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Lynne Stewart: a Revolutionary Life Well-Lived a Biographical Glimpse by Sally O’Brien and Bob Lederer

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Lynne Stewart: a Revolutionary Life Well-Lived a Biographical Glimpse by Sally O’Brien and Bob Lederer Lynne Stewart: A Revolutionary Life Well-Lived A Biographical Glimpse by Sally O’Brien and Bob Lederer ynne Stewart led an illustrious officers of their clients, instead of Llife as a radical attorney, officers of the court. Lynne Stew- revolutionary activist, friend, mother, art was an officer of her clients; grandmother and 55-year-long a People’s Lawyer, beloved and partner to her beloved husband, respected.” Ralph Poynter. She was a sterling In addition, Lynne worked exten- example of Che Guevara’s famous sively – as both a lawyer and street dictim that “the true revolutionary activist – in the early years of the is guided by a great feeling of love.” struggle for lesbian/gay/bisexual/ In her early years Lynne worked transgender rights, including provid- as a school librarian and teacher. In ing weekly free legal consults through the early ‘60s she became embroiled the Gay Men’s Health Alliance. in the struggle for community Throughout the 1980s, Lynne control of schools, still denied to Stewart represented several revolu- communities of color today. Seeing tionaries facing major felony charges. the persecution of activists by police She was the attorney for former and courts inspired her to go to law Weather Underground member David school. Over the years, she represent- Gilbert, charged in the 1981 abort- ed hundreds of criminal defendants, ed expropriation of a Brink’s truck often at no charge. by the Black Liberation Army and SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2017 In a tribute to Lynne, political white anti-imperialists. David and Celebrate the Life of Lynne Stewart prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal said: his co-defendants, Kuwesi Balagoon “For decades, she and her (who died of AIDS in prison in 1986) Please consider supporting Lynne’s family husband Ralph fought for New and Judy Clark, faced felony-murder by contributing to their fundraising appeal. York’s political activists and charges in the shooting deaths of two Mail a check made out to revolutionaries. But mostly, they guards and a police officer. David was Lynne Stewart Organization, fought for the freedom of the never accused of firing a shot. The 1070 Dean Street poor and dispossessed of New defendants waged a political defense, Brooklyn, NY 11216. York’s Black and Brown ghettoes. indicting the system of white suprem- acy. They were convicted and sen- Or visit LynneStewart.org She – they – fought often and fought well.… The late activist tenced to 75 years to life. In a federal lawyer Bill Kunstler once opined case arising out of the same incident, that defense lawyers should be Lynne, along with co-counsel Chokwe Lumumba, won an acquittal was later tried and convicted on an- Three years later, after a trial in which attorneys and activist organizations. for their client, Black liberation fighter other murder charge and was killed in prosecutors invoked the spectre of the An online petition received 85,000 and musician Bilal Sunni Ali, who had prison in 2008.) 9/11 attacks, jurors convicted Lynne. signatures, and the support of such been charged with conspiracy. In the final years of her legal career, Prosecutors demanded a 30-year prominent voices as Archbishop In 1986 Lynne represented Richard before her later disbarment as part of prison sentence. Amid a massive nation- Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, and Williams, part of a group of under- her 2006 sentence (see below), Lynne wide campaign of letter-writing to the Dick Gregory, who initiated a hunger ground anti-imperialist revolutionaries defended several Muslims facing charges judge, John Koeltl, Lynne was sen- fast in solidarity. Even the prison war- (the Ohio 7) charged with bombing based on secret evidence. She won sever- tenced to 2-1/2 years. Outraged govern- den indicated her support, but it took corporate and government offices, al significant victories in those cases. ment prosecutors appealed – calling the several more months before Lynne’s incidents in which no one was injured. But it was her role as one of the sentence “too lenient.” While the appeal application was approved by the Bu- Richard was convicted and sentenced to attorneys for Sheikh Omar Abdel- was underway, and at the urging of the reau of Prisons and quickly signed by 45 years. He was also