Support Peter Young

[JackieO]

Whatever your feelings on direct action may be, just about anyone would probably agree that life in prison for releasing some mink from a fur farm hellhole is completely outrageous. That's what Peter Young is facing under the so-called Animal Enterprise Terrorism statute. A complete bastardization of the word terrorism, this classification of criminal offense is based solely on the estimated amount of economic damage that an activist causes to an animal abusing industry.

http://supportpeter.com

[flvegan]

1. If memory serves

at this point, you can't even photograph abuse on factory farms, puppy mills, etc. anymore due to this statute. Total BS.

Oh, yeah, ole Justin what's-his-name is an ass for flipping on Peter.

[JackieO]

2. I haven't heard of that

Don't peta and cok and other groups do undercover investigations where they take photographs and video in factory farms?

[JackieO]

3. Feds Target Bay Area Activists

Since the arrest of Peter Young in Santa Clara County, after over 7 years on the FBI's WANTED list, there have been increasing levels of activity by the feds in the counties of San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz. This comes as no great surprise as the Department of Justice seems desperate to try and blame their failure to arrest Peter on some sort of vast consiparacy.

Under this thinly veiled excuse for harassment, federal agents have been swarming over activists in the bay area - following them, detaining them, and most recently raiding two homes. At 6am, Sunday April 10th, members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, FBI, ATF, Secret Service, Coast Guard, and local police raided activist homes with guns drawn. Items carried away in the raids ranged from blank unopened CDs and DVDs to cell phones,
computers, books, and a Conflict audio tape. At least the feds had some good music to listen to for a change!

During the federal occupation of the homes lawyers were denied entry and occupants of the houses were prevented from observing exactly what items the agents were actually taking. One activist was also arrested on an outstanding warrant she had never received any notice about, but was released from jail within hours. Local police indicated their reluctance in cooperating in this sort of blatant harassment of activists.

The scope of the warrants issued, and the receipt for items the feds admitted to taking suggests that their primary emphasis is on targetting people who are doing support work for Peter. All materials related to his support campaign found at the homes were seized, and people who have visited Peter in jail, or attended court dates have been followed.

Peter's supporters will not let this intimidation campaign deter them. Within an hour, attorneys were present at both homes and a lawyer is currently handling the return of property and other legal motions.

It is more important than ever that we stand by Peter Young and show the Department of Justice that the animal liberation movement will not be swayed by this sort of harassment and guilt by association mentality. It is only by standing up for our rights and spotlighting this sort of misuse of federal authority that we will ever defeat it.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

* Support Peter Young and all animal liberation prisoners:
http://www.SupportPeter.com
http://www.nocompromise.org/resources/prisoners.html

* Exercise your right to remain silent when
approached by federal agents and contact No Compromise
if the feds are on your back:
http://www.nocompromise.org/issues/23legalrights.html
http://www.nocompromise.org/news/attack.html

* Educate everyone you know about the importance of
maintaining your rights and spotlighting government
abuse of authority to chill the free speech rights
of activists

[JackieO]

4. update

PETER MOVED - NOW IN FEDERAL CUSTODY

On May 5th a settlement was reached on the local charges Peter was facing in San Jose. In exchange for pleading No Contest to five misdemeanor charges Peter was sentenced to time served. The following day Peter appeared in Federal Court in San Jose for his extradition hearing. At that time he temporarily waived his right to argue for his release pending trial in order to expedite his return to Wisconsin.

As of this week Peter has been moved to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA. This is the first step in the all too slow process of moving a federal prisoner across the country. While Peter is in transit letters of support for Peter from those of you outside the area may be sent in care of his support group and we will see to it that he gets them once he is settled in Wisconsin.

In the meantime Peter’s support team is working closely with him to assist him in retaining legal representation in Wisconsin. Peter's defense will cost AT A MINIMUM $30,000 so donations are definitely needed to ensure Peter will be able to get the quality legal defense he deserves.

Please send letters of support, and donations to:

Peter Young Support Fund
740A 14th St. #237
San Francisco, CA 94114

Letters to Peter may also be sent via email to:
[e-mail]

For more information visit www.SupportPeter.com

Activists in the greater Wisconsin area who would be able to attend court dates or help with local support should email the support team at: [e-mail]

Stay tuned for more updates on how you can help Peter continue to be provided vegan food and fair treatment (or as fair as it can be) now that he has been moved to a new jail!

