NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court ordered a New York lawyer found guilty of carrying messages for convicted terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman to begin serving her sentence.
Lynne Stewart, 70, was given a deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday for surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service, the New York Daily News reported. She was convicted in 2005 of carrying messages for Abdel-Rahman, the blind Muslim cleric linked to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
While Stewart appealed her conviction, prosecutors appealed the sentence, arguing that 28 months was too lenient. In addition to rejecting Stewart's appeal, the court ordered a new sentencing hearing, saying U.S. District Judge John Koeltl must consider whether Stewart lied during her trial.
One member of the appeals panel, John Walker, called the sentence "breathtakingly low" in a minority opinion and said Koeltl should be ordered to reconsider whether the sentence matched the crime of giving support to terrorists.
Stewart told supporters she is ready for jail and promised to keep fighting. But she also quoted Adlai Stevenson: "I'm too old to cry, but it hurts too much not to."
