Lynne Stewart’s Sentencing

by Robin Hood
Jericho Boston, www.jerichoboston.org

As many reading this will already know, on Saturday October 16, Lynne Stewart, Ahmed Abdel Sattar, and Mohamed Yousry were finally due to be sentenced after enduring a seven month long trial. After leaving work on Friday, Kazi, Myriam and I, representing the Jericho Boston contingent, set off for what turned out to be a long, almost six hour drive to New York city.

We parted ways upon arriving in New york and I head to a friends for the night. Saturday morning I made my way to the courthouse, arriving shortly after nine.

Kazi and Myriam had already made it into the courthouse. When I entered the courthouse, and got into line, behind thirty people or so, an announcement was made that the courtroom for Lynne, Ahmed, and Mohamed’s sentencing had been closed and that anyone in line attempting to go to that courtroom was told to wait outside. I decided to pretend that I was headed to another courtroom and stayed in line. Once I made it through security, I headed for the courtroom. As it turned out, many others had ignored the instructions of the pigs and had gone up the courtroom also and our numbers ranged from between fifty to sixty people standing in the hallway, right out side of the courtroom.

The emotions were high and as Lynne made her way through the crowd, fists were raised and chants of “Lynne, Lynne, Lynne…” echoed through the court building. The pigs found to this to be quite unsettling. While one of the pigs was attempting to close the door the crowd pushed forward, temporarily blocking it from closing.

“Move back, we cant close the door until everybody moves back” yelled one of the swine guarding the door.

“Looks like you got a problem Jack,” replies Kazi.

Thats when the confrontation began. One of the Martials began glaring at Kaz, trying to get him to back down.

“What you lookin at? You dont scare me man,” yells Kazi. After a few heated exchanges one of the pigs began to move closer to Kazi in a threatening manner.

“Dont touch me man, dont touch me,” said Kazi.

“Dont touch him man, keep your hands off him,” I yelled, pushing my way in between him and Kazi.

“Oh, you want trouble too huh?” the pig yelled.

“Looks like it, huh?” I said in response.

I knew that they were gunning for Kazi and figured that it would be best to have a few people in front of him.

After continued verbal exchanges between Kazi and I and the three or four pigs trying to threaten us, several more arrived to begin the process of forcing people to evacuate and head downstairs.

Although some people felt it would be best to leave right away many people chose to remain outside the courtroom. We attempted to convince our comrades to stay and demand a bigger courtroom to hold all of Lynne’s family and supporters.

The pigs started to get more and more aggressive towards Kazi and I and began to make the arrangements to have handcuffs brought up so that they could arrest us. Apparently, it is a mandatory 30 days with no lawyer if arrested inside a courtroom. At least that was what we were told. at that point it was Kazi myself, Eroc and Opp from the foundation movement and several other comrades that were refusing to leave until a larger courtroom was opened for us. The tension was high and as the pigs began to make a move to arrest us, an amazing group of women called the Raging Grannies, start shouting “no, no, no, setup, setup…” They surrounded us to try and prevent the pigs from getting to us.

At that point, a candid conversation was held as to whether or not it would have a negative impact in the sentencing if a major arrest was made outside the courtroom. Everyone agreed that it would be better for Lynne, Mohamed, and Ahmed if we de-escalated the tension and left the courtroom.

We made our way downstairs to gather our cellphones, all the while being followed by an escort of Martials.

I was half expecting the pigs to attempt to bumrush us once we were separated from the rest of the crowd but much to my surprise, they decide to let us leave the courthouse. As I made my way down the corridor to the main entrance. One of the martials shoulder checked a female comrade who was walking out of the building. She turned and screamed at him and yet another altercation began. I walked over to him and asked him what his fuckin problem was. While she was certainly capable of putting this guy in his place I wanted to have her back, just in case. As she started to walk away from him, he made another threatening comment to me.

“Fuck you, pig,” I said while turning around to see that Kazi, Eroc, and Opp hadn’t noticed the altercation and had already left the building.

“What was that?” the pork chop yelled. “Come here.” I made a quick dash for the front door and into the strength of the crowd of supporters waiting outside the courthouse.

Although we were boxed in by the police, there was a lot of positive energy coming out of the crowd of supporters. We had people from all over the country come out to support Lynne, Mohamed and Ahmed. Fred Hampton Jr., Netdahe Williams and Henekis Williams, Russell Shoatz Jr., and Pam Africa and many more came out for the sentencing. I even had the honour of meeting Puerto Rican independantista, Antonia Camancho Negron, who had himself just been released from prison not that long before.

We all waited anxiously for any information coming from inside the courtroom. Every now and then someone from each defense team would come out and give a report. The first sentence was handed to the Paralegal Ahmed sattar for 24 years. This set a very bad precedent, for the days proceedings.

Eventually we got the announcement on Lynne and Mohamed’s sentences. Mohamed was sentenced to 20 months and Lynne received 28 months and was released on bail pending appeal. While their was sadness that a 24-year sentence was handed to satter, as far as Lynne was concerned it was far far better than the thirty years that the prosecutor was looking to give to her.

When she finally exited the courthouse, we all erupted into cheers and pumped fists. Everyone headed over to the local Thai restaurant for a celebratory dinner.

Kazi, Myriam and I made our way to the car and headed on our long journey back to Boston.

