Letter from Lynne…
A Cri de Coeur from Lynne Stewart:
From Deep in the Belly of the Beast … that is, Texas.
Now another month has passed and I am getting increasingly irritable that these jokers are so cavalier with my life and what time I have left. (I also am getting weaker.)
My application for compassionate release is moving but glacially (Are there any glaciers left? Only in the bureaucracy…). We learned that the request has left the General Counsel’s office of the Bureau of Prisons in Washington and is now being considered by an „Independent Committee“ (whatever that means). From there it will ostensibly go to the Director, Mr. Samuels, for the final recommendation and request for a motion to the Judge.
As you can appreciate there is still plenty of room for slips between cup and lip. I truly understand that I, with the strong and consistent support of all 30,000+ of you, do constitute a „threat“ in their small universe. That is to say that, the will of the People cannot be ignored forever. With that in mind, I want to urge everyone to come on out on Oct. 8..
Protest for Lynne Stewart Oct 8
OCTOBER 8, TUESDAY,
MY 74th BIRTHDAY
FOR A LOCAL SHOW OF OUR COLLECTIVE WILL
IN OPPOSITION TO THE ‚“DEATH PENALTY „
ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE
YOU AND YOUR COMRADES, FRIENDS, ACQUAINTANCES CAN GATHER AT YOUR LOCAL FEDERAL (U.S.) COURTHOUSE OR POST OFFICE TO REMIND THEM THAT WE WILL NOT LET ME DIE IN A JAIL CELL!!!
If you can do this please notify Ralph of your location by sending an email to my web site or to this site. We hope this will be nationwide and we can spread the word of the senseless cruelty in the way the Bureau of Prisons administers a program that is supposed to be compassionate. I may be the „poster child“ but this is done on behalf of all the prisoners who are languishing, in pain or worse, trying to go home.
Be out there on October 8. It is already an historic day. Let’s make it More So!!! Let’s Win.
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Compassionate Release for human rights lawyer Lynne Stewart
Neueste Informationen über Lynne Stewart
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Dear comrades and friends,
I want to draw your attention to the letters of NYC Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild to Attorney General E. Holder and the Bureau of Prisons, published at
Please continue to contact President Obama, Attorney General Holder, and Director Samuels, Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Find enclosed my email to Samuels, Cc-ed to Eric Holder, and Lynne’s husband Ralph
http://www.bop.gov/about/contactus.jsp
There’s an article at AlterNet that Obama has overall granted clemency at a lower rate than any modern president.
Why Won’t President Obama Free More Prisoners?
… President Obama has given just one person [5] early release from prison. As ProPublica has documented, Obama has overall granted clemency at a lower rate than any modern president [6], which includes both commutations – early release – and pardons. Last year, ProPublica reported that the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney rarely gives positive clemency recommendations to the president. Experts have been calling for reform [7] of the entire clemency process. …
http://www.alternet.org/print/civil-liberties/why-wont-president-obama-free-more-prisoners
So it is most urgent to get the “lame nags”* going, and bombard them with letters and make them “Move your bloomin’ arse!” (copyright: Bernard Shaw)
Yes, WE can. We must not allow that they sacrifice Lynne on the altar of politics and inhumanity!
Solidarity Without Borders – Solidarität ohne Grenzen
Heinz
* no offence intended, I am a lame nag myself, and try to “move my bloomin’ arse”
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—– Weitergeleitete Message —–
Von: „info@freemumia.com“ <info@freemumia.com>
An: MumiaNYC@yahoogroups.com
Gesendet: 8:00 Samstag, 10.August 2013
Betreff: [MumiaNYC] Urgent Update on Lynne Stewart
The report immediately below was written Thursday. Note the link to the Democracy Now segment yesterday (before the court hearing) – a shorter update was aired Friday. The intro to Thursday’s show is pasted below, as is an article on the hearing on the Wall Street Journal blog.
Please keep writing and calling the Bureau of Prisons and collecting petition signatures – details below. We must bring Lynne home!
No decision on Lynne Stewart today
but urgent action needed
Dear Friends of Lynne Stewart,
This brief report is based on my conversation this evening with Lynne’s husband, Ralph Poynter, who attended today’s (August 8, 2013) hearing before Judge John Koeltl in his Foley Square federal district court in New York City.
Koeltl did not make any decision today. He did not indicate a date when a decision would be rendered.
But he did, roughly speaking, state that the letter of law was on the side of the prosecution while the spirit of the law was on the side of Lynne Stewart. The „law“ that Koeltl referred to supposedly prohibits him from considering a request for compassionate release that does not come from the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The latter rejected Lynne’s request and thus the prosecution argued that neither Lynne nor Judge Koeltl had standing to make or consider Lynne’s request. But Koelt pointed out or implied that the BOP did not properly consider the medical evidence, which is constantly changing. He implied that the BOP might have violated this requirement under the law. The BOP, for example, stated that Lynne’s condition was improving while Lynne’s Forth Worth doctors, following her recent PET Scan, changed her prognosis from 24 months to 18 months. This was based on the fact that the size of the malignant tumors in her lungs had increased. Lynne has Stage 4 breast cancer.
The BOP has apparently been faced with a dilemma. It’s record over the past 30 years since the 1984 law providing for compassionate release was passed has been to grant only a handful of requests, thus violating the intention of the law – to grant prisoners relief based on the medical evidence and other extraordinary circumstances.
