Archive for the ‘Comics’ Category:
Brick by Brick, Wall by Wall…
Letter from Lynne Stewart
Dear Sisters and Brothers, Friends and Supporters:
Well the moment we all hoped would never come is upon us. Good-bye to a good cup of coffee in the morning, a soft chair, the hugs of grandchildren and the smaller pleasures in life. I must say I am being treated well and that is due to my lawyer team and your overwhelming support.
While I have received “celebrity” treatment here in MCC—high visibility—conditions for the other women are deplorable. Medical care, food, education, recreation are all at minimal levels. If it weren’t for the unqualified bonds of sisterhood and the commissary it would be even more dismal.
My fellow prisoners have supplied me with books and crosswords, a warm (it is cold in here most of the time) sweat shirt and pants, treats from the commissary, and of course, jailhouse humor. Most important many of them know of my work and have a deep reservoir of can I say it? Respect.
I continue to both answer the questions put to me by them, I also can’t resist commenting on the T.V. news or what is happening on the floor—a little LS politics always! (Smile) to open hearts and minds!
Liz Fink, my lawyer leader, believes I will be here at MCC-NY for a while—perhaps a year before being moved to prison. Being is jail is like suddenly inhabiting a parallel universe but at least I have the luxury of time to read! Tomorrow I will get my commissary order which may include an AM/FM Radio and be restored to WBAI and music (classical and jazz).
We are campaigning to get the bladder operation (scheduled before I came in to MCC) to happen here in New York City. Please be alert to the website I case I need some outside support.
I want to say that the show of support outside the Courthouse on Thursday as I was “transported” is so cherished by me. The broad organizational representation was breathtaking and the love and politics expressed (the anger too) will keep me nourished through this.
Organize—Agitate, Agitate, Agitate! And write to me and others locked down by the Evil Empire.
Love Struggle, Lynne Stewart
—lynnestewart.org, December 4, 2009
To write to Lynne Stewart:
Lynne Stewart
#53504-054
MCC-NY
150 Park Row
New York, NY NY 10007
For more information e-mail us at
info@lynnestewart.org
The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
350 Broadway, Suite 700
New York, NY 10013
212-625-9696
Don’t Beg for the right to learn, Take it!
“On November 18th students from universities across California united with faculty and staff workers for a multi-day strike that reached national recognition. The action, quite possibly the most significant student action since the 60s and 70s, was the apex of months of organizing that began after Governor Schwarzenegger announced cuts to resolve a twenty-one billion dollar deficit in California’s budget. Students and workers under the University of California (UC) system faced continued budget cuts and job losses as well as an outlandish thirty-two percent tuition hike. Students throughout California at UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, Napa Valley College, and CSU Fresno, have stood united with workers against budget cuts and the proposed 32% tuition hike, with reports of more campuses taking action coming in everyday. Students and youth from around the country will look at the events that have happened the past week in California, for a model as they seek to organize similar struggles on their own campuses.” -Wes Strong
Here aTerrorist, There a Terrorist, Everywhere a Terrorist
Following the November 16 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit that rejected Lynne Stewart’s appeal of her 1995 frame-up conviction on five counts of aiding and abetting terrorism, Lynne’s legal team as well the federal district court were in a quandary as to how to proceed. [Lynne has been a leading civil and human rights attorney for 30-years. She is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and a member of the Continuations Committee of the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations.]
The Second Circuit made what amounted to an unprecedented decision to not only affirm her conviction and reject her appeal but to order that her bail be revoked and that she be remanded to prison. But lacking clear orders as to who would carry out this decision and when it would happen, the last two days have seen Lynne appear, along with her supporters at two rallies in her defense and numerous press conferences and interviews while judges and lawyers tried to ascertain what to do. That decision has been made and Lynne will begin serving a 28-month prison term.
However, the Second Circuit’s 2-1 decision also remanded the issue of the length of Lynne’s sentence back to Judge John Koeltl’s Federal District Court ordering Koeltl to reconsider the 28-month jail sentence that he originally imposed. Obviously furious at the relatively short duration of the sentence, the Second Circuit accepted the prosecution’s assertion that Koeltl had not properly considered the question of whether or not Lynne has perjured herself during her trial. If that were to be determined, according to the Second Circuit, the length of Lynne’s sentence could be extended. The single dissenting judge went further – expressing his outrage at Lynne relatively short sentence and suggesting that a qualitatively longer sentence be imposed than the majority contemplated. The government originally demanded a 30-year sentence!
Still fighting, Lynne’s attorney’s will ask the Second Circuit for a delay in her incarceration based on Lynne’s scheduled December surgery. Here too, Lynne guesses that this will be denied, with the court holding that prison facilities are adequate for any medical needs that Lynne, a diabetic with hypertension and recovering from breast cancer surgery, may have.
Meanwhile, a new sentencing hearing before Judge Koeltl is scheduled for December 2 at the Foley Square Courthouse. Federal prosecutors are expected to ask for the maximum sentence possible. Also appearing in court will be Mohammed Yousery, Lynne’s innocent co-defendant and translator. Koeltl was also ordered to reconsider Yousery’s 20-month sentence. The prison term of a third defendant in Lynne’s case, Ahmed Sattar, who was sentenced to 20-plus years, was not challenged.
At this point we can only speculate as to whether Judge Koeltl will stand by his original sentence or be pressured by the Second Circuit to extend Lynne and Mohammed’s sentence. The judge is known to carefully consider his sentences. Close observers believe that he is unlikely to bend and impose a longer sentence.
Should Koeltl refuse to add additional years to Lynne’s prison term, the government is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Government prosecutors and obviously the Second Circuit are outraged that a “convicted terrorist” has been walking around the streets for the past five years, free to champion her own cause and those of all others who suffer political repression. It was clear from Judge Koeltl’s short sentence and high praise of Lynne’s record as an attorney and human being, a “credit to her profession,” said Koeltl during the sentencing hearing, that he felt compelled to take his distance from the government’s desire to put Lynne, 70, in prison for what would amount to the rest of her life.
Lynne will appeal the Second Circuit’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. She has repeatedly stated that her prosecution and persecution are consciously orchestrated by the government to chill the defense bar, that is, to instill the fear of government prosecutions into any attorney who seeks to afford alleged terrorists or others who are victims of unjust government persecution, a vigorous and dedicated defense. Lynne points to the upcoming U.S. prosecution efforts of Guantanamo prisoners as a prime example.
Again, join us on Monday, November 23 at 5:00 pm at the San Francisco Federal Courthouse, 7th and Mission.
For further information contact: Jeff Mackler, Coordinator, West Coast Lynne Stewart Defense Committee 510-268-9429 jmackler@lmi.net
Mail tax free contributions payable to National Lawyers Guild Foundation. Write in memo box: “Lynne Stewart Defense.” Mail to: Lynne Stewart Defense, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.
Fuera Golpista! Long Live the Honduran Resistance!
