Saturday, February 12, 2005

Runaway Prosecution: A National Outrage

Lynne Stewart

“I don’t know the (very complex) ins-and-outs of the case, but I was never really comfortable hopping on the Lynne Stewart bandwagon (nor were many others on ‘the left,’ either). While her prosecution seems to have been obviously politically motivated and timed, at the same time, from the little evidence I had time to thoroughly analyze, it seemed she might well have been guilty.”

I recently signed up for a “radical” listserv through which the above comments were distributed. Based on my observations, I’ve drawn different conclusions. I believe there’s a great number of people on “the Left” and elsewhere across the political spectrum who believe Lynne Stewart’s prosecution and subsequent conviction are a farce and an abomination.

The prosecution already has huge advantages at all levels of our legal system. And now federal attorneys have successfully used stricter “anti-terrorism” measures instated during the Clinton administration to obtain a guilty verdict against a lawyer for issuing a press statement by her client and for allegedly attempting to conceal a conversation between her client and an Arabic translator.

Stewart faces up to 45 years in prison when she comes up for sentencing in July, an absurd level of punishment for her alleged crimes.

From the “war on terrorism” to the “war on drugs” to the extreme prison sentences meted out in many recent corporate scandals, the U.S. legal system has spiraled out of control. With the U.S. Congress and state legislatures busily writing new laws that will further curtail our freedoms and give even more power to the prosecution, we will continue to see verdicts similar to those issued this week against Stewart and Syracuse, N.Y.-based doctor Rafil Dhafir.

We must express our anger with the U.S. legal system, even if we didn’t feel comfortable “hopping on the Lynne Stewart bandwagon” when she was first charged in 2002. One outlet is a “National Day of Outrage” planned by the National Lawyers Guild (see below). -Mark Hand

The National Executive Committee of the NLG calls on all Guild chapters to organize and to take part in local actions as part of a “National Day of Outrage” in response to yesterday’s Lynne Stewart verdict, which we see as an attack not only on our cherished colleague and fellow NLG member but also on all members of the legal community who represent unpopular clients and causes. We are calling for this coordinated day of action to be held next Thursday, February 17 in your cities, towns, and, if you are a law student, at your school. We are putting together a list of suggested actions to take and will send this out ASAP. Please begin making arrangements and stay tuned for more information.

This will be just one step in our ongoing support for Lynne Stewart and in defense of all of those who take on controversial cases.

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