Lynne Stewart’s Sentencing

by Robin Hood
Jericho Boston, www.jerichoboston.org

As many reading this will already know, on Saturday October 16, Lynne Stewart, Ahmed Abdel Sattar, and Mohamed Yousry were finally due to be sentenced after enduring a seven month long trial. After leaving work on Friday, Kazi, Myriam and I, representing the Jericho Boston contingent, set off for what turned out to be a long, almost six hour drive to New York city.

We parted ways upon arriving in New york and I head to a friends for the night. Saturday morning I made my way to the courthouse, arriving shortly after nine.

Kazi and Myriam had already made it into the courthouse. When I entered the courthouse, and got into line, behind thirty people or so, an announcement was made that the courtroom for Lynne, Ahmed, and Mohamed’s sentencing had been closed and that anyone in line attempting to go to that courtroom was told to wait outside. I decided to pretend that I was headed to another courtroom and stayed in line. Once I made it through security, I headed for the courtroom. As it turned out, many others had ignored the instructions of the pigs and had gone up the courtroom also and our numbers ranged from between fifty to sixty people standing in the hallway, right out side of the courtroom.

The emotions were high and as Lynne made her way through the crowd, fists were raised and chants of “Lynne, Lynne, Lynne…” echoed through the court building. The pigs found to this to be quite unsettling. While one of the pigs was attempting to close the door the crowd pushed forward, temporarily blocking it from closing.

“Move back, we cant close the door until everybody moves back” yelled one of the swine guarding the door.

“Looks like you got a problem Jack,” replies Kazi.

Thats when the confrontation began. One of the Martials began glaring at Kaz, trying to get him to back down.

“What you lookin at? You dont scare me man,” yells Kazi. After a few heated exchanges one of the pigs began to move closer to Kazi in a threatening manner.

“Dont touch me man, dont touch me,” said Kazi.

“Dont touch him man, keep your hands off him,” I yelled, pushing my way in between him and Kazi.

“Oh, you want trouble too huh?” the pig yelled.

“Looks like it, huh?” I said in response.

I knew that they were gunning for Kazi and figured that it would be best to have a few people in front of him.

After continued verbal exchanges between Kazi and I and the three or four pigs trying to threaten us, several more arrived to begin the process of forcing people to evacuate and head downstairs.

Although some people felt it would be best to leave right away many people chose to remain outside the courtroom. We attempted to convince our comrades to stay and demand a bigger courtroom to hold all of Lynne’s family and supporters.

The pigs started to get more and more aggressive towards Kazi and I and began to make the arrangements to have handcuffs brought up so that they could arrest us. Apparently, it is a mandatory 30 days with no lawyer if arrested inside a courtroom. At least that was what we were told. at that point it was Kazi myself, Eroc and Opp from the foundation movement and several other comrades that were refusing to leave until a larger courtroom was opened for us. The tension was high and as the pigs began to make a move to arrest us, an amazing group of women called the Raging Grannies, start shouting “no, no, no, setup, setup…” They surrounded us to try and prevent the pigs from getting to us.

At that point, a candid conversation was held as to whether or not it would have a negative impact in the sentencing if a major arrest was made outside the courtroom. Everyone agreed that it would be better for Lynne, Mohamed, and Ahmed if we de-escalated the tension and left the courtroom.

We made our way downstairs to gather our cellphones, all the while being followed by an escort of Martials.

I was half expecting the pigs to attempt to bumrush us once we were separated from the rest of the crowd but much to my surprise, they decide to let us leave the courthouse. As I made my way down the corridor to the main entrance. One of the martials shoulder checked a female comrade who was walking out of the building. She turned and screamed at him and yet another altercation began. I walked over to him and asked him what his fuckin problem was. While she was certainly capable of putting this guy in his place I wanted to have her back, just in case. As she started to walk away from him, he made another threatening comment to me.

“Fuck you, pig,” I said while turning around to see that Kazi, Eroc, and Opp hadn’t noticed the altercation and had already left the building.

“What was that?” the pork chop yelled. “Come here.” I made a quick dash for the front door and into the strength of the crowd of supporters waiting outside the courthouse.

Although we were boxed in by the police, there was a lot of positive energy coming out of the crowd of supporters. We had people from all over the country come out to support Lynne, Mohamed and Ahmed. Fred Hampton Jr., Netdahe Williams and Henekis Williams, Russell Shoatz Jr., and Pam Africa and many more came out for the sentencing. I even had the honour of meeting Puerto Rican independantista, Antonia Camancho Negron, who had himself just been released from prison not that long before.

We all waited anxiously for any information coming from inside the courtroom. Every now and then someone from each defense team would come out and give a report. The first sentence was handed to the Paralegal Ahmed sattar for 24 years. This set a very bad precedent, for the days proceedings.

Eventually we got the announcement on Lynne and Mohamed’s sentences. Mohamed was sentenced to 20 months and Lynne received 28 months and was released on bail pending appeal. While their was sadness that a 24-year sentence was handed to satter, as far as Lynne was concerned it was far far better than the thirty years that the prosecutor was looking to give to her.

When she finally exited the courthouse, we all erupted into cheers and pumped fists. Everyone headed over to the local Thai restaurant for a celebratory dinner.

Kazi, Myriam and I made our way to the car and headed on our long journey back to Boston.