See comment for story on keith hensons crucifixion.
To: politech@politechbot.com
Subject: FC: Scientology critic seeks asylum in Canada, reportedly arrested
Some quick searches turned up no news articles about Henson's reported arrest. Background:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=henson
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/05/23/henson/index.html
-Declan
**********
From: xenu@blazenet.net
Date: 28 May 2001 21:56:06 -0000
Subject: Henson arrested by heavily-armed swarm of police in Toronto
This might be good to forward to media only, especially Keith's lawyer's
contact info which should NOT be posted to ars at the moment lest it cause
a firestorm of calls.
(I presume the jail at Oakland, or wherever they send immigration prisoners,
is where Keith is now. His lawyer could help on that, but only to media, not
to alt.religion.scientology or wide fora.)
Here's the flash, minimal as it is. I won't email anyone updates
unless they explicitly express further interest.
[Snip] One of Keiths lawyers has just spoken to Keith and Immigration.
This is the situation:
An Immigration warrant waas issued for Keiths Arrest
For failure to declare to Immigration, when Keith entered Canada on May 12
---
Apparently, Henson was arrested by heavily-armed police at a shopping
mall. His spiritual adviser Gregg Hagglund (or whatever you want to call him ;-)
is taking him a red cross care package and may be visiting him for a while.
I think he's incommunicado for a bit.
There is a bail hearing tomorrow on this and then we'll find out exactly
what's up.
The SNAFU here (and the basic clusterfuck) is that his lawyer Guidy
Mamann was poised to file the necessary papers tomorrow.
Who knows what will happen? Deportation is almost the best case,
with additional charges entirely possible, depending on whether or
not the arrest was based on entirely bogus information.
(Henson did not enter Canada as a "fugitive," though a bench warrant
was issued on May 18, six days after he entered Canada.)
Here's Keith's counsel information from a press release by Gregg
Hagglund.
Mr. Guidy Mamann
gman@migrationlaw.com
of Mamann & Associates.
www.migrationlaw.com
74 Victoria Street, Suite 303
Toronto, Canada M5C 2A5
[phone number deleted per request. --DBM]
And Keith's own contact information
Keith Henson
c/o
Temple of At'L'An
Refugee Committee
2237 Munns Ave.
Oakville Ontario
Canada
L6H 3M9
email atlan@home.com
Telephone: 905-844-6216
Henson's reluctant American counsel:
James J. Harr
of James O. Cripps
Suite 4
PO Box 3540
133 N Buena Vista
Hemet, California 92343
Phone: (909) 925-5024
Fax: (909) 652-2250
Henson's former counsel Graham Berry
email: GrahamEB@aol.com
Riverside Press-Enterprise Reporter Erin Randolph
Email: erandolph@pe.com
(909) 487-5229
Websites featuring information on the case
http://freehenson.da.ru (a redirector which will always
point at the current home of the site)
http://www.operatingthetan.com
Current home of the Free Keith Henson site
NOTE that all references to http://freehenson.tripod.com are
permanently broken as I have no intention of ever using Tripod
for anything of any kind ever again
Point instead to http://freehenson.da.ru or http://www.operatingthetan.com
http://cryptome.org
This one might be responsible for the Slashdot one and I'm greatly
pleased with it.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/05/17/0238223&mode=thread
Slashdot thread on Henson situation
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=henson
A nicely selected and bandwidth-friendly distillation of some of the
most critical material which has been posted to Declan McCullagh's
well-regarded politech list
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Soft drill is offering substantial rewards to "send a message" to T.cruise and J.travolta.ph 0417 531 548
A secret part of MS 2000 was coded by scientologist slimeballs and not even anyone at redmond knows exactly whats there.If they tried to find out the "religon"could sue for breach of copyright.This is the favoured weapon of creeping facist outfit,scientology.
