Israeli military methods

Israeli military methods

Here is an Israeli terrorist demonstrating Israeli heroism. (Reuters) (thanks Fadi)

*This article was originally published in El Libertario #58, March-April 2010. Although originally based on the actual experiences of Venezuela’s social struggles, it deals with situations and facts of interest to activists anywhere.

For some time now the Venezuelan government has made systematic advances in the reorganization of the national police intelligence system, with the intention of discovering and neutralizing autonomous social movements that appear in the country. The Intelligence and Counterintelligence Law (temporarily suspended) and the new Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN in Spanish) are but two examples of this. In order to promote the necessary knowledge on this issue among activists, we give an informative recap of the different tactics used by the State to break up the antagonistic social fabric and criminalize its followers.

_The State’s intelligence tactics_

These tricks were developed and/or systematized by the COINTELPRO program of espionage, provocation and information the FBI used to destroy dissident political groups in the United States. They have been used by most of the world’s States and Venezuela is no exception. Here are some examples:

Surveillance: Intelligence and security organizations use the existing technologies to conduct exhaustive surveillance of activists to prepare the corresponding judicial files. To that end they use the existing surveillance technologies. Photographing, filming, following in vehicles, reading email and correspondence are some of the many tactics used against social militants.

In general, cell phones and frequently visited places are infiltrated by the police to eavesdrop in conversations and do what’s called “information sharing” to combine different pieces of information. Let’s not forget that in Venezuela CANTV (State enterprise that monopolizes telephone land lines) and most private communications enterprises lend themselves to such manipulation by the State.

Infiltration: The State usually places undercover agents in popular demonstrations or inside the assemblies with a dual intent: first, to take note of the persons gathered and the information discussed in the assemblies, second, to promote discord among the attendants in order to trivialize the issues. Not many people go to a gathering without previous interest in the conflict or knowledge of some of the people involved. Since the intelligence services normally use dumb or rookie police for this task, a simple conversation with them usually uncovers who is a plant and who isn’t.

A usual trick is the use of informers. These are people close to the group who, for money, favors or the resolution of judicial problems give information about the group to the intelligence agencies. They are hard to detect and more than once activists have been falsely accused of being informants. This has been used successfully against armed groups particularly in the previous century. Because of this, action groups today tend to be smaller and based on extreme affinity and even family ties.

Another form of infiltration is people who attend a reunion or assembly for the first time and push for extreme or violent acts regardless of the issue being discussed. They stand out because of their subversive rants and their proposals for crazy ideas or plans rarely in tune with reality.

Rumors: The use of informers and infiltrators contributes to the spread of rumors that tend to divide a social front or collective. These baseless rumors seek to discredit the organization and its activists.

False communiqués: Intelligence organizations usually write misleading stuff to create confusion among activists and their kindred organizations. The idea is to find a contradiction within the group that will cause its implosion. For example, in Chile the District Attorney created a group named Frente Anarquista Revolucionario (FAR) [Revolutionary Anarchist Front] that in a provocative fashion claimed responsibility for false actions and stirred polemics with the informal Chilean groups in order to destroy them.

Media disinformation: Certain media work in tight cooperation with intelligence organizations. In general they try to create a preconceived opinion about demonstrators and activists, accusing them of sabotage, of being “enemy agents”, “out of control”, or “maladjusted”. An example is the Venezuelan TV program “La Hojilla” whose anchor –a well known and decorated police informant- plays prosecutor, judge and executioner of dissidents against the current government. The media also serves to broadcast wrong information about groups and initiatives or to publish manipulated information about some activist, attempting to discredit his/her commitment with whatever causes he or she upholds.

For this reason the use of counter information is a fundamental tool. In Venezuela – a country where the majority of the radio-electronic media is in the hands of the current government- the use of blogs, Myspace, Twitter or other communication networks is a necessary tool today and will become even more so in the future.

Harassment: In many countries, intelligence organisms use pressure such as telling the boss an employee is a “radical” or inserting information among his/her acquaintances to make him/her feel uncomfortable or persecuted in their trusted milieu. Accusations such as “homosexual”, “rapist”, “drug addict” are common. Another form of harassment is when the State determines the identity of an activist and decides to arrest or interrogate him/her under any pretext. In many cases the arrest is used to “plant” drugs or other things considered illegal (Molotov cocktails, explosives etc). The goal is to make them quit their activism.

