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June 26, 2013

Gov't Denies Compassionate Release to Jailed Civil Rights Attorney Lynn Stewart 
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Federal officials have denied a compassionate release to the
cancer-stricken civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart. The 73-year-old
imprisoned grandmother is fighting stage IV cancer that has
metastasized, spreading to her lymph nodes, shoulder, bones and lungs.
Stewart is serving a 10-year sentence in a federal prison near Fort
Worth, Texas. In 2005, she was found guilty of distributing press
releases on behalf of her jailed client, Egyptian cleric Omar
Abdel-Rahman, also known as the "Blind Sheikh," who is serving a life
sentence for conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks in 1995.
Stewart’s prison warden had recommended that she be released to
undergo cancer treatment. But Stewart's family says it has been told by
the Federal Bureau of Prisons that her bid for release was denied on the
grounds that her "health is improving." In a statement, the
International Action Center called the government's claim "cynical and
false," and said it will hold a series of protests in the coming weeks
to demand Stewart's release.

 

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