Please do not allow the problems that have been caused by some folks on the WBAI Local Station Board who are seeking to manipulate Lynne Stewart's case to their own sectarian benefit affect your support for Lynne Stewart. It's a matter of principle, of fighting against fascism, to support freedom for Lynne Stewart (and all political prisoners).
To that end, at the request of the entire WBAI Local Station Board, I sent the following letter to Judge Koetl almost a month ago, reprinted below.
It was of course written with an eye on influencing the Judge's decision, bringing up several points that I didn't think others were bringing up sufficiently. I wasn't trying to send him a political manifesto, and the Board did not ask me to write one. We are trying to get Lynne out of jail, now!
- Mitchel Cohen
Fill the court for Lynne Stewart, who is slated for sentencing on July 15, 2010, at 2:30 p.m.
Hon. John G. Koeltl United States District Court Southern District of New York 500 Pearl Street, Courtroom 12B New York, NY
#4, 5 or 6 SUBWAY downtown to BROOKLYN BRIDGE/CITY HALL STATION.
The courthouse is located 1/2 block down Pearl Street in a new high-rise building. However, for security purposes, you must use the WORTH STREET entrance. Worth Street is at the top, or north end, of Foley Square, on the left side of the two large courthouses.
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[on WBAI Local Station Board letterhed stationery]
June 7, 2010
Dear Judge Koeltl,
I am writing as Chair of the WBAI radio (99.5 FM) Local Station Board in the matter of the United States vs. Lynne Stewart, concerning your reconsideration of her 28-month sentence.
Lynne Stewart is an elected member of the Local Board who has not been able to participate, due to her incarceration. She was elected on a slate that ran against me and my colleagues, who constitute the majority of the Board.
I write the above only to accentuate the unusual consensus achieved last month when the entire (and usually rancorous) Board voted unanimously to appeal to you to reduce Lynne Stewart’s sentence and free her immediately, so that she may obtain the medical treatment she so desperately needs (and to do so without being shackled and handcuffed, as has been the case thus far), and return her to her family and the community that she served so lovingly and in exemplary fashion for so many years – including the WBAI Local Board.
As you undoubtedly know, Lynne’s health is growing more desperate. The cancer appears to have spread to her liver. She is in need of immediate and sustained treatment. But prison authorities refused her requests for a biopsy and necessary tests to be done at a non-prison hospital, where they could be performed immediately. Instead, she was forced to utilize what has been described as “a notoriously inferior facility,” delaying the results and treatment, and consequently putting her life into jeopardy.
Her health situation is one of the key factors you are charged with examining as part of your reconsideration of her sentence. It’s serious, it’s life-threatening. Please do the right thing by Lynne and reduce her sentence to time-served.
There is one other consideration that I will bring up here: A number of attorneys had made public statements on behalf of their clients not unlike those made by Lynne Stewart that were found to be in violation of the Special Administrative Measures (SAMs). Time has passed, and still no charges (thankfully) have been brought against those other attorneys for having done so. Lynne was the only one jailed. Consequently, it appears that she – as a respected radical elder – has been arbitrarily prosecuted – scapegoated, actually – for horrible events that she condemned but for which she is being blamed as helping to have caused.
I am not questioning, here, matters that have already been determined by the Court. What I am urging is that the Court consider in re-sentencing Lynne Stewart 1) her bleak medical condition and need for extensive treatment, and 2) the strangely unique prosecution of Lynne Stewart but not numerous other attorneys who also violated the SAMs, but against whom the government has not chosen to press charges. This leads me to conclude that the charges themselves have been wielded selectively, when it became politically expedient for John Ashcroft to do so. Fairness to Lynne Stewart should result in setting her free immediately.
Thank you very much for your fair-mindedness. I am appending the full Resolution by the WBAI Local Station Board, as authorized by the Board at its May 2010 meeting.
Mitchel Cohen Chair, WBAI Local Station Board
************************************* WBAI LOCAL STATION BOARD RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF POLITICAL PRISONER LYNNE STEWART
Whereas, Lynne Stewart is a duly elected member of the WBAI Local Station Board, and a member of the Pacifica family;
Whereas, Lynne Stewart, a 70-year-old People's Lawyer, continues to strenously deny the charges that have been leveled against her, yet was convicted under the USA Patriot Act of "conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, defrauding the government and making false statements." Consequently, Lynne Stewart has been disbarred as a lawyer. Her bail was suddenly and unexpectedly revoked in November 2009, and is now imprisoned, in a continuing government attempt to threaten and intimidate lawyers who present strong defense of their clients' rights against spurious "political" charges brought by the U.S. Government;
Whereas, in a dangerous and unprecedented higher-court ruling, Lynne Stewart has been ordered to be resentenced with the possibility of a much harsher sentence then the already outrageous 28 months she is currently serving;
Whereas, it is critical that these attacks be challenged in the media and especially on WBAI, the Pacifica Network, and all Pacifica affiliates;
Whereas, the WBAI Local Station Board recognizes that Lynne Stewart is a political prisoner who spent decades as an attorney defending the rights of the politically persecuted and the disenfranchised, and became a victim of the USA PATRIOT Act and its champion, Attorney General John Ashcroft;
Whereas, at the original Lynne Stewart sentencing Judge John G. Koeltl noted that there was no evidence that her actions caused any harm, and added that during her long career of representing unpopular clients, Lynne Stewart had "performed a public service, not only to her clients, but to the nation"; and
Whereas, her incarceration has deprived the WBAI Local Station Board, WBAI itself, and ultimately the Pacifica Network of valuable contributions she could make to the work of the Board and the well-being of the Station and the Network,
Be it resolved,
- that the WBAI Local Station Board applauds the coverage afforded to this case by many shows on WBAI and strongly recommends and encourages WBAI producers, hosts, and programs in news, culture, music, and PSA announcements to continue the coverage of Lynne Stewart's unjust imprisonment and unprecedented resentencing, now scheduled for July 15, 2010;
- that the WBAI Local Station Board strongly recommends that the Pacifica Foundation and each of its affiliate Stations use air time to draw special attention to Lynne Stewart's unjust imprisonment and resentencing, and the Civil Rights implications of her case;
- that the WBAI Local Station Board recommends and urges the immediate placing of this resolution, along with other support information on Lynne Stewart, on the WBAI website; and
- that the WBAI Local Station Board urges WBAI to make available to listeners petitions, announcement of benefits, and letter-writing campaigns in support of Lynne Stewart and in defense of the Bill of Rights and civil liberties;
- that the WBAI Local Station Board, through its Chair, send to the Judge a letter in support of Lynne Stewart on behalf of the entire LSB and on LSB letterhead stationery, and include this resolution as part of that letter.
Passed unanimously by the WBAI Local Station Board, May 2010.