Sabotage: Police organizations (or people connected to them) do sabotage against the meeting places of activists as well as theft of materials. They try to sow fear and discouragement among the sympathizers.

Paramilitary: Intelligence organisms form paramilitary organizations which they equip with weapons and train them to perform the “dirty work” that is not convenient to do under “constitutional legality”. In Venezuela this is formed by the evil “combat corps” or the diverse “popular collectives” that police the poor neighborhoods.

Lethal force: When somebody in a social movement achieves notoriety and other means of control or cooptation by the institutional powers fail, they resort to assassinate the dissident either by thugs (masquerading as common criminals) or in supposed confrontations that are usually uncovered if there is an objective investigation.

_Some measures to avoid infiltration_

1) Turn off your cell phone before a gathering: It has been proven that cell phones can transmit information even when they are off. Put them in a place removed from the discussion area or put them in the refrigerator [TN: better yet, remove the battery]. Black Berrys use GPS (Ground Position System) that gives the exact location where you are. Cell phones are use for data sharing and to establish a dissident’s social network.
2) Before entering the gathering location, try to walk around and reconnoiter the outside area and try to identify suspicious activity that could imply undercover police, usually recognizable by their physique, their way of talking or because they look out of place. Rarely will they look you in the eye and they many times stumble with their explanations.
3) When doing mass email use blind carbon copy (bcc) for the addresses, in case your email falls in the wrong hands you will not expose other people.
4) Send your communications from a cyber café or similar service to prevent the intelligence organizations from obtaining your IP (your computer ID code)
5) Affinity and mutual trust among activists in any campaign are the best antidotes against infiltration and repression. Better a few but secure than many and insecure.
6) Do not contribute to the prevailing disinformation, don’t gossip or circulate ill-intentioned information.
7) Be alert – without becoming paranoid- of infiltrators and provocateurs.
8) If you feel you’re under surveillance let your comrades know about it.
9) Never talk to the police. The National Constitution guarantees your right to remain silent. Don’t collaborate with them. Unlike in the United States, in Venezuela collaboration with the district attorney doesn’t exonerate you and only symbolically diminishes your sentence.

_How to secure your computer_

Today computers are the place where activists keep most of their writings and communiqués. In most raids the first things the security forces confiscate are the computers so we recommend the following:
1) Download and update firewalls such as AVG (www.grisoft.com) or ZoneAlarm (www.zonealarm.com) which are free to download and work with Windows.
2) Install a spyware detector such as Ad-ware in your computer. They can be downloaded free at www.lavasoft.de
3) Deleting documents from your computer doesn’t mean they’re no longer in the hard drive. There is a program called Clean Disk that totally erases them, download it here www.clean-disk-security.softonic.com
4) Encrypt all your sensitive documents. There’s a program called PGP (www.pgp.com) that has been successfully used by activists in many countries.
5) Regularly change your email password, it is recommended to use a 16 digit code containing letters and numbers. A short password is easy to detect. Don’t use birth dates, or the names of family members or pets.
6) There is a free internet provider, Riseup (www.riseup.net) that gives free and secure email addresses to activists.

_Avoid paranoia_

Some activists become paranoid, which completely immobilizes them, abandoning the struggle and becoming passive members of society. Therefore it is important to think about what was said above so we can act with prior knowledge and diminish risks and weaknesses. We must be conscious of the fact that any struggle for the collective is the potential target of police surveillance and that is part of the social dynamics. The armed organizations of control and repression have been created to counter any type of dissidence therefore by being activists we become their target; however, we have better values than they do: our convictions we uphold for a positive social change. Don’t let fatigue and fear stop you!

INDUBIO PRO REO indubioproreovzla@gmail.com

www.nodo50.org/ellibertario - ellibertario@nodo50.org

[Translation: Luis Prat]

www.nodo50.org/ellibertario

Undercover police working at drugs projects and NHS counselling services.uk

| 13.03.2010

It might seem obvious to some people that it happens but there are some people who still believe that they can trust their GPs, nurses, drugs counsellors etc. Doctors are supposed to be bound by confidentiality but nevertheless discuss patients who are activists or other suspects with NETCU, the drugs squad etc. If you thought that your medical records are safe, confodential and private, think on.

