FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 5, 2009

EARTH LIBERATION FRONT PRESS OFFICE CALLS

ENVIRONMENTALIST'S 22 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE

"CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT"

Lansing, MI - The North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office (NAELFPO) responded today to

the nearly 22-year sentence handed to environmental activist Marie Mason, calling it "cruel and unusual

punishment."

Marie Mason, an environmentalist and labor right's organizer, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge

Paul Maloney, to a term of 21 years and 10 months in prison for her role in environmental defense actions

that included targeting genetic engineering research at Michigan State University and urban sprawl in

Indiana.

"The sentenced imposed on Marie Mason today by Judge Maloney was for nonviolent crimes against

property," stated NAELFPO spokesman Jason Crawford. "Currently, the average federal sentence for

murder is 19 years, nearly three years less than given to Marie Mason today for nonviolent property

crimes. Two things are clear from this decision. First, the U.S. government cares more about the property

of corporations and institutions involved in environmental destruction than they value human life.

Second, since the 22 year sentence given to Marie Mason is three years above the average federal

sentence for murder, it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution."

The Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, is an international, underground movement consisting of

autonomous groups of people who engage in direct actions to protect the planet. Formed in 1992 in

Brighton, England as an offshoot of the Earth First! organization, the ELF has been active in the United

States since 1996. Since that time the group has conducted dozens of actions across the country and North

America resulting in over $150 million in damages. Notorious ELF actions have included the $26 million

arson attack at Colorado's Vail Ski Resort in 1998 and the $50 million arson attack on a five-story

condominium project in San Diego, CA in 2003.

"The federal government wrongly believes it can stop the national effort to protect the environment by

imprisoning those who take nonviolent action against corporate and governmental polluters," Crawford

continued. "Instead of targeting environmental defenders, why isn't the U.S. government prosecuting and

imprisoning the real ecoterrorists, the CEO's of Exxon, Ford Motor Co., Monsanto, Dow Chemical,

Dupont, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Boeing, Proctor & Gamble, General Motors and other

corporations that are polluting the planet and increasing global warming daily?"

The North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office (NAELFPO) is the public face of the Earth

Liberation Front direct action movement. First established in 2000, the NAELFPO receives anonymous

communiqués from the ELF and similar environmental protection groups and forwards the information to

news media internationally.

NAELFPO can be found on the web at www.elfpressoffice.org and www.earthliberation.net.

Contact: North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office (NAELFPO)

Tel: (202) 521-1482 Email: info [at ]elfpressoffice.org

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