Lawyer Lynne Stewart Convicted of Helping Terrorists

Larry Neumeister, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A veteran civil rights lawyer was convicted Thursday of crossing the line by smuggling messages of violence from one of her jailed clients — a radical Egyptian sheik — to his terrorist disciples on the outside.

The jury has been deliberating off-and-on over the past month in the case of Lynne Stewart, 65, a firebrand, left-wing activist known for representing radicals and revolutionaries in her 30 years on the New York legal scene. The jury deliberated 13 days in all.

Stewart faces up to 20 years in prison on charges that included conspiracy, giving material support to terrorists and defrauding the U.S. government.

A National Call for Nonviolent Resistance

To the Continuing War in Iraq

“The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours.” — Dr. Martin Luther King

The war in Iraq continues to escalate, with more and more killed every day. The human toll has been enormous, claiming over 1,300 American lives and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives, while wounding, maiming and psychologically scarring hundreds of thousands more. This is not a war of liberation, or against terrorism. This is a war of empire building and corporate profiteering that threatens to destabilize Iraq for many years to come, while sowing new seeds of hate against the U.S. and fueling the cycle of violence and revenge.

"Hung Jury in Lynne Stewart Trial?"

Gail Appleson

NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) — The case of a U.S. defense lawyer charged with aiding terrorism is a troubling matter for a jury that may be split into supporters of U.S. President George W. Bush and those who think his anti-terrorism policies threaten civil rights.

So say some legal experts who believe the lengthy deliberations in the trial of Lynne Stewart indicate deep divisions among the 12 members of the Manhattan federal jury.

The panel, meeting just blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood, has deliberated for more than nine working days since Jan. 12.

School May Fire Professor for 9/11 Comment

Catherine Tsai, Associated Press

AURORA, Colo. — University of Colorado administrators Thursday took the
first steps toward a possible dismissal of a professor who likened World
Trade Center victims to a notorious Nazi.

Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano ordered a 30-day review of Ward
Churchill's speeches and writings to determine if the professor
overstepped his boundaries of academic freedom and whether that should
be grounds for dismissal.

Also Thursday, the Board of Regents issued an apology for Churchill's
remarks at a meeting and voted to support the university's review of
Churchill.