Home | People | Architecture | Landscape | Documentary | Travel | Events | Shop/Donate | Artist
Peace Movement
Heroes of the Bill of Rights
A benefit for:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee, Mobolization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
Lynne Stewart
Prominent Civil Right Attorney
Michael Ratner
President of the Center for Constitutional Rights
Sunday, Feb 25, 2007 @ 2:00 PM PST
Main Hall, Unitarian Universalist Church, 505 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto, CA
 Lynne Stewart - prominent civil rights attorney - argues passionately for civil rights  Michael Ratner on human rights  The Panel listening to Lynne Stewart  Organizer Paul George of PPJC kicks off the gathering  Michael Ratner - President of Center for Constitutional Rights  Jeff Mackler - Director of Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal  Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal with Jeff Makler  Dreaming for peace  Organizer Paul George of PPJC with Lynn Stewart  Ralph Poynter - husband and firm supporter of Lynne Stewart  Audience  Lynne captivates the audience  Julia - Assistant Director PPJC and Volunteer Patti Schaffer take care of logistics Lynne Stewart, a prominent radical civil rights attorney, was falsely accused of helping terrorists. Although the jury found her technically guilty, the Federal Judge in charge of the case clearly signaled his displeasure with prosecutors and the entire case when he sentenced Stewart to a little over two years in prison--when the prosecutors had requested a thirty-year sentence. The judge is allowing Stewart to remain free on bail while she pursues appeals. Clearly, the Federal Judge does not think Lynne Stewart is a terrorist. Federal prosecutors have appealed Stewart's lenient sentence, meaning she may yet face thrity years in a federal penitentiary. This is an obvious attempt by the U.S. government to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and install fear in those who would fight against the U.S. government's racism, seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech and defend the rights of all oppressed people. Michael Ratner is president of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a non-profit human rights litigation organization. In November, CCR filed a criminal complaint against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The complaint is a request for the German Federal Prosecutor to open an investigation and, ultimately, a criminal prosecution that will look into the responsibility of high-ranking U.S. officials for authorizing war crimes in the context of the so-called ˇ°War on Terror.ˇ± Ratner was co-counsel in representing Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United States Supreme Court, where his clients won a major victory in June 2004 that gave them the right to test the legality of their detentions. Ratner is also a past president of the National Lawyers Guild and the author of numerous books and articles, including the books Against War with Iraq and Guantanamo: What the World Should Know, and a textbook on international human rights. Sponsored by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, Mobiization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, National Lawyers Guild - Bay Area Chapter, South Bay Mobilization. |
|