9 April 2002. Thanks to C.
April 9, 2002
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Four people, including a Manhattan attorney, were indicted Tuesday on charges they provided material support and resources to the Egyptian-based terrorist organization known as the Islamic Group.
The indictment accuses the defendants of supporting the organization by passing messages regarding "Islamic Group activities to and from the imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman."
It further charges "that the unlawful communications with the sheik occurred during prison visits and attorney telephone calls" involving Lynne Stewart, a lawyer for the sheik, and Mohammed Yousry, an Arabic translator who also is charged.
The indictment alleges the sheik in October 2000 issued an edict titled "Fatwah Mandating the Bloodshed of Israelis Everywhere," which called on "brother scholars everywhere in the Muslim world to do their part and issue a unanimous fatwah that urges the Muslim nation to fight the Jews and kill them wherever they are."
The indictment doesn't allege any connection to the events of Sept. 11.
Ms. Stewart was arrested by federal agents Tuesday morning, according to her lawyer, Susan Tipograph.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and other officials discussed the case at an afternoon news conference.
"She has been arrested and apparently is at FBI headquarters right now," said Ms. Tipograph, reached by telephone. A woman answering the phone in Ms. Stewart's office said Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrived at about 11:30 a.m. and were executing a search warrant.
Ms. Stewart has represented Mr. Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim cleric now serving a life sentence in the U.S. for conspiring to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and blow up five New York City landmarks in the 1990s.
The four-story building that houses Ms. Stewart's offices in lower Manhattan was locked and a New York City police officer stood guard outside.
A statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan said several people were indicted "for their material support of a terrorism organization."
Mr. Abdel-Rahman, 63 years old, was among 10 defendants convicted by a Manhattan jury in 1995 of seditious conspiracy in a plot to bomb the United Nations, FBI headquarters in Manhattan, two tunnels and a bridge connecting New Jersey and New York.
Prosecutors said the defendants wanted to use urban terrorism to pressure the U.S. into curbing support for Middle East nations that opposed the sheik's extremist brand of Islam. Ms. Stewart argued during the trial that the sheik was being prosecuted for his speech.
Copyright © 2002 Associated Press
Updated April 9, 2002 1:28 p.m. EDT