The Forward files a feature on Cohen, including some details on his government-supported trip last October to Kuwait and Jordan to help negotiate for the release of American aid worker Peter Kassig with jihadists close to ISIS. (ISIS beheaded Kassig on Nov. 16.)
According to Cohen, the failure of his mission was in part due to the U.S. government’s failure to act when his initiative was aborted midstream, just as the talks were showing promise.
Cohen, who had also been renting loft space on Avenue D the past 10 years, also shares his disgust for the development of the neighborhood.
"Look at that building going up next door,” he said, shaking a fist at the 11-story high-rise under construction just outside his south-facing window. "Everything’s crowding in. There’s no more light in here!"
Upon his release from prison, Cohen plans live in his Catskills country home.
As The New York Times has pointed out, "Cohen's clients have included political activists and terrorism defendants, among them Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, bin Laden’s son-in-law."
6 comments:
The story in the Forward is fascinating. Thanks for sharing it, EV G.
This is the original story on Stanley and the effort to save Aid Worker and former Army Ranger Peter Kassig..From The Guardian...http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/18/-sp-the-race-to-save-peter-kassig
One of the good guys who stands against tyranny. Supposedly trumped up charges...the State looking to get into his financial records
The inside story on the Stanley Cohen bust and tax conviction.. They got former clients in jail to make up a bunch of lies and had me and others under investigation
to try and get us then use us against him. They showed up at both his places with search warrants and trucks, vans and about 30 cars expecting to find tons of pot and god only knows what else. Based on convicted felons lies. They left with one or two boxes of computer discs and hard drives. In the end all they got him on was taxes and that was his accountant's fault although Stanley should have paid more attention to the taxes because of his high profile. They even thought his deceased's dog Sadie's ashes were drugs. Fukin Morons.
The amazing Chris Hedges has a a beautiful piece on Stanely Cohen, who's been out there standing up for decency in very dangerous ways for as long as I can remember. Check it out on Truthdig, it's called "The Ordeal of Stanley L. Cohen: Justice as Farce"
Just as with Lynn Stewart, the injust machinery of the US security state is determined to destroy the careers of any attrorneys who actually believe in the concept of justice. The criminalization and persecution of American whistleblowers, truth-tellers and humanitarians - already outrageously bad under Bush - has grown exponentially under Obama.
From the "Forward" article:
Cohen is famous, or infamous for some, not just for taking on controversial clients, but also for doing so because he feels a personal or political affinity for the accused. Besides Hamas, the Islamist militant group with a record of attacks on Israel targeting civilians, those cases have included activists from Peru’s Shining Path, the Weather Underground, the Irish Republican Army and the American Indian Movement.
Wow. Shining Path, Weather Underground, IRA. He keeps great company.
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