Fraud bush regime wants to give more power to authoritarian arseholes like them so some international response seems called for,please join me in exposing this fake cult for the enemy of the 1st ammendment it so patently is.
Keep pledges coming for direct action against cruise/travolta.
The software knee capper refers to is the Diskkeeper utility, which was programmed by a Scientologist-run company. As far as I know, the source hasn't even been given to Microsoft. Uninstall this program if at all possible, then ask yourself why MS, a company that knows it has a horrid reputation with regards to security holes and backdoors, would let a situation like this take place.
The Catholic Church doesn't hunt down and destroy its detractors. Muslims who follow the Qu'ran don't declare war on anyone who is not Muslim (this pretty much excludes most, if not all, "Islamic terrorists"). As far as I know, Scientology is the only religion with a confirmed policy of destroying its opponents. I have no reason to trust a group that could target me for ruin simply because I publicly disapprove of their tactics and treatment of members.
Online Scientology critic seeks political asylum
By: Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 19/05/2001 at 19:43 GMT
A couple of weeks ago computer engineer Keith Henson was found guilty in California of a criminal act related to posts he made in the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, which contained obviously comical (all right, Sophomoric) references to targeting Scientologists with a nuclear missile.
The jury convicted him of interfering with a religion -- likely due to his habit of picketing near the cult's properties -- but failed to reach a decision on two other patently idiotic charges brought by Deputy District Attorney Robert Schwarz, who, it is claimed, is either a Scientology dupe himself, or on old Elron's posthumous payroll.
So the jury split 9/3 on Schwarz's charge of terrorism and 10/2 on his nearly equally moronic charge of attempted terrorism.
That's right; a prosecutor -- someone who managed to graduate from a university, then a law school, and then pass the California Bar Exam -- actually brought charges of terrorism against someone joking on Usenet about firing a nuclear warhead at a group of people scattered all over the globe.
We conclude that California must have the slackest educational standards in the world if it can, in good faith, award anything higher than a beautician's license to someone unable to noodle out the obvious absurdity in Henson's comment.
Law and Order
Henson's trial has been roundly condemned as a true kangaroo court affair, with serious irregularities of procedure favoring the prosecution and excluding the bulk of Henson's evidence, thereby virtually shutting down the defense. So it's perhaps no surprise that he was convicted on at least one charge.
On 13 May Henson posted to the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup doubts that he'll get a fair sentence as well. "Late last week I talked to Garry Davis, the parole officer who is writing the report for my case. He expressed the opinion that this was more of political case than a criminal one, and that the political pressure to put me in jail was very high," he wrote.
The parole officer reckoned Henson would get something like a year in stir for his conviction on interfering with a religion, which, we'll admit freely, is a serious offence where stiff penalties are entirely appropriate.
But numerous peculiarities in Henson's trial leave considerable doubt about his actual guilt; and calling Scientology a 'religion' really is an awful lot like calling Dunkin' Donuts a 'restaurant'.
Political Embarrassment
So as the handwriting on the wall became legible, Henson skipped to Canada and set up in Toronto. He's since retained a local lawyer through whom he filed for political asylum with the Canadian government.
We're not terribly excited by his chances of seeing the application granted, as the Canadian government stands to gain little from humiliating Uncle Sam in this way.
But Hanson's move, taken as a publicity stunt, is sweet. Here's a guy who hails from a country that bleats about democracy and liberty 'til it's blue in the face, lectures the world on human rights like a scolding nanny at every opportunity, and then convicts a fellow for exercising his right to criticize, protest and picket against an immensely well-heeled, and some say, immensely dangerous, cult.
'Democracy' and 'liberty' in the sunny State of California never looked more like the empty incantations they really are.
And who knows; the Canadian courts may well put political convenience aside and consider Henson's application on the merits. And in that case we think he's got a decent chance of qualifying. He certainly looks to us like someone facing punishment by the state for expressing his beliefs in public. ®
Related Link
Background on Henson's case