While NETCU and MI5 are described as "out of control" by the Independent newspaper many won't fully grasp just what this means unless you have been on the recieving end of this and appreciate just how far they will go to disprupt activists and even ordinary citizens who are not extreme but who are seen as "dissenters" or a "nuisance" or those they want to force into becoming informants. Many affected are Muslim but this will, can and does apply to political activists in the UK including Northern Ireland.

The Independent newspaper reported that Somali youth were persecuted by MI5 who were either accessing medical records or were obtaining information from a member of staff where his wife had just given birth. An MI5 officer who was trying to force him into becoming an informant telephoned and congratulated him on the birht of his child and gave details including the child's name, weight, time of birth etc. This is a real low..MI5 threatening babies.

GPs are not immune from pressure from the secret police. The GP of an activist who has suffered persecution from the secret police was targeted himself by them. They were demanding to know what the activist was telling the GP and wanted to see the patient's/actitivist's/community medical records. They started haning around outside the doctor's home and even cajoled uniformed police to sit outside his house. On at least two occasions he was threatened with arrest for "interfering with his dustbin" when he put his rubbish into it. The police claimed that they had "seen him interfering with the bin before" and would arrest him if he did it again. They eventually got to him [in more ways than one]. They have demanded that he cuts a precsiption of tranquilizers for a patient they regard as a "nuisance" which is being regarded a spunishment tactic rather than anything else. They demanded that a patient that they were "intested in" had a valium prescription reduced / cut off [probaly because they wanted this person to inform and see the valuim as making the information less officially credible]. They told him to advise a patient to "go and visit their family miles away" as they saw this activist as a nuisance and wanted them far away. These patients were confiding in the GP about harrassment by the security services. They have lied to the doctor about patients complaining about them cliaming that they "know" that the patients are "drug users", "alcoholics", "mentally ill" etc...each of them had complained about harrasment by the security services and they knew it. The GP becmae under so much prseeure from patients who were reporting stress, weird goings on that started showing a pattern [stalking, demands to become informants, threats, persecutin etc] that he nearly had a breakdown himself. He told a patient that he too was being stalked and harrased and his own behaviour was being affected. He told a patient "there's always someone outside my house, I know they're out there".
A man in London was sent details of his medical records that he believed no one knew about as part of a serious of threats and harassment from the security services staff.
One victim was described as a "ranting liar" by the security services to the GP who knew that the patient wasn't lying and that other people were saying the same thing and were being harassed...they were also the same patients that the seurity service police were demanding information about.
The GP knew that some of his patients were being harrassed about each other and being asked to inform on and persecute each other by the security services who were then demanding from the GP details about what they were saying. It has been causing mental anguish to the patients affected and to the GPs, other dcotors, reception staff and nurses.

Drugs services are places where people believe that they can get help, confide in people who won't betray them and who they beleive are there to help. These projects are employing drugs sqaud staff and members of the security services. It has been reported by service users that the staff have "become like the police", aggressive, disparaging, unkind, rude etc and have no counselling skills but act as interrorgaters, demanding names of dealers [especially Muslim or political or both], asking to sit in on psychiatric sessions with clients, telling that they can do home visists when they are not supposed to etc. One client confided in one of these staff that he was being harrassed by the security services and almost staright away he was told he ahd "mental health problems" but bizarrely was not allowed to see anyone about this. He was denied acess to mental health counselling..presumably because they didn't want what was happeneing to get out any further.

This an appalling breach of trust and is being used to target people, especially vulnerable people.

The security services are human beings, members of staff who are paid to do a job. They believe that they are unaccountable to anybody. What they are doing is not "in the public interest"..it's harrassment and it is achieving resentment and a growing anger in communities and within the NHS.

Details of patients are now being put on a database accessible to anyone including the police...which is frightening.

This country is descending into fascism at a rate of knots.

Ex-Cop Pleads Guilty In Hurricane Katrina Killing Probe: 2 Shot, Killed On Danziger Bridge

Posted on February 28, 2010 by denverabc

Huffington Post

Ronald Madison was shot to death on the Danziger Bridge.

NEW ORLEANS — In Hurricane Katrina’s chaotic aftermath, police shot six people – killing two – as they crossed a bridge in search of food. For years the case was a shocking symbol of the confusion and violence that swept through the flooded city. On Wednesday it became a mark of shame for the police department.

