[NYTr] NLG Statement on Lynne Stewart Verdict
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National Lawyers Guild
http://www.nlg.org/news/statements/LynneStewart0205.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--February 10, 2005
Contact: Michael Avery, President, 617-573-8551
NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CONDEMNS VERDICT IN LYNNE STEWART TRIAL
Urges Defense Attorneys to Continue Representing Unpopular Clients
New York. In response to todays guilty verdict in the Lynne Stewart trial,
the National Lawyers Guild condemns the message that the government is
sending to defense lawyers who choose to represent unpopular clients. After
deliberating for 13 days, a jury convicted veteran civil rights attorney
Stewart, a member of the Guild, on charges of conspiracy, providing material
support to terrorists and defrauding the U.S. government. Sentencing is
scheduled for July 15. The 65-year-old attorney faces up to 20 years in
prison. The jury also convicted Ahmed Abdel Sattar and Arabic interpreter
Mohammed Yousry.
Speaking about the prosecution of Ms. Stewart, National Lawyers Guild
President Michael Avery said, "The U.S. Department of Justice was resolute
from day one in making a symbol out of Lynne Stewart in support of its
campaign to deny people charged with crimes of effective legal
representation. The government is bent on intimidating attorneys from
providing zealous representation to unpopular clients. The National Lawyers
Guild strongly urges its own members and other defense lawyers to continue
to proudly represent clients who are openly critical of government policies.
We will not be intimidated and this prosecution has only strengthened our
resolve to oppose the repressive attacks this government has made on the
civil liberties of everyone in this country. We will also continue to stand
by Lynne Stewart.
Since Lynne Stewart's April 2002 indictment, the National Lawyers Guild has
assisted Lynne Stewart in launching a broad-based, national education
campaign about the impact that her indictment would have on the Sixth
Amendment right to an attorney. The government is hoping that lawyers will
now think twice before representing clients with unpopular views or related
to unpopular causes. Members of the Guild, through its nationwide network of
chapters, have also faulted the prosecution of Ms. Stewart based upon
violations of the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The National Lawyers
Guild condemned the governments November 2003 federal superceding
indictment as a continued attempt to undermine the attorney-client privilege
by essentially reinstating the same charges that Judge John Koeltl dismissed
as unconstitutionally vague four months earlier.
The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, comprises over 6,000 members
and activists in the service of the people. Its national office is
headquartered in New York and it has chapters in nearly every state, as well
as over 100 law school chapters. The Guild has a long history of
representing individuals whom the government has deemed a threat to national
security, including helping expose illegal FBI and CIA surveillance,
infiltration and disruption tactics (COINTELPRO) that the U.S. Senate
"Church Commission" hearings detailed in 1975-76 and that led to enactment
of the Freedom of Information Act and other limitations on federal
investigative power.
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