group), the government's lawyers
put their heads together for a number of minutes,
yet never answered the
question.
The judge had not given his decision by the time
Lynne Stewart spoke in
Marin, but she is feeling hopeful.
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2003-06-19 Thu 18:45ct