As victims’ relatives watched from the courtroom gallery, a retired lieutenant who supervised the department’s probe of the shootings pleaded guilty to orchestrating a cover-up to conceal that police gunned down unarmed civilians.

Michael Lohman, a 21-year veteran of the force, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Prosecutors said Lohman and other unidentified officers conspired to fabricate witness statements, falsify reports of the incident and plant a gun in an attempt to make it appear the killings were justified.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said the investigation is continuing and would not say whether higher-ranking officials of the police department might be involved.

Lohman’s plea brought at least some closure to families of victims in the best-known of several violent incidents that raised questions about police conduct immediately after Katrina. The shootings happened on Sept. 4, 2005, six days after the storm smashed levees and flooded 80 percent of the city.

Survivors have said the officers fired at unarmed people who were crossing to get food at a grocery store. The officers claimed they opened fire only after being shot at. Ronald Madison, 40 and mentally disabled, and James Brissette, 19, were killed and four others were wounded.

“We are very, very happy about the progress that the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department have made,” said Romell Madison, Ronald’s brother. “The people of New Orleans should be relieved that there is still justice for everybody here.”

Lohman’s plea marked the first conviction in the case. Seven officers were charged with murder or attempted murder but a state judge threw out all the charges. Federal authorities then stepped in to investigate.

The federal prosecutor said Lohman is cooperating with investigators who want to know more about the police department’s actions.

Dylan Utley, Lohman’s lawyer, said his client “did what’s right for him and what’s right for his situation” and hopes to “make amends.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, Lohman, 42, answered U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle’s questions in a soft voice but didn’t interact with the victims’ relatives. He is free on $50,000 bond and the maximum sentence he faces is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled May 26.

Described by fellow officers as a straight-shooter and hardworking, by-the-book cop, Lohman’s cooperation is expected to be helpful as authorities examine a wide range of problems in the police department after Katrina.

The department’s reputation – never sterling in a city where violent crime is a daily fact of life – was hammered after Katrina with charges that officers were involved with shootings, deserted their posts, looted shops and made off with cars from a Cadillac dealership.

“It looks like the blue code has been broken,” former U.S. Attorney Harry Rosenberg said. “Remember, those officers stood shoulder to shoulder when it was in state court. Nobody said anything.”

The “blue code” is likely to face further tests with Lohman’s cooperation as federal prosecutors probe the fatal shooting by police of Danny Brumfield Sr. outside the New Orleans convention center; the death of Henry Glover, whom witnesses claim died in police custody; and the fatal police shooting of a Connecticut man, Matthew McDonald.

Police have pointed to the extreme conditions they were operating under after Katrina. Communications failed, hundreds of police vehicles were destroyed, 80 percent of the force lost their homes to the storm and there were several reports of rescuers being fired upon. Most of those reports were later discounted.

“The constitution applies 365 days a year,” said Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “There are no grace periods from the constitution. The rule of law does not get suspended.”

In unsealing the case against Lohman, prosecutors drew a picture of how the shootings at the Danziger bridge immediately spawned a cover-up.

Lohman went to the scene and saw no weapons near or with the victims of the shooting, federal officials said, and concluded the shootings were not justified.

The documents allege Lohman and an unidentified investigator he supervised drafted different versions of false reports. Among the claims was a fabricated statement by one of the victims that she had seen her nephew and others firing guns on the bridge.

Federal officials say Lohman drafted his own 17-page false report after becoming dissatisfied that another investigator’s false account was not logical.

“On several occasions in or about October 2005, defendant Lohman reviewed drafts of the false report written by the investigator and counseled the investigator on ways to make the story in the report sound more plausible,” according to court documents.

When another investigator planned to plant a gun at the scene, Lohman just asked him if it was “clean,” meaning it couldn’t be traced, according to the documents.

The documents said Lohman also told the investigator to speak with each of the shooting officers to ensure they were “OK with” the false report and were willing to give statements consistent with it.

“It’s pretty incredible stuff,” said Gary Bizal, attorney for Jose Holmes, Jr., who was shot several times as he lay on the ground. “It’s like a script from Hollywood.”

As the investigation continues with Lohman’s cooperation, officers for at least two other officers have identified their clients as targets.

“Now the government has a cooperating witness and it causes those officers to wonder if they should be running to the U.S. Attorney to look for a deal,” Rosenberg said.

