For her part in aiding the global jihad by disseminating messages from imprisoned World Trade Center bomber Omar Abdel-Rahman, radical leftist lawyer Lynne Stewart has received an outrageously light sentence: Civil Rights Lawyer Sentenced to 28 Months.

NEW YORK — Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced this afternoon to 28 months in prison on a terrorism charge for helping an Egyptian sheik communicate with his followers on the outside.

The 67-year-old Stewart, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, smiled as the judge announced his decision to send her to prison for less than two-and-a-half years. She had faced up to 30 years in prison.

Stewart’s defense lawyer, Elizabeth Fink told the judge just before the sentence was pronounced: “If you send her to prison, she’s going to die. It’s as simple as that.”

Stewart was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to terrorists. She had released a statement by Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind sheik sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted in plots to blow up five New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt’s president.

UPDATE at 10/16/06 12:32:48 pm:

Lynne Stewart gets 28 months in prison.

(New York - WABC, October 16, 2006) - A judge said Monday he would sentence civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart to 28 months in prison on a terrorism charge for helping an Egyptian sheik communicate with his followers on the outside.

The New York City Civil Right lawyer who faced 30 years to life in prison, smiled as the judge read her sentence. “If you send her to prison, she’s going to die. It’s as simple as that,” defense lawyer Elizabeth Fink had told the judge before the sentence was pronounced.

Earlier today, Stewart marched to the steps of court, flanked by hundreds of supporters, chanting, “Lynn Stewart must go free. No police state.” She asked them to send positive thoughts to U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl.

“Send those messages by brain wave right up to Judge Koeltl. Get him to understand what’s at stake here. Give him the strength to do the right thing,” Stewart said.

UPDATE at 10/16/06 12:39:51 pm:

One of Stewart’s co-conspirators got sentenced to 24 years: Attorney gets 28 months for aiding terrorists.

Stewart was arrested six months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, along with Mohamed Yousry, an Arabic interpreter, and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a U.S. postal worker. The indictment against them was brought by former Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2002.

Koeltl sentenced Sattar to 24 years in prison. Convicted of conspiracy to kill and kidnap people in a foreign country, he could have been sentenced to life.

“I am not a violent person,” Sattar said. “I am a human being. I am an America. I am a Muslim who practices and believes strongly in his religion.”