NEW YORK, Feb 11: A US civil rights lawyer known for representing radical causes over past 30 years was convicted on Thursday in a New York court of conspiracy , providing material support to terrorists, defrauding the government and making false statements.

Lynne Stewart, 65, a left-wing activist, who always espoused lost causes, was convicted of smuggling messages of violence from her client to 'his terrorist disciples'.

She vowed to fight her conviction for smuggling messages of violence from one of her jailed clients to his terrorist disciples. Her conviction was considered to be a major victory for the US Justice Department.

Ms Stewart represented Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted in 1995 of conspiring to attack US targets - a plot prosecutors say included the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center - for eight years until her 2002 arrest.

The anonymous jury, which deliberated 13 days over the past month before convicting Ms Stewart, also convicted a US postal worker, Ahmed Abdel Sattar, of conspiracy for plotting to 'kill and kidnap persons in a foreign country' by publishing an edict urging the killing of Jews and their supporters.

A third defendant, Arabic interpreter Mohamed Yousry, was convicted of providing material support to terrorists. Ahmed Sattar could face life in prison and Mohamed Yousry about 20 years.

"It's a dark day for civil liberties and for civil liberties lawyers in this country," attorney Ron Kuby said on Thursday. "In the post 9-11 era, where dissidents are treated as traitors, it's perhaps no surprise that a zealous civil rights lawyer becomes a convict."