Lynne’s attorney Jill Shellow argued that the BOP had effectively violated the intention of law itself but nevertheless considered itself immune from appeal at the same time – a Catch 22 scenario to say the least. Koeltl is thus faced with making a decision that could open the door to thousands of others to apply for and receive compassionate release. In the view of Ralph Poynter, today’s hearing was not a total defeat in that Koeltl seemed to leave the door open to an alternative but still unstated solution. No timeline was set for his decision.
Indeed, Lynne has already filed a second request for compassionate release based on the new medical evidence of her deteriorating condition. At the same time Lynne’s appeal for a writ of certiorari (request that the Supreme Court hear her case) is still pending. A terrible tragedy may well be in the making wherein Lynne wins her appeal in court and is formally freed and vindicated AFTER she is dead should she be denied compassionate release!
The struggle for every second of Lynne’s life continues with full force. Lynne is urging all her supporters and defenders of human and democratic rights everywhere to vigorously renew their letters to BOP director. Write to him or call as follows:
Mr. Charles E. Samuels, Jr., Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street, NW Washington, DC 20534 Re: Lynne Stewart, #53504-054 Compassionate Release ~ or CALL: 202-307-3250
This campaign is critical as are your efforts to bring Lynne home to receive the best medical care possible at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NY.
In solidarity,
Jeff Mackler, West Coast Coordinator, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
510-268-9429
WATCH today’s Democracy Now segment with Ralph Poynter speaking on Lynne Stewart: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/8/i_do_not_want_to_die Amy Goodman will give a brief update on the case tomorrow, Friday Aug 9 on DN.
KEEP THE PRESSURE ON:
Lynne has filed a SECOND request for Compassionate Release, so please continue to get signatures on thepetition at http://lynnestewart.org/
HELP: Call Ralph Poynter (917) 853-9759 if you can help
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August 8, 2013, 6:12 PM
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2013/08/08/judge-hints-against-early-release-for-lynne-stewart/tab/print/
By Pervaiz Shallwani
A Manhattan federal judge hinted Thursday that he has no legal jurisdiction to grant jailed civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart early release because she is dying of breast cancer.
Ms. Stewart, 73, was convicted of helping an Egyptian sheik relay jailhouse messages to his followers. Her attorney filed a petition last week asking the judge to end her 20-year prison sentence and release her into the care of her family under „compassionate release.“
During Wednesday’s scheduled hearing on the petition U.S District Judge John Koeltl said he would be violating federal law if he considered her petition.
„If I grant your motion, I would be violating the plain words of the statute,“ Judge Koetl told Ms. Stewart’s attorney.
Ms. Stewart was not at the hearing. She is currently being housed at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.
Under law, it would be up to the bureau of prisons to ask the judge to release Ms. Stewart. Roughly a month ago, the prison warden denied Ms. Stewart’s request, stating that while her illness is „very serious“ she is not suffering from a condition that was terminal within 18 months, according to court documents. Ms. Stewart filed a new petition this week after doctors revised her prognosis to less than 18 months, her attorney said.
The judge spent roughly an hour hearing arguments from both sides. He did not give a time frame for when he would make a decision.
Ms. Stewart is suffering from stage IV breast cancer and now has less than 18 months to live, her attorneys said.
Citing federal law, prosecutors argued that Ms. Stewart does not have jurisdiction to file the motion and the judge has no authority to hear it.
„We don’t believe she has a right to make this motion“ Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Dember said. „Nobody is disputing Ms. Stewart’s wellness.“
Attorney Jill Shellow argued that there was no rational basis for the bureau of prisons to deny her client’s release. She argued the judge has broad discretion under Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
„There is no question Ms. Stewart satisfies the requirements [for compassionate release],“ Ms. Shellow said, adding that the court has the power „to exercise mercy and reduce the sentence.“
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Thursday, August 8, 2013
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/8/i_do_not_want_to_die
„I Do Not Want to Die in Prison“: Cancer-Stricken Lawyer Lynne Stewart Seeks Compassionate Release
Lawyers for imprisoned attorney Lynne Stewart head to federal court today to seek her release from prison. Now 73 years old, Stewart is dying from cancer in a Texas prison. Last month, Stewart’s treating physician in prison estimated her life expectancy is approximately 18 months. This comes after the Federal Bureau of Prisons denied Stewart’s request for early release — a denial her lawyers are appealing and hope to address today in a hearing before her original sentencing judge, Judge John Koeltl. In 2010, Stewart was sentenced to 10 years in prison for passing messages from her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, to his followers in Egypt. In a letter to Judge Koeltl, Stewart wrote: „I do not intend to go ‚gently into that good night‘ as Dylan Thomas wrote. There is much to be done in this world. I do know that I do not want to die here in prison — a strange and loveless place. I want to be where all is familiar — in a word, home. … I have no grandiose plans — just good food, conversation, music. That is what I look forward to. And of course, my beloved husband Ralph — my hero and help, my heart, through all the last 50 years. I need him and his strength and love now to be close to me as I get ready for the nearing moments of transition and then rest. If you indeed represent the merciful hand of the law, as against, in this case, a heartless bureaucracy, do not punish me further. Grant me release and allow me to die in dignity.“ We speak to her husband Ralph Poynter, her daughter Zenobia Brown, and her attorney Jill Shellow.
Transcript [Read it at http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/8/i_do_not_want_to_die]
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http://www.workers.org/2013/08/06/a-message-from-lynne-stewart-to-all-of-us/