Civil Liberties Under Fire

Lynne F. Stewart, the New York civil rights attorney who faces up to 30 years in prison on charges of supporting terrorist activity by smuggling messages from her imprisoned client to his followers, says she is "buoyed up the tremendous support" she is receiving from the general public.

Stewart, who has effectively defended high-profile clients over the past three decades, including some considered political radicals, recently sat down for an exclusive interview with me about her case. She vehemently maintains her innocence.

The public facts of the case are that her client, blind Muslim scholar Shiekh Omar Abdel Rahman, was found guilty of supporting the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. Lynne Stewart said she defended him at the request of former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, "to demonstrate and uphold the basic fairness of the American judicial process."

The trial of Lynne Stewart has sent chills through civil rights communities in the United States. An attorney tried and punished for defending an unpopular client is seen as a major setback to due process and equal justice not only in this country, but elsewhere as well.

Civil rights advocates caution that sentencing the 65-year-old attorney will yield a number of negative consequences: intimidating other lawyers from defending unpopular clients, causing fear of similar retaliation, creating an atmosphere in which minorities have little hope of receiving justice and giving a green light to oppressive regimes in the world to do the same.

A New York jury found Stewart guilty on February 10. She was immediately disbarred, prohibited from practicing law but allowed to remain free on bond pending sentencing on September 23.

As reported in New York Law Journal in its Nov 12, 2004 issue, "Stewart is accused of intentionally violating a muzzle placed on the sheik by the former Southern District lead terrorism prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, when she issued, in the sheik's name, the press release on the [Israeli-Palestinian] cease-fire in June 2000. Her announcement and several other actions she took during visits to the sheik at a Rochester, Minn. prison in 2000 and 2001 allegedly violated attorney affirmations she signed promising to abide by the prison restrictions known as special administrative measures (SAMs)."

Her trial has raised concerns among civil rights organizations who are challenging the U.S. PATRIOT Act, which gives police authorities sweeping powers to indiscriminately search the homes and personal records of citizens.

Apparently, Stewart's case has been colored by the prosecution's perspective on the Arab-Israeli conflict. As reported in the New York Law Journal, Stewart was asked:

"Do you personally support Islamic fundamentalism?" he asked.

"Personally? No, I do not," Stewart responded.

"Do you support the right of Israel to exist?" he asked.

"Yes, I believe it has a right to exist," Stewart said. "But I also believe Palestine has a right to exist and something must be worked out so they can live peaceably and compatibly."

Stewart asserted that in order to effectively defend her client, she had to explain his views in the context of his life circumstances: "When we take a view of history we see that there are times when people become so oppressed, they rise up against the oppressors. In the Middle East they are questioning authority [under] the cloak of Islam because that unites the people."

The government has charged that in so doing Stewart communicated her client's views to the outside world. This is one of several charges against her.

Lynne Stewart also shared her thoughts and feelings about the ordeal that she is presently going through.

"Sometimes I have a moment of doubt. I do have 13 grandchildren. I do want to go to games and attend graduations," said the veteran advocate during an interview in the Oakland hills overlooking the San Francisco Bay Area. "It is an uncertain future."

Stewart accused the administration of "dredging up 75,000 hours of recorded conversations" she has had with Abdel Rahman in an effort to tie her to terrorism. "War sees the shrinking of civil rights," Stewart said, "but we must speak out. We must have a public discourse. We must dialogue."

In a very lively manner, she affirms that her new lawyer Joshua Dratell, who has been involved in the defense of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, will appeal her sentence.

"Justice must prevail," Stewart said as she prepared to return to her home in Brooklyn, NY. "This case is an American issue. By challenging the case of the government, people will become more aware of just how much we are at risk of losing civil liberties."

During the trial Lynne Stewart's attorney Michel Tigar read from Ethical Consideration of an attorney, Section 2-27. "Regardless of his personal feelings, a lawyer should not decline representation because a client or a cause is unpopular or community reaction is adverse."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has upheld Stewart's position and in a statement delivered a scathing reprimand to the administration. "The ACLU of Massachusetts believes that the prosecution of Lynne Stewart is a chilling testament to what is being done to individual rights and to the rule of law itself in the name of ‘fighting terrorism'."

The right to assistance of counsel is central to the guarantee of a fair trial, but that right is under attack. U.S. citizens termed "enemy combatants" have been held for years without access to lawyers and the courts, as have those detained at Guantanamo.

When Attorney General John Ashcroft staged a press conference to announce the indictment against Lynne Stewart within hours of her arrest, he used her case as an example of why the government had to expand its monitoring of communications between some federal detainees and their attorneys. "The ACLU deplores the undermining of lawyer-client confidentiality by the Justice Department, and maintains that the "Special Administrative Measure" (SAM), which Lynne Stewart was found guilty of violating, is fundamentally inconsistent with the Sixth Amendment right to the assistance of counsel," said a statement by ACLU in February 2005.

Recently she has been invited to speak to forums across the nation. She says she is greatly encouraged by the enthusiastic support she is getting from Americans of all walks of life, ranging from law student, retired citizens, and civil rights activists.

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