“Please forward widely”, it said.
So here it is.
Oh, and thanks to everyone who braved the cold and came to the film screening last Friday night!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 12, 2006
Contact: Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director, 212-679-5100, ext. 11 // Michael Avery, NLG President, 617-335-5023
NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CONDEMNS FBI’S OPERATION BACKFIRE AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
…Educational Symposium Scheduled for Attorneys and Law Students
New York. The National Lawyers Guild condemns the FBI’s Operation Backfire “green scare” tactics as an unconstitutional abuse of authority. The FBI has engaged in an orchestrated campaign of issuing subpoenas to environmental activists, conducting large scale roundups of activists, levying unprecedented penalties for property crimes, and using threats of severe sanctions to leverage fear of conviction and force individuals to turn state’s evidence.
In 2004, the federal government launched Operation Backfire, a wide-scale investigation of environmental and animal rights activists. It used paid informants and conducted warrantless spying on a range of organizations. Since then, numerous individuals around the country have been arrested and charged with arson, destruction of property and conspiracy in the government’s attempts to target the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). Others were subpoenaed to testify before grand juries. Some were charged with the use of “destructive devices,” one count of which carries a mandatory 30-year sentence-two counts call for mandatory life in prison. The government is over-charging people with offenses that carry severe sanctions to force them to accept guilty pleas for a lower sentence or to intimidate them into turning state’s evidence. The National Lawyers Guild believes that the government is misusing destructive device charges and engaging in selection prosecution.
For example, in the SHAC7 (Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty) case the government in 2004 prosecuted the administrators of a website, charging them with ‘conspiracy’ to violate the Animal Enterprise Protection Act, an industry-specific statute that provides harsher sentences for those protesting animal-related businesses than say those protesting women’s health clinics. The Animal Enterprise Protection Act is a clear violation of the First Amendment, as it makes certain types of political speech illegal. Three of the SHAC7 defendants were found guilty only of conspiracy, a charge that is rarely prosecuted without a substantive offense connected to it.
“In the past few years, the Guild has witnessed a disturbing trend of targeting protesters engaged in dissent, and in imposing draconian sentences for expressing such dissent. Life sentences for property damage offenses where the actor has no intent to harm an individual are simply unconstitutional-the punishment does not fit the crime,” said Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild.
The FBI rates ALF and ELF as the number one domestic terrorist threat, calling eco-sabotage the government’s top domestic terrorism priority. The State Department’s definition of terrorism is: “premeditated politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatants.” The expanded definition of domestic terrorism in the Patriot Act punishes a person who commits a dangerous criminal act intended to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population.” The Guild is greatly concerned about the use of the word terrorism because it obfuscates issues about the evidence and the ability to fairly evaluate the merits of the case.
…on June 26, the Guild will hold a symposium, “The Green Scare: What Lawyers Need to Know,” at Cardozo Law School in New York, New York, at 6:30pm. Speakers include Lauren Regan, founder and executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Oregon; Andrew Erba, attorney for one of the SHAC7 defendants, Brendan Story of Friends and Family of Daniel McGowan, and New York civil rights attorney Daniel Meyers.
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Family and Friends of Daniel McGowanDaniel McGowan is an environmental and social justice activist, unjustly arrested and charged in federal court. Neither Daniel McGowan, nor his support group “Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan” are affiliated with any other organization or group and any claim to the contrary is speculation and is strongly discouraged.
To donate to Daniel’s legal defense, send a check or postal money order made out to “Lisa McGowan” to Lisa McGowan, PO Box 106, NY, NY 10156-106.
: Support Daniel McGowan :
: Daniel on MySpace :
: Daniel on Friendster :Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan
PO Box 106, NY, NY 10156
friendsofdanielmcg[at]yahoo[dot]comDonations : checks or money orders can be made out to “Lisa McGowan” and sent to the above PO Box or online.
——————————————————————-Security note: All email accounts and lists run by Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan are being monitored by the federal government. Please keep that in mind and be smart with your correspondence. Thanks.
See also : Defense lawyers shut out as war on terror spawns courtroom secrecy, Newsday, June 11, 2006
