SHAC 7: Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Activists Convicted of “Terrorism”
Jun 9th, 2009 by Will Potter
The SHAC 7 were convicted on “animal enterprise terrorism” charges for campaigning to shut down a notorious animal testing lab, Huntingdon Life Sciences.
Huntingdon Life Sciences has labs in New Jersey and England, and five undercover investigations have shown workers punching beagle puppies in the face, dissecting live monkeys and falsifying scientific data. Activists with Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, an international organization, set out to close the lab using tactics similar to the anti-apartheid movement: they pressured business associated with the lab to sever ties, in what the government has called “tertiary targeting.”
The “terrorist” campaign of the SHAC 7 didn’t involve anthrax, pipe bombs, or a plot to hijack an airplane. They ran a website. On that website, they posted news about the campaign — legal actions like protests and illegal actions like stealing animals from labs — and unabashedly supported all of it. Since the federal government has largely been unable catch groups like the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front, prosecutors went after lawful activists in the spotlight.
The SHAC 7 is a landmark First Amendment case that will test how far the government can push “terrorism” rhetoric in order to pursue a political agenda and silence speech. It is also a landmark case for the corporations and politicians targeting SHAC. As David Martosko of the Center for Consumer Freedom, an industry lobby group, said after the conviction: “This is just the starting gun.”
Here are some of the best resources from GreenIsTheNewRed.com on the SHAC 7:
Overview of the Case:
- The World Takes? How corporations and politicians turned animal rights activists into terrorists
- “Beagle Brigade,” Legal Affairs
Background on the Law:
- Background on Animal Enterprise Protection Act (the law used to convict the SHAC 7)
Court Reports
- Watching History Repeat Itself: An Account of the SHAC 7 Sentencing
- Recap of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty “Terrorism” Appeal in Philadelphia
What Next?
- So Much for Deterrence: More Illegal Actions Dedicated to SHAC 7 and Political Prisoners
- The SHAC 7, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and the Future of the Green Scare (Audio)
[...] to be the first inmate ever released from one of the secretive facilities; he is one of the SHAC 7, a group of animal rights activists convicted of “animal enterprise terrorism” for running a [...]
[...] Learn more about the SHAC 7. [...]
[...] can’t get anything else to stick. That’s exactly what happened in the case of the SHAC 7, under the previous version of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism [...]
[...] prosecutors can’t get anything else to stick. That’s exactly what happened in the case of the SHAC 7, under the previous version of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism [...]
[...] a brief introduction: The “SHAC 7” of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty ran an effective campaign that had the sole purpose of putting Huntingdon Life Sciences, a notorious [...]
[...] These thought-crimes and speech-crimes are enough for the FBI to make anyone a target, as the SHAC 7 and AETA 4 cases have shown. These raids provide them an opportunity to seize computers and [...]
[...] These thought-crimes and speech-crimes are enough for the FBI to make anyone a target, as the SHAC 7 and AETA 4 cases have shown. These raids provide them an opportunity to seize computers and [...]
It was much more than running a website and doing “a few illegal things”. They were encouraging people to stalk employees in person and electronically, threats to their physical harm, serious vandalism to people's homes, posting personal information on the web and labeling them a “target”.
And comparing the apartheid movement to the animal rights movement is ridiculous. Stick with protests and letters and you will accomplish more.
The SHAC 7 were not accused of any of that. The case against them alleged “conspiracy” based on their public website. And posting information and calling someone a “target,” is protected speech. Or at least it is when activists are the ones being targeted: http://www.targetofopportunity.com/
Congratulations for the activists!!!!! No matter what, non human animals are first! and I don´t have compassion for those who torture animals.
[...] cases like that of the SHAC 7 have shown that there isn’t even a burden on prosecutors to prove a direct connection between something like a website or peaceful demonstration and a violent or economically [...]
[...] that it would not revisit the conviction of animal rights activists on terrorism charges. The SHAC 7 were convicted of conspiring to commit animal enterprise terrorism by running a controversial [...]
[...] previous version of the law was used to convict the SHAC 7 for running a controversial website that posted news of both legal and illegal actions. This case, the first use of the new Animal [...]
[...] previous version of the law was used to convict the SHAC 7 for running a controversial website that posted news of both legal and illegal actions. This case, the first use of the new Animal [...]