prosecuted twice Rahman that brought her the greatest Obama Justice Depart- Judge Koeltl. for the killing of a New Jersey police of- notoriety, and ultimately led to her ment, Lynne was suddenly Lynne was granted com- ficer. In his first trial, his co-defendant, own imprisonment. ordered to surrender to passionate release on New Tom Manning, testified he shot the The blind Sheikh was the exiled lead- U.S. marshals in Novem- Year’s Eve, 2013. officer in self-defense and that Richard er of a militant Islamist organization ber 2009. In 2010 a Fed- On January 1, 2014, the was not even present. There was a hung in Egypt. In 1995, in a media climate eral appeals court ordered then 74-year-old grand- jury. In the second trial, Richard was of anti-terrorist fervor, he and nine co- Judge Koeltl to review and mother arrived at LaGuardia convicted and sentenced to life. (He defendants were convicted of seditious re-sentence Lynne. Her OCTOBER 2010 Airport to a wildly enthu- died in prison in 2005.) conspiracy, conspiracy to murder Egyp- new sentence, imposed on her at age 70 siastic greeting by over a hundred Also in 1986 Lynne Stewart teamed tian President Hosni Mubarak, and with one bout of breast cancer behind supporters and family members, with movement attorney Bill Kunstler plotting to blow up several New York her, was ten years in federal prison. expressing her joy and gratitude to all to defend a young Bronx man charged landmarks. Lynne and the other attor- Family members called it a de facto who had worked for her freedom. with the attempted murder of 6 police neys argued that the charges against death sentence. ynne stayed true to her promise officers. The controversial case received Rahman were trumped up – with the Within three years, Lynne’s cancer Lof not going “gentle into that constant front-page coverage and gained help of an FBI informant who acted as returned and spread to several other good night.” Courageous and active, her a high media profile. Larry Davis – a provocateur – and that the Sheikh had organs, and in August 2013, after Lynne Stewart never gave in to the who later changed his name to Adam been exercising his free-speech rights lengthy delays in getting proper care medical assertion that she had 18 Abdul-Hakeem – claimed self-defense to urge the overthrow of an oppressive at the federal prison in Texas that held months to live. Defiant to the end, when a team of officers raided his sister’s regime in his native Egypt. her, the prison doctor estimated her life Lynne lived three years and three apartment, claiming they simply wanted s Lynne stated, “He’s not the expectancy to be 18 months. In a letter months more – actively organizing and to question him about the killing of sus- A first person to go to prison for his to Judge Koeltl, Lynne wrote, “I do speaking out for the freedom of polit- pected drug dealers, for which he was beliefs, and he won’t be the last.” not intend to go ‘gentle into that good ical prisoners. She died in her home, also charged. Lynne and Bill argued that He was sentenced to life in prison, night,’ as [Welsh poet] Dylan Thomas surrounded by her beloved Ralph, the charges were a frame-up to excuse and he died in February 2017. wrote. There is much to be done in this grandchildren, family and close friends. the police raid and that the case exposed In 2002, George W. Bush’s Attorney world. I do know that I do not want Lynne is survived by husband rampant police corruption. The jury General, John Ashcroft, traveled to to die here in prison — a strange and Ralph Poynter, son Geoffrey Stewart, accepted Davis’s self-defense argument Manhattan to announce Lynne’s indict- loveless place.…I want to be where all daughters Brenna Stewart and Zenobia and acquitted him on both charges but ment on charges of providing “material is familiar…in a word, home.” Brown, sister Laurel Freedman, broth- found him guilty of illegal possession support to terrorists” — merely for For 9 long months, Ralph Poynter er Donald Feltham, and 15 grand- of weapons. This was apparently the releasing a statement to the press from led a relentless international cam- children. Her courageous advocacy first time a defendant was acquitted her client, Sheikh Rahman, an act paign to win compassionate release and activism for justice and revolu- in a shootout with police based on prosecutors maintained was “passing for Lynne. There were many protests, tion are missed by many thousands self-defense. (Adam Abdul-Hakeem messages” to his supporters in Egypt. vigils, and statements of support from worldwide. .
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