FBI raid of Salt Lake City house of animal rights activists. Photo by Jordan Halliday.FBI agents and law enforcement from multiple agencies have raided a well-known activist group house in Salt Lake City, Utah, today in connection with an investigation of Animal Liberation Front crimes in Iowa.
I just got off the phone with multiple housemates [...]
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As a follow up to David Pellow’s guest post, “My Student is a Sociologist, Not a Terrorist,” here is an update from his grad student facing terrorism charges, Scott DeMuth.
DeMuth has been indicted for conspiracy to commit “animal enterprise terrorism” in relation to the unsolved Animal Liberation Front raid at the University of Iowa. The [...]
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The following is a guest essay written by David Naguib Pellow, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota and faculty advisor of Scott DeMuth:
On November 17, 2009, Scott DeMuth was jailed for contempt of court, since he refused to answer questions posed to him by a federal grand jury in Davenport, Iowa. They [...]
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The government filed an emergency motion to keep an activist in jail because he is an “anarchist” and “domestic terrorist” who associates with a “subversive,” but in a response issued Monday, an Iowa district court didn’t buy it. Scott Demuth will be released pending his trial.
Demuth has been indicted on animal enterprise terrorism charges [...]
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Posted in Activists Arrested, Legal Issues on Nov 28th, 2009
Justin Solondz, an environmental activist who was wanted by the FBI for “eco-terrorism” charges tied to the Earth Liberation Front, has been sentenced to 3 years in a Chinese prison for manufacturing drugs. Back in June I reported on his arrest via Twitter, and now much more details have emerged about his life overseas and [...]
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Scott DeMuth, a Minneapolis activist, has been indicted for conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, apparently in relation to a 2004 Animal Liberation Front raid at the University of Iowa. He faces up to 5 years in prison. His indictment marks a continued expansion of the scope of the new terrorism law, which [...]
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Posted in Legal Issues on Oct 28th, 2009
After being repeatedly exposed for serious, systemic animal cruelty, and now facing a media nightmare, animal agriculture corporations are firing back by calling for the prosecution of undercover activists who expose the abuses.
The Animal Agriculture Alliance says:
As these videos achieve the publicity sought by the groups, the Alliance is concerned that the activist employees providing [...]
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Carrie Feldman refuses to cooperate with a grand jury that apparently is investigating an ALF raid at the University of Iowa.
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Posted in Activists Arrested, Legal Issues on Oct 14th, 2009
The conviction of the SHAC 7–animal rights activists hit with “terrorism” charges for publishing a website and vocally, unapologetically supporting direct action–has been upheld by a U.S. appellate court. It is a landmark free speech ruling that lowers the threshold of what types of conduct are protected by the First Amendment, and upholds a law [...]
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Posted in Activists Arrested, Legal Issues on Oct 14th, 2009
Judgement in the SHAC 7 appeal has just been filed, convictions have been upheld and so has the constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Protection Act. Reading it now and will post more soon…
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