Lynne Stewart is a woman who was an attorney. For more than thirty years she represented controversial, and often unpopular defendants. Because of work she did in providing legal council to one of her clients she was charged with conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. In 2005 she was convicted of those charges. As a result of that conviction, in 2005 she was disbarred as well as sentenced to 28 months in prison.
Lynne Stewart
For reasons that are not entirely clear, in July of 2010 the court re-sentenced Ms. Stewart. She is now serving a 10 year sentence for allegedly perjuring herself at trial. The video shown here is a portion of Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Independent journalist, Petra Bartosiewicz, is in studio with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez discussing the Stewart case on the day following her re-sentencing. Bartosiewicz, who wrote an op-ed piece in the LA Times on this issue, entitled “The Price of Defending Terrorists”, discusses the extraordinarily harsh punishment imposed on Stewart.
Commenting on her case, human rights organization Front Line, stated that it “has had a chilling effect on human rights defenders who stand between government agencies and potential victims of abuses.
The legal defense team that is fighting on Lynne Stewart’s behalf may take this to the Supreme Court.
About Sharon Kyle
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