Accused of Aiding Terror Plot, Lawyer Braces for Fight of Her Life

"I'm not a pacifist," Stewart said. "I have cried many bitter tears. There is death in history, and it's not all rosebuds and memorial services. Mao, Fidel, Ho Chi Minh understood this."

The Sheik

Former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark persuaded Stewart to take Rahman's case. His own politics have drifted far to the left and his words resonated with her.

"Ramsey said it would be a terrible black mark against progressive forces in the United States not to represent him," Stewart recalled. "He said, 'If you're a fireman and you walk by a burning building, you must run in.' "

So Stewart met the sheik. "We hit it off," Stewart said, "He's really an incredible person."

A jury, however, convicted Rahman in 1995 of terrorist conspiracy, and a judge sentenced him to life in prison, where the government imposed an order greatly restricting his contact with the outside world. Stewart continued to represent him and on May 19, 2000, traveled to his prison in Minnesota. She had earlier signed an agreement that she would not help Rahman communicate with his followers.

The government's indictment accuses Stewart of keeping up a nonsensical patter while Rahman's interpreter, Mohammed Yousry, discussed Islamic Group strategy with Rahman. The next day, the sheik dictated a letter to Yousry withdrawing his support for the cease-fire, and Stewart later released a statement to the foreign media.

The government has also indicted Yousry and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a postal employee.

Stewart doesn't deny that she violated federal regulations when she released the public statement, but she notes that she has since abided by the restrictions. And she attributes her nonsensical prison chatter to the tedium that comes with working with a translator. "Charging me with distracting the guards sounds like I was doing the hootchy-kootchy," she said.

More broadly, Stewart argues -- with support from some prominent legal ethicists -- that the government has consigned Rahman to an informational tomb. It's her ethical duty as an attorney to keep his case alive on the world stage. "His word matters," she said. "He wouldn't be the first man accused of terrorism who is released from prison when times change."

Other legal scholars counterpose another reality: Stewart's client was the leader, spiritual or otherwise, of an armed organization pursuing devastating attacks on the United States and its allies.

"Lynne was representing a very scary person, and she knew that going in," said James Jacobs, the Warren E. Burger professor of constitutional law at New York University. "It should have been very clear that she had to worry about crossing any line."

Stewart has traveled and spoken often since her indictment, reflecting her belief that the best way to avoid demonization is to let people -- not to mention potential jurors -- hear her voice. This is why she plans to testify at length -- and why the prosecution has sought to bar any mention that she's a grandmother. But she acknowledges that the shadow of a four-decade jail term looms over everything.

"You are not optimistic," she said, "because you understand the odds and the tremendous power of the federal government." Her voice trails off, then she brightens.

"My role, my role now is to play the poster girl fighting Ashcroft," she said. "Besides, who on a jury wouldn't love me?"