Support Lynne Stewart - the "Peoples Lawyer" behind bars

Lynne Stewart: FREEDOM

By Mumia Abu Jamal

June 26, 2010

Lynne Stewart, targeted by the Bush-era Justice Dept. for daring to forcefully advocate for her client, is in danger - and only immense popular support can save her.

She's in danger not just of a recent cancer diagnosis, but of the cancerous decision of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to re-sentence her <on July 15> to a longer, harsher term than the trial court decided.

Stewart has had an exemplary career as a defense lawyer for the poor, the oppressed and those deemed unpopular by the establishment. it was in this context that she was targeted by the state and unjustly convicted of providing material support to an alleged terrorist conspiracy, for speaking out on behalf of her client, the blind, Egyptian cleric.

The late William Kunstler, a radical lawyer who represented similar clients, recently that defense attorneys should be "officers of their clients", instead of "officers of the court." *

Lynne Stewart was, like Kunstler, an "officer of [her] client", which is another reason she was targeted.

She violated what was essentially a prison regulation (called a SAM - for Special Administrative Measure), one that she probably rightly thought couldn't possibly supersede her constitutional and professional duty to defend her client. But she underestimated the base opportunism of government and the subservience of the courts, even at the costs of constitutional rights and alleged 'guarantees.'

On the evening of Thursday, July 8th, at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South (in NYC), friends, admirers and supporters of Lynne Stewart will gather together to express their solidarity with an extraordinary woman, a gifted lawyer and a person convicted for her political ideas and affiliations .

Show your love!

Mumia Abu Jamal

THURSDAY, July 8, – 6:pm
Judson Memorial Church , 55 Washington Square South

FUNDRAISER with GREAT GUEST SPEAKERS!!

WEDNESDAY, July 14,

5:pm March & Rally @ Tom Paine Park to MCC

Foley Square , Worth & Centre Street, in front of Court Buildings

7:pm Vigil in Support of Lynne behind MCC-Jail: 150 Park Row

THURSDAY, July 15, 2010: 2:30pm
SENTENCING DAY: Federal Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street , NYC

Come Early 11 am: Rally & PACK THE COURT!!!

Personal Letters to Judge Koeltl urging him to consider Lynne Stewarts’s many years of service to the people are very helpful.

Address your letter to:

Honorable John G. Koeltl, United States District Judge, Southern District of New York,
500 Pearl Street , New York , NY 10007

BUT MAIL TO:Lynne Stewart Defense Committee,
350 Broadway, Suite 700 , NY , NY 10013 .

OR 1070 Dean St. , Brooklyn , NY 11216
(Don’t mail your letter to the judge.)

The Defense Committee will accumulate the letters for the attorneys who will then submit them to the Judge.

Send letters of support to Lynne Stewart at:

Lynne Stewart, #53504-054
MCC-NY
150 Park Row
New York , NY 10007

For more information: www.lynnestewart.org

or Contact Ralph Poynter: 917-853-9759