[JackieO]

5. update

Peter has arrived in Madison, WI today. Please write to him! He
has been in transit for the last few weeks and has been housed in a
couple jails around the country. He was not allowed to bring letters
from the last jail so please write to him again!

His new address is:

Peter Young #223341
Dane County Jail
115 West Doty St
Madison, WI 53703

He can receive by US mail only:

-2 soft covered books at a time mailed from you or the bookstore
-2 magazines
-Photos (no Polaroids)
-money orders sent to the address above with his name on it

See http://www.SupportPeter.com for more updates
or e-mail [e-mail] with any questions.

[Catchawave]

6. Animal Enterprise Terrorism Statute - scary!

http://www.americanjurist.net/media/paper654/news/2004/09/25/Perspectives/Free-Speech.A.Domestic.Terrorism.Casualty-731190.shtml

A snip from this interesting article:

"The United States is not a capitalist country. It is corporate socialism. Government of the corporations, for the corporations and by the corporations."

-Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Call it an election campaign tactic, call it corporate socialism, or call it protecting our country, the US has a new target in the war on terror. According to the FBI, the new faces of domestic terrorism include a law student, an EMT, college graduates and social justice volunteers.

On May 26, the US Attorney's Office indicted seven activists (the SHAC 7) under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism statute, 18 U.S.C.A. § 43. Just six days prior, an FBI terrorism expert testified at a hearing for the Senate Committee on the Judiciary that "the activities of SHAC generally fall outside the scope of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism statute."

Nevertheless, the US Attorney's Office wasted no time or energy indicting these activists on federal charges, each carrying a total of 3-8 years and a $250,000 fine.

Don't be fooled. The SHAC 7 case is not just about terrorism or animal abuse. It is about the government attempting to narrow the limits of legal free speech and protest activity in this country. If you care about the First Amendment and your right to express dissent, you should care about this case.

******

I agree with Paul Watson!

[shockra]

7. Article in last week's Chicago Tribune

Refers to Peter Young trial on first page:

"The controversy comes as federal officials in Milwaukee prepare to try a member of the Animal Liberation Front charged with releasing hundreds of minks in northern Wisconsin in 1997. Investigators say they hope the trial will shed new light on the tactics of the extreme elements of the animal-rights movement, some of whom have targeted private labs as well as executives of companies that do business with research labs."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0506090213jun09,1,1064633.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true

Ground zero of labs vs. animal-rights activists

By Kirsten Scharnberg and Tim Jones, Tribune national correspondents. Kirsten Scharnberg reported from Iowa City and Tim Jones from Madison, Wis
Published June 9, 2005

IOWA CITY -- The shaky, amateurish video shows everything in graphic detail: Four masked people break into darkened university labs, pour toxic chemicals onto computers and stacks of files, and release hundreds of research rats and mice. They spray-paint walls with slogans such as "Science not Sadism" and "Free the Animals."

The November break-in at the University of Iowa's Spence Laboratories--an act for which there have been no arrests but for which the group Animal Liberation Front, or ALF, has claimed responsibility--is characterized by university and law-enforcement officials as terrorism.

The incident has made the University of Iowa, a school in the heart of one of America's most farm-centered, meat-producing states, ground zero in a national battleground over animal-based research at taxpayer-funded institutions.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, animal-rights activists are protesting research getting under way that uses pigs to measure the impact of police stun guns. No violent incidents have been reported in Madison, but officials there have increased security at research buildings.

Animal research labs have been targeted at the University of Minnesota, the University of California, San Francisco, Western Washington University and Louisiana State University.

And last month in Washington, John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, told a Senate committee that animal-rights and environmental activists resorting to arson and explosives are the nation's top domestic terrorism threat.

more...

*********

A lot of things about this article pissed me off. They quoted John Webster of the UW-Madison taser experiments on pigs, for instance, but not the fact that his study is to be co-authored with a paid consultant of Taser International. And the timing of this article with news coming out about SHAC seems designed to raise public fear about "scary animal rights activists."

[JackieO]

8. Happy Birthday, Peter

You can send Peter a letter via email. His support team will print it out and mail it to him. If you would like a response from Peter, please include a mailing address. Letters can be emailed to:

[e-mail]

or write to:

Peter Young #223341
Dane County Jail
115 West Doty St
Madison, WI 53703