Vol. 75/No. 5      February 7, 2011

“As the first head of New York’s terrorism prosecution unit, Fitzgerald either personally prosecuted or supervised some of the landmark terrorism cases predating the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” the Chicago Tribune reported.

One of these cases was the 1996 conviction of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim cleric, on frame-up charges of conspiracy to bomb the World Trade Center three years earlier. The Tribune reported that Fitzgerald utilized a “U.S. Civil War-era statute prohibiting planning crimes against the nation” in prosecuting Abdel-Rahman. The Muslim cleric was sentenced to life in prison on charges of “seditious conspiracy.”

Fitzgerald helped convict Abdel-Rahman’s defense attorney Lynne Stewart, who is now in prison serving a 10-year sentence on frame-up charges of “conspiracy to provide material aid to terrorist activity.” Much of the “evidence” was based on government wiretaps of more than two years of conversations between Stewart and Abdel-Rahman and videotapes of their meetings in prison.

Abdel-Rahman faced harsh restrictions in jail prohibiting him from speaking to the media, as well as strict limitations on his access to mail, telephones, and visitors. Stewart was convicted on the basis of releasing a press statement on behalf of Abdel-Rahman in 2000.

Following the court decision, Stewart said the verdict against her “sends a warning to lawyers” to not represent defendants accused by the U.S. government of “terrorism.”

Fitzgerald, a Democratic politician, is also known for prosecuting Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a top aide of Republican vice president Richard Cheney. The stated purpose of the investigation was to determine if White House officials had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act when they revealed to several reporters that Valerie Plame, the wife of a diplomat who was critical of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy, was a CIA agent.

Libby was charged with “obstruction of justice,” making false statements to agents of the FBI, and perjury while testifying before a grand jury. He was convicted of the charges and given a 30-month sentence. President George Bush commuted Libby’s prison term in 2007.

Fitzgerald was praised by the New York Times for striking a blow for justice and the rule of law by taking on the “untouchables.”

A 2005 Militant editorial, “New hero of liberals: frame-up expert,” took a sharply different stance, saying: “There is no reason to rejoice about Fitzgerald’s conduct in the Libby case. To the contrary, working people have every reason to fear that such practices would be used against the labor movement or others advocating a change of government. Special prosecutors and grand juries should be abolished altogether.”
 
 
Related articles:
Rally in Chicago opposes grand jury witch hunt
No to grand jury witch hunt!  
 
 
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