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October 9, 2013

Demonstrators Mark Birthday of Cancer-Ridden Jailed Lawyer Lynne Stewart 
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Jailed civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart, who is dying of stage IV
breast cancer, has spent her 74th birthday in a Texas prison. Stewart's
supporters gathered Tuesday, her birthday, in New York City to continue
their call for Stewart's release so she can spend her final days
surrounded by loved ones. Stewart's lawyers recently resubmitted her
application for compassionate release to the Bureau of Prisons after a
judge said he could not order her release unless the bureau requested it
first. Stewart has served almost four years of a 10-year prison sentence
for distributing press releases on behalf of her jailed client, Omar
Abdel Rahman, an Egyptian cleric known as the “blind Sheikh.” Her
doctor has said she has less then 18 months to live. Lynne Stewart's
husband of 50 years, Ralph Poynter, spoke at Tuesday's rally.

Ralph Poynter: "I saw Lynne about a month ago, and the last time I spoke
to her on the phone, I know she can't run, but I said, you sound as if
you were running, and she says because the cancer in my lungs is
impeding her ability to breathe. We know her body's failing, but it
would hurt very much more if her mind failed. Her mind has not failed
her, her resolve has not failed her. She is determined to outlast them
and we are determined to outlast the government and bring her home."

 

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