Both Letten and Perez refused to say how widespread or high-up the investigation could reach in the department, but both reiterated that the investigation would not be bound.

“The investigation is going to attempt to bring all perpetrators to justice,” Perez said.

___

Associated Press writer Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this story.

Posted on February 28, 2010 by denverabc

Huffington Post

How to down a drone…

February 11, 2010

“If you’ve done nothing wrong… you have nothing to fear.”

This year a UK Home Office backed coalition of regional Police Authorities will embark on a project to extend their national surveillance network by deploying unmanned airborne surveillance drones across the country. It’s planned that in the build up to 2012 the drones will be used to foil potential terrorist attacks, detect illegal immigration planning to cross the channel (by flying over France?), monitor anti-social behaviour and public order situations (demonstrations) and of course to gather intelligence on subversive activities.

The introduction of these drones represents a significant expansion of the surveillance state, planned and delivered by un-democratic consortium of police authorities and loosely regulated by vague and rarely tested laws. With this expansion of the surveillance state should come an equal counter-response probing the legal and practical boundaries of surveillance:

What methods can be used to disrupt or destroy drone technology?

The drones come in a number of flavours; the ‘military derived’ Afghanistan tested fixed wing HERTI drone from BAE Systems, the much smaller and less serious looking rotor driven Hicam Microdrone and the rumoured Lindstrand Technologies GA22 airship unmanned inflatable drone. the drones are usually equipped with remote cameras but have already been tested to carry loudspeakers, LRAD audio technology and weaponry such as Tasers and Flash-ball guns (as demonstrated by Tecknisolar Seni in France).

BAE HERTI

BAE HERTI Specification

• Payload: 150 kg
• Length: 5m
• Wingspan: 12 m
• Loaded weight: 750 kg
• Powerplant: Rotax propeller,
• Cruise speed: 125 knots
• Service ceiling: 20,000 ft

The first of the drones to be tested this year (in Liverpool – a strange choice considering the local’s aversion to aerial surveillance) is the ‘Hicam Microdrone MD4-1000‘ essentially an expensive (£30,000) rotor powered radio controlled helicopter equipped with night vision surveillance cameras and loudspeakers. The microdrone can take video images from a 500m distance and can track and follow human movement using movement capture technology. The drone is small; less than 1m diameter and 2lbs in weight, they can fly along a pre-programmed GPS route or be controlled ‘live’ by an individual (mobile) police controller viewing the camera’s output through head mounted lcd goggles.

Hicam Microdrone MD4-1000 technical Specification:

• Rotor blades: Four 37cm (15ins) carbon fibre blades mounted on ends of lightweight arms
• Antenna: Picks up signal from remote control handset and transmits images to controller
• Camera: Operates at up to 500m (1,640ft), with option for infra red images
• Central drum: Houses GPS system, which can be used to fly drone, a rechargable battery and other key electronics
• Remote control: Used to fly the drone and operate the camera
• Video glasses: Allow ‘pilot’ to see what is being filmed and to operate the drone when out of direct sight
• Weight: Under 900g (2lbs)
• Size: 70cm (28ins) across
• Flying time: Over 20 minutes
• Noise: Less than 65 decibels at 3m
• Take off: Vertical

Microdrone base station

• 2.4 GHz 4-fold antenna diversity receiver,
• Internal power supply, Inputs: 230/115VAC, 12/14.8VDC, LiPo Charger and true single cell balancer,
• USB video grabber, Video splitter 3x out, Downlink decoder for receiving the complete machine state (Battery, Receiver quality, RC-signals, Attitude, Altitude, GPS-position, Flight time etc.).
• Base station software “mdCockpit”,
• 1.4 Megapixel video eyeglasses, LIPO batteries 4s, 14.8V, 2300mAh included (same as flightpacks for md4-200) Peli case (fits into system case), Dimensions 486 x 392 x 192mm

Anti Drone Tactics:

Ballistic

The ‘insurgents’ in Iraq and Afghanistan have had some success in shooting down large fast flying US military drones – similar to the BAU Herti - using small arms fire; AK47s etc (currently unavailable at Maplins), so the slower moving Microdrones should be easy prey to automatic weapons fire – the obvious problem is that such weapons are illegal (in the UK) and not exactly subtle when used in a ‘public order’ environment.

