Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman

Prosecutorial missteps could lead to lighter sentence for activist attorney

Prosecutorial missteps could lead to lighter sentence for activist attorney
Two lawyers whose actions may have paved the way for Lynne Stewart's "crimes" were not charged.

Analysis
By Peter Duveen

PETER'S NEW YORK, December 1, 2009--Lynne Stewart, activist attorney, is to be re-sentenced tomorrow for crimes the government claims Stewart committed, and that a jury convicted her of. She was basically accused of engaging in a conspiracy to manipulate the policies of the Egyptian government through coercion, and of breaking her promise to abide by agreements she signed that would have restricted her client, the famous "Blind Sheikh," Omar Abdel Rahman, from communicating his allegedly terrorist intentions to the outside world.

The government, as represented by the U.S. Justice Department attorneys who pursued the case against Stewart, alleged that by issuing a press release announcing the Sheikh's intention to withdraw his support for a suspension of hostilities between the Egyptian government and groups friendly to him, Stewart was part of a plot "calculated to affect the conduct of the Egyptian government through intimidation and coercion."

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