Comey LYNCHED ACTIVIST LAWYER for BUSHCO
Cross posted from G.D./Occupy Underground
Her name is Lynne Stewart (not Martha Stewart!). A lifetime of defending those no one else wanted to defend. Now in her 70's and dying of breast cancer in a federal prison.
In Stewart's own words:
"
LYNNE STEWART: I represented Sheikh Omar at trial—that was in 1995—along with Ramsey Clark and Abdeen Jabara. I was lead trial counsel. He was convicted in September of ’95, sentenced to a life prison plus a hundred years, or some sort—one of the usual outlandish sentences. We continued, all three of us, to visit him while he was in jail—he was a political client; that means that he is targeted by the government—and because it is so important to prisoners to be able to have access to their lawyers.
Sometime in 1998, I think maybe it was, they imposed severe restrictions on him. That is, his ability to communicate with the outside world, to have interviews, to be able to even call his family, was limited by something called special administrative measures. The lawyers were asked to sign on for these special administrative measures and warned that if these measures were not adhered to, they could indeed lose contact with their client—in other words, be removed from his case.
In 2000, I visited the sheikh, and he asked me to make a press release. This press release had to do with the current status of an organization that at that point was basically defunct, the Gama’a al-Islamiyya. And I agreed to do that. In May of—maybe it was later than that. Sometime in 2000, I made the press release.
Interestingly enough, we found out later that the Clinton administration, under Janet Reno, had the option to prosecute me, and they declined to do so, based on the notion that without lawyers like me or the late Bill Kunstler or many that I could name, the cause of justice is not well served. They need the gadflies.
So, at any rate, they made me sign onto the agreement again not to do this. They did not stop me from representing him. I continued to represent him.
And it was only after 9/11, in April of 2002, that John Ashcroft came to New York, announced the indictment of me, my paralegal and the interpreter for the case, on grounds of materially aiding a terrorist organization. One of the footnotes to the case, of course, is that Ashcroft also appeared on nationwide television with Letterman that night ballyhooing the great work of Bush’s Justice Department in indicting."
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/14/jailed_civil_rights_attorney_lynne_stewart
"Darkness in America: Lynne Stewart’s Resentencing
July 23rd, 2010
Darkness in America: Lynne Stewart’s Resentencing: Gets 10 years imprisonment for doing her job honorably, ethically.
by Stephen Lendman
Friday, 16 July 2010
Describing Lynne Stewart, one of this writer’s previous articles said the following:
“She worked selfishly, tirelessly, and heroically for 30 years as a human rights champion, defending America’s poor, underprivileged, and unwanted – people never afforded due process and judicial fairness without an advocate like her. She knew the risks, yet took them courageously until bogusly indicted on April 9, 2002 for:
* “conspiring to defraud the United States;
* conspiring to provide and conceal material support to terrorist activity;
* providing and concealing material support to terrorist activity; and
* two counts of making false statements.”
A brief timeline was as follows:
* indicted on April 9, 2002;
* on February 10, 2005, convicted on all counts;
* on October, 17, 2006, sentenced to 28 months;
* on November 17, 2009, a US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit three-judge panel upheld the conviction, shamelessly accusing Lynne of “knowingly and willfully making false statements,” redirecting her case to District Court Judge John Koeltl for resentencing, instructing him to consider enhancements for terrorism, perjury, and abuse of her position as a lawyer – an outrageous mandate intimidating Koeltl to comply;
* on November 19, 2009, Stewart jailed at MCC-NY, 150 Park Row, New York, NY; and
* on July 15, 2010, Stewart resentenced to 10 years imprisonment for doing her job honorably, ethically, and admirably with distinction for 30 years.
New York Times writer John Eligon headlined, “Sentence Is Sharply Increased for Lawyer Convicted of Aiding Terror,” saying:
After her sentence, a “collective gasp went up from (her) supporters, who packed the broad, high-ceilinged courtroom….followed by a few shrieks and sobs; some held their hands over their mouths.”"
http://lynnestewart.org/2010/07/23/darkness-in-america-lynne-stewarts-resentencing/
So, a Judge ruled the new terror laws unconstitutionally vague and the most serious charges against Stewart were dropped. What was Comeys role?
"The judge's ruling yesterday left intact charges that Stewart and two others conspired to defraud the United States and that Stewart made false statements.
But the dismissal of the first two counts of a five-count indictment was a major blow to prosecutors. The case had been personally announced in April 2002 by Attorney General John Ashcroft.
U.S. Attorney James B. Comey was unwilling to concede defeat, saying in a statement that he still believes the law prohibiting material support for terrorism is constitutional and that an appeal is possible."
http://www.refuseandresist.org/article-print.php?aid=983
"On November 19, 2009, Stewart surrendered to U.S. Marshals in New York City to begin serving a 28-month sentence as prisoner #53504-054. In January 2010, the full Second Circuit bench, in a split decision, declined to reconsider its panel's affirmance and resentencing directive. On July 15, 2010, Stewart was re-sentenced by Judge Koeltl to 10 years in prison, taking into consideration what he concluded were false statements she made under oath at her trial and other factors as directed by the appellate court."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Stewart#Legal_career
So, we are supposed to believe this guy won't use the power of the F.B.I. to go after activists?
