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<font face="arial" size=5><b><a name="content"></a>Rights Lawyer Vows to
Appeal Conviction</b></font><a name="content"></a><font size=3> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4793237,00.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4793237,00.html<br>
</a><b>Friday February 11, 2005 8:31 AM</b></font><font size=3>
<br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2><b>AP Photo NYDK103</b> <br><br>
<b>By LARRY NEUMEISTER</b> <br><br>
<b>Associated Press Writer</b> <br><br>
NEW YORK (AP) - A veteran civil rights lawyer known for representing
radicals and revolutionaries in her 30 years on the New York legal scene
has vowed to fight her conviction for smuggling messages of violence from
one of her jailed clients to his terrorist disciples. <br><br>
Lynne Stewart, 65, a firebrand, left-wing activist, was convicted
Thursday of conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists,
defrauding the government and making false statements. <br><br>
``It's a dark day for civil liberties and for civil liberties lawyers in
this country,'' attorney Ron Kuby said Thursday. ``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.'' <br><br>
Kuby, who briefly represented Omar Abdel-Rahman after the radical
Egyptian sheik's 1993 arrest, said the verdict was a ``terrible message
to send at a time when we need civil rights lawyers more than ever.''
<br><br>
A tearful Stewart insisted she did nothing wrong after taking over
Abdel-Rahman's case and representing him until her arrest in 2002. The
blind cleric was convicted in 1995 of plotting to blow up New York
landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president. <br><br>
``I hope this is a wake up call to all the citizens of this country,''
she said outside court. ``You can't lock up the lawyers.'' <br><br>
Lawyers have said Stewart most likely would face a 20-year sentence. She
will remain free on bail but must stay in New York until her July 15
sentencing. <br><br>
Vowing to appeal, Stewart blamed the verdict on inflammatory evidence
that included videotape of Osama bin Laden urging support for the jailed
Abdel-Rahman, who prosecutors said communicated with the outside world
with Stewart's help. <br><br>
``When you put Osama bin Laden in a courtroom and ask the jury to ignore
it, you're asking a lot,'' she said. <br><br>
Other lawyers viewed the verdict as reasonable. <br><br>
``I think lawyers need to be advocates but they don't need to be
accomplices,'' said Peter Margulies, a law professor at Roger Williams
University in Rhode Island who has studied terrorism cases. ``I think the
evidence suggested that Lynne Stewart had crossed the line.'' <br><br>
The trial focused on the line between zealous advocacy and criminal
behavior by a lawyer. Some defense lawyers saw the case as a government
warning to attorneys to tread carefully in terrorism cases. <br><br>
``The purpose of this prosecution ... was to send a message to lawyers
who represent alleged terrorists that it's dangerous to do so,'' said
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who
was not involved in the case. <br><br>
The jury heard two vastly different portraits of Stewart. Prosecutors
described her as an essential and willing aide to terrorists, while
defense attorney Michael Tigar focused on a lengthy legal career of
representing the destitute and the despised. <br><br>
The trial before U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl began in late June,
with prosecutor Christopher Morvillo telling the jury in his opening
statement that Stewart ``used her status as a lawyer as a cloak to
smuggle messages into and out of prison.'' He said she allowed
Abdel-Rahman, the blind sheik, to ``incite terrorism.'' <br><br>
Prosecutors said Stewart broke a promise to the government by letting
outsiders communicate with the sheik, who was in solitary confinement
under special prison rules designed to stop him from communicating with
anyone except his wife and his lawyers. <br><br>
Tigar suggested the case was an intrusion into attorney-client privilege
as the government eavesdropped on prison conversations between Stewart
and the sheik. <br><br>
The anonymous jury, which deliberated 13 days over the past month before
convicting Stewart, also convicted a U.S. postal worker, Ahmed Abdel
Sattar, of conspiracy for plotting to ``kill and kidnap persons in a
foreign country'' by publishing an edict urging the killing of Jews and
their supporters. A third defendant, Arabic interpreter Mohamed Yousry,
was convicted of providing material support to terrorists. Sattar could
face life in prison and Yousry about 20 years. <br><br>
--- <br><br>
Associated Press writers Tom Hays and Michael Weissenstein contributed to
this report. <br>
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