Lynne Stewart

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Lynne Stewart (together with Larry Holmes , right) at an anti-racism rally in Manhattan , 2008

Lynne Stewart (born October 8, 1939 in Brooklyn , New York ; † March 7, 2017 ) was an American civil rights activist and lawyer .

Live and act

Stewart attended Wagner College on Staten Island in 1961 , where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science . She received her Juris Doctor from Rutgers University . During her legal career, she mainly represented clients who were charged with political offenses and were in opposition to society, such as members of the Weathermen and the Black Panther Party . She worked with other prominent civil rights attorneys, such as William Kunstler and Ramsey Clark , on a number of occasions .

The Umar Abd ar-Rahman case

From 1994 Stewart represented the blind cleric Umar Abd ar-Rahman , who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995 for seditious conspiracy and terrorism . Since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abolished the confidentiality obligation for lawyers in terrorist trials, the communication between lawyer and client could be intercepted by the secret service. As a convicted terrorist, Abd ar-Rahman was prohibited from communicating with the outside world under the USA PATRIOT Act . Stewart made herself a criminal offense when she established contact with the outside world on behalf of her client and sent a press release to the Reuters news agency . Stewart was immediately revoked and banned from practicing the profession . In 2009 she was sentenced to a 28-month prison term. The public prosecutor then appealed and in July 2010 received a new sentence of ten years in prison. She was serving part of the sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell , Fort Worth . She was surprisingly released on December 31, 2013. The remaining sentence that was still to be served was waived. The reason for the discharge was the severity of her cancer.

See also

Web links

Commons : Lynne Stewart  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph P. Fried: Lynne Stewart, Lawyer Imprisoned in Terrorism Case, Dies at 77. In: The New York Times . March 7, 2017, accessed March 8, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b Chris Hedges: Will a Legal Defender of Terror Suspects Die of Cancer in Prison? Truthout , April 22, 2013, accessed March 10, 2017.
  3. ↑ Aaron Maté, Amy Goodman: Jailed Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart Seeks Compassionate Release over Worsening Cancer . Democracy Now , May 14, 2013, accessed March 10, 2017.
    Alan Fire: A Nation Challenged: The Lawyer; A Persistent Defender, Even in a Mets Cap . The New York Times , April 10, 2002, accessed March 10, 2017.
  4. ↑ Larry Neumeister: Lynne Stewart, Ex-Lawyer Convicted In Terror Case, Seeks Release From Prison Due To Cancer. The Huffington Post , May 1, 2013, archived from the original on December 7, 2013 ; accessed on March 10, 2017 (English). Dolores Cox: The struggle freed Lynne Stewart! Workers World Party website, January 3, 2014, accessed March 10, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Stewart, Lynne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and civil rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 2017
Place of death Brooklyn , New York