Comey does have some who vigorously defend him.
Rush Limbaugh - "RUSH: Let's start off here with the wrist-slap that Lynne Stewart got yesterday from a Clinton appointed federal judge. It's not just the judge in this case, though, who needs to be examined. Lynne Stewart represented the blind sheik, Omar Abdel Rahman. She violated canons of legal ethics. As part of his sentence, he is not allowed to communicate with any of his terrorist buddies. She, his lawyer, did it for him. She could have received up to 30 years in jail, but she gets 28 months. She's going to appeal that. She'll remain out, I think, on appeal, and depending on which judge and court she gets on the appeal, she could have the whole thing stricken.
It was a very interesting case presented by her defense. (paraphrased) "Hey, she's helped the poor! I mean, you gotta examine this woman's life in toto. She helped the poor, and she's had breast cancer, and she's overweight, and that means that she's more prone to producing more estrogen. That means the breast cancer could come back, and it's harder to detect breast cancer in overweight women," and the judge said, (paraphrased) "Yeah, you know what, I kind of like those arguments," and decided on 28 months. The lesson there is that if you do good works earlier in your life and end up before a Clinton appointed federal judge and you are a Democrat, the good works early in your life will mitigate crimes that you commit later on in life."
Even on D.U., it seems most people have forgotten the horror show that was the Bush administration. Someone posted about Lynnes situation, and no one seems to remember this...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101661482
So a lot of people think Comey is a real civil libertarian. I say anyone who thinks as a progressive should be appalled by this nomination.
= new reply since forum marked as read
For your courage and integrity.
"The Department of Defense is training all of its personnel in its current Antiterrorism and Force Protection Annual Refresher Training Course that political protest is "low-level terrorism."
The Training introduction reads as follows:
"Anti-terrorism (AT) and Force Protection (FP) are two facets of the Department of Defense (DoD) Mission Assurance Program. It is DoD policy, as found in DoDI 2000.16, that the DoD Components and the DoD elements and personnel shall be protected from terrorist acts through a high pirority, comprehensive, AT program. The DoD's AT program shall be all encompassing using an integrated systems approach."
The first question of the Terrorism Threat Factors, "Knowledge Check 1" section reads as follows:
Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism activity?
Select the correct answer and then click Check Your Answer.
O Attacking the Pentagon
O IEDs
O Hate crimes against racial groups
O Protests
***
The "correct" answer is Protests.
A copy of this can be found on the last two pages of this pdf.
The ACLU learned of this training and on June 10, 2009 sent a letter to Gail McGinn, Acting Under-Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, objecting to their training all DoD personnel that the exercise of First Amendment rights constitutes "low-level terrorism."
"
http://open.salon.com/blog/dennis_loo/2009/06/14/dod_training_manual_protests_are_low-level_terrorism
and by having the guts to address this so have you... 
I see this as a definite message to the democratic left and to Occupy. The 1% are not amused. What's even more frightening about this is it is a 10 year term. If worse comes to worse this guy will no longer be restrained by a democratic administration.
ead your comments on another thread regarding this. Glad to know I'm not alone. 
... like a very bad dream sometimes 
is not near good enough. At least we don't have to suffer through listening to McSmirk anymore. 
http://www.bestoftheleftpodcast.com/
you might enjoy this! Gotta roll! Thank you for your comments and for caring!
...
"CALLER: Yes, Rush. How you doing?
RUSH: Fine, sir.
CALLER: It's a pleasure to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: You're a great American, and this is from a long-haired Republican conservative.
RUSH: Well, it's great to have you on the program, sir, thank you.
CALLER: Yes. I've been a long listener. This Lynne Stewart thing is like a slap in the face to all Americans. This was one of the most treasonous acts you can imagine. I think she's a traitor. You know, she's making a real example out of this woman instead of afterwards she's talking about having a party and everything or at least life imprisonment with no parole.
RUSH: Well, she walked into the courtroom acting as though she were barely alive. She walked in looking haggard, looking ragged, looking like she was in ill health, full of stress, wanted to be full of remorse, wanted the court to see her as a haggard old woman who has been worn down to the bare edges over all this, and you're right, once the sentence came down, oh, ho, let's throw a party, why, I could do this time standing on my head, she said.
CALLER: Well, like I said, Ethyl Rosenberg was a good mother and everything, left behind two sons. We executed her many years ago and stuff for a treasonous act like that, and, like I said, you know, this woman here with her ways, her liberal ways and everything just disgusts me to no end."
And I apologize for getting heavy, but this kind of thing breaks my heart. 
Especially when the M$M didn't even mention this once when announcing the news of Comey's nomination....