Lynne “Whiskers” Stewart was convicted of helping the Omar Abdel-Rahman aka “Blind Sheik” communicate with his jihadist followers in Egypt while he was locked up in a U.S. prison.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — The U.S. government has asked a New York judge to release a dying former civil rights lawyer who was convicted in a terrorism case from prison.

The government made the request on behalf of Lynne Stewart in a letter to U.S. District Judge John Koeltl on Tuesday. Koeltl has said he cannot release her early without a recommendation for “compassionate release” from prison authorities.

Prosecutors said in their letter that the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons was making the request along with prosecutors. The 74-year-old Stewart is not scheduled for release until August 2018. Prosecutors say she suffers from recurrent stage-four breast cancer.

Stewart has been imprisoned since 2009 after she was convicted of helping a blind Egyptian sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, communicate with his followers from prison.