Lynne Stewart Falsely Convicted on Aiding and Abetting Terrorism Charges!

In a travesty of justice and after a seven-month trial progressive New
York attorney Lynne Stewart was convicted today on conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism charges

Co-defendants Mohammed Yousry and Abdel Sattar also convicted.

Defendants face 20-40 years in jail.

Stewart has announced plans to appeal.

Stewart is currently free on bail but limited to travel in New York
State.

Lifelong progressive attorney Lynne Stewart was convicted on frame-up
conspiracy charges of aiding and abetting terrorism, of defrauding the
U.S. government and of violating a government Bureau of Prisons Special Administrative Order (SAM) when she released a press statement from her 1995 client, the Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel Rachman.

Rachman was convicted of conspiracy charges to blow up New York City
landmarks. Stewart's co-counsel in the Rachman case was former U.S.
Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who testified for Stewart at the recent
trial.

Stewart has announced her intention to appeal the charges against her.
She is currently free on $500,000 bail but limited to travel within New York State.

During the course of Stewart's seven-month trial government prosecutors failed to produce a single witness or piece of evidence linking Stewart to a single act of terrorism or to any other illegal activity.

Stewart repeatedly stated that the duty she owed to her client, Sheik
Rachman, required diligent and forceful advocacy on her part that was
not in conflict with government regulations or U.S. law.

Stewart's conviction demonstrates the continued erosion of fundamental
civil liberties in an era where the protections of the Bill of Rights
have been subordinated through new legislation to a fear generated by the government's insistence that terrorists are everywhere.

The government admitted that it had engaged in 85,000 acts of
wiretapping of Stewart's emails, faxes and phone calls. The government
eavesdropped, through hidden cameras and microphones, on Stewart's meetings with her client.

Stewart's national and local defense committee will continue to work
for the reversal of her conviction.

Details of the conviction will be presented at the media conference.

Representatives of the San Francisco legal community will be present at the media conference.
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Urgent note: An emergency defense committee meeting is set for: 298
Valencia Street at 14th Street, San Francisco at 7 pm, Sayurday,
February 12.

Press Conference/Media Conference
-for immediate release-

Date: Friday, February 11, 10:30 am
Location: Law offices: Van Der Hout, Brigagliono & Nightingale
180 Sutter at Kearney, Fifth Floor
San Francisco

Contact person: Jeff Mackler 415-255-1080

Media conference speakers:
-Attorney Mark Van Der Hout
-Attorney Stephen Bingham, former defendant in the San Quentin 8
-Carlos Villarreal, Executive Director, SF National Lawyers Guild
-Riva Enteen, KPFA Local Advisory Board
-Jeff Mackler& Larry Felson, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
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Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
298 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
415-255-1080 <jmackler [at] locrian.com>
February 10, 2004
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