DECLARATION BY DICK GREGORY ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART -sign the petition
DECLARATION
BY DICK GREGORY — APRIL 4, 2013
I
hereby declare on this day commemorating the life and sacrifice of my
friend
and
brother in struggle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that in the spirit of
his
moral
legacy, I demand the immediate release from prison of the legendary
lawyer
Lynne Stewart, who devoted her entire professional life to the poor,
the
oppressed
and those targeted by the police and a vindictive State.
I
further declare that from this day forth, I shall refuse all solid food
until
Lynne
Stewart is freed and receives medical treatment in the care of her
family
and
with physicians of her choice without which she will die.
There
is no time to lose as cancer, which had been in remission, has
metastasized
since her imprisonment. It has spread to her lymph nodes, her
shoulder
and appears in her bones and in her lungs.
A
criminal defense attorney in New York for over 30 years, Lynne
Stewart’s
unwavering
dedication as a selfless advocate was acknowledged by the
community
as well as judges, prosecutors and the entire legal profession. Such
has
been her reputation as a fearless lawyer, ready to challenge those in
power,
that
judges assigned her routinely to act for defendants whom no attorney
was
willing
to represent.
In
2002, Lynne Stewart was targeted by then-President George Bush and
Attorney
General John Ashcroft for providing a vigorous defense of her client,
the
blind Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. She was charged with
conspiracy
to provide material support to a terrorist activity after she
exercised
both
her and her client’s first amendment rights by presenting a press
release
to
a Reuters journalist. She did nothing more than other attorneys, such as
her
co-counsel
former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, have done on behalf of their
clients.
The
reason for the prosecution and persecution of Lynne Stewart is evident
to
us
all. It was designed to intimidate the entire legal community so that
few
would
dare to defend political clients whom the State demonizes and none
would
provide a vigorous defense. It also was designed to narrow the
meaning
of
our cherished first amendment right to free speech, which the people of
this
country
struggled to have added to the Constitution as the Bill of Rights.
The
prosecution and imprisonment of Lynne Stewart is an ominous threat to
the
freedom, rights and dignity of each and every American. It is the agenda
of
a
police state.
I
ask you to join with me to demand freedom for Lynne Stewart. An
international
campaign has been launched with a petition that supports her
application
for compassionate release. Under the 1984 Sentencing Act, the
Bureau
of Prisons can file a motion with the Court to reduce sentences “for
extraordinary
and compelling reasons.” Life threatening illness is foremost
among
these and Lynne Stewart meets every rational and humane criterion for
compassionate
release.
Join
with me, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Pete Seeger and 6,000 other people
of
conscience throughout the world who have signed this petition to compel
the
Warden
of the Federal Medical Center, Carswell and the Director of the
Bureau
of
Prisons to act. Act now. There is no time to lose.
The
petition (below) can be found online at the Justice for Lynne Stewart
website:
www.lynnestewart.org or
at
Contacts:
Lil Gregory at 508.746.7427 to schedule interviews with Dick Gregory
and
Ralph
Schoenman at 707.552.9992 for follow up information on Dick Gregory and
the
Campaign
to Save the Life of Lynne Stewart.
PETITION
TO FREE LYNNE STEWART: SAVE HER LIFE – RELEASE HER NOW!
Lynne
Stewart has devoted her life to the oppressed – a constant advocate for
the
countless
many deprived in the United States of their freedom and their rights.
Unjustly
charged and convicted for the “crime” of providing her client with a
fearless
defense,
the prosecution of Lynne Stewart is an assault upon the basic freedoms of us
all.
After
years of post-conviction freedom, her bail was revoked arbitrarily and
her
imprisonment
ordered, precluding surgery she had scheduled in a major New York
hospital.
The
sinister meaning of the relentless persecution of Lynne Stewart is unmistakably
clear.
Given her
age and precarious health, the ten-year sentence she is serving is a virtual
death
sentence.
Since her
imprisonment in the Federal Prison in Carswell, Texas her urgent need
for
surgery
was delayed 18 months – so long, that the operating physician pronounced
the
condition
as “the worst he had seen.”
Now,
breast cancer, which had been in remission prior to her imprisonment, has
reached
Stage
Four. It has appeared in her lymph nodes, on her shoulder, in her bones and
her
lungs.
Her
daughter, a physician, has sounded the alarm: “Under the best of
circumstances,
Lynne
would be in a battle of the most serious consequences with dangerous odds.
With
cancer and
cancer treatment, the complications can be as debilitating and as dangerous
as
the cancer
itself.”
In her
current setting, where trips to physicians involve attempting to walk with 10
pounds
of
shackles on her wrists and ankles, with connecting chains, Lynne Stewart has
lacked
ready
access to physicians and specialists under conditions compatible with
medical
success.
It can
take weeks to see a medical provider in prison conditions. It can take weeks to
report
physical
changes and learn the results of treatment; and when held in the hospital,
Lynne
has been
shackled wrist and ankle to the bed.
This
medieval “shackling” has little to do with any appropriate prison control. She
is
obviously
not an escape risk.
We demand
abolition of this practice for all prisoners, let alone those facing surgery and
the
urgent
necessity of care and recovery.
It amounts
to cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of human rights.
There is
immediate remedy available for Lynne Stewart. Under the 1984 Sentencing
Act,
after a
prisoner request, the Bureau of Prisons can file a motion with the Court to
reduce
sentences
“for extraordinary and compelling reasons.” Life threatening illness is
foremost
among
these and Lynne Stewart meets every rational and humane criterion for
compassionate
release.
To
misconstrue the gravamen of this compassionate release by conditioning such
upon
being at
death’s door – released, if at all, solely to die – is a cruel mockery
converting a
prison
sentence, wholly undeserved, into a death sentence.
The
New York Times, in an
editorial (2/12), has excoriated the Bureau of Prisons for their
restrictive
crippling of this program. In a 20-year period, the Bureau released a scant
492
persons –
an average of 24 a year out of a population that exceeds 220,000.
We cry out
against the bureaucratic murder of Lynne Stewart.
We demand
Lynne Stewart’s immediate release to receive urgent medical care in a
supportive
environment indispensable to the prospect of her survival and call upon
the
Bureau of
Prisons to act immediately.
If Lynne’s
original sentence of 28 months had not been unreasonably, punitively
increased
to 10
years, she would be home now — where her medical care would be by her
choice
and where
those who love her best would care for her. Her isolation from this loving
care
would
end.
Prevent
this cruelty to Lynne Stewart whose lifelong commitment to justice is now
a
struggle
for her life.
Free Lynne
Stewart Now!
Ralph
Poynter and Family
###
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