Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart disbarred after conviction for aiding terror client

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart disbarred after conviction for aiding terror client
Jeannie Shawl at 9:22 AM ET

[JURIST] Convicted civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart [defense website] was disbarred from the New York Bar after her request to voluntarily resign from practicing law was rejected. Stewart was convicted [JURIST report; JURIST video] in 2005 of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists [18 USC 2339A text] for helping imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman [Wikipedia profile] communicate with his terrorist followers. Stewart was also convicted of defrauding the government for violating rules that had been put in place to prevent Abdel-Rahman from communicating with the outside world following his 1995 conviction of seditious conspiracy for plotting to blow up several New York city landmarks. She was sentenced to 28 months in prison [JURIST report] in October 2006.

Stewart has insisted that she "is not a traitor" [letter, PDF] and has said that she was only advocating for her client. She remains free pending appeal of her conviction. AP has more.