For taking out Microdrones a (slightly) more legal option might be a paint ball gun which fires large calibre low velocity paint capsules that will blind as well as damage the target. Paint ball guns have the advantage of being legal and commonly available but again, probably not the best choice for riots and demonstrations. For these occasions, the simple hand held catapult firing a range of improvised ammunition should do the job though surreptitiously hitting a moving 1m sized target at a range of, say, 100 metres may require a little target practise…and may take a few shots as the drone can still fly with only two of its four rotors functioning.

Jamming

Jamming the control and navigation signals should be an effective way of disabling the drones – jammers work within a fixed range radius rather than having to be targeted and have the added benefit of being non-destructive – allowing the capture and re-use of the confused drone…

Radio Control Frequency

The Microdrone uses the same radio control method as model RC aircraft to direct it’s flighpath. The exact frequency used by the police probably falls within the UK frequency regulations for RC aircraft otherwise RC frequencies can easily be scanned and jammed using RF jammers for selected frequencies or more crudely saturate the whole spectrum.

Build your own RF Jammer:

http://www.instructables.com/id/RF-Jammer/

“If you want to saturate the bandwidth, you use an analog device with simple FM modulation. Eight 2.4Ghz wireless video transmitters of sufficient power would do it.”

GPS

The Hicam Microdrones navigate using standard GPS, which is particularly sensitive to jamming. There are a number of portable GPS jammers on the market or for a few quid you can build your own…

http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2007/01/29/homemade-gps-jammer

Signal Hacking

US authorities were alarmed when they discovered that the Taliban have been using Russian authored Sky Grabber software to intercept drone video signals:

“SkyGrabber is a hobby for person who accepting free to air satellite data by digital satellite TV tuner card from satellite provider. SkyGrabber is for fun.”

http://www.skygrabber.com/en/

http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/us-drones-hacked-via-skygrabber/

An important aspect of intercepting drone signals will be to use the footage against the police or is support of legal defence.

Other Anti-Drone ideas – please add your own!:

Focussed microwave beam

A standard domestic microwave could be focussed using a parabolic dish to direct the beam on a single source capable of destroying and disrupting circuity in cameras and motors. Downside is, mistakes could be dangerous or fatal…

Antidrone drones

Equip a common-or-garden toy RC helicopter with an attachable line that locks to a target drone. Once attached, pull the police drone down by hand…

———————————————————————————

Sources and Links:

Microdrones: http://www.microdrones.com/en_home.php

http://www.uavp.de/

RF Jammer instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/RF-Jammer/

RF Jammer devices : http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHKB1&P=0

‘Idrone’ a French UAV http://www.idrone.fr/

‘Technisolar’ French solar powered drone technology: http://www.tecknisolar.com/2/7/military-and-civil-security/drone-research-and-development.html

Wired magazine review of UAVs

hacking via Sky grabber http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/us-drones-hacked-via-skygrabber/

Posted by crab

Calling him a “terrorist” and following through on his threat to more than quadruple the recommended sentence, judge Dee Benson Thursday sentenced William Viehl to two years in federal prison. It is the first sentence handed down under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

Feb 7th, 2010
by Peter Young
Simulposted with Voice of the Voiceless
Judge quadruples the recommended sentence for A.L.F

Calling him a “terrorist” and following through on his threat to more than quadruple the recommended sentence, judge Dee Benson Thursday sentenced William Viehl to two years in federal prison. It is the first sentence handed down under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

Background

Viehl was charged last year under AETA for the release of 650 mink from the McMullin Fur Farm in South Jordan, Utah after cell phone records and a car key found at the scene were used to tie him to the raid. Graffiti found at the scene read “A.L.F.” and “We are watching”. Over one year later, mink are still being found living wild in the vicinity of the farm.

After an 11-month court battle, Viehl accepted a non-cooperating plea bargain in which the prosecution agreed to recommend a sentence of 6 months. In November the judge threw out the deal, stating the recommendation was “too low” and did “not match the severity of the crime”. The sentencing was held over for February, where Thursday he sentenced Viehl to 24 months in prison.

The Sentencing: Report From Court

Court convened Thursday at 11:30am in downtown Salt Lake City. The prosecution first addressed the court. Refraining from the theatrics of past hearings such as a slide show showing firebombed cars from previous A.L.F. actions, the prosecutor made a very brief statement again recommending a six month sentence, and sat down.

Viehl’s attorney addressed the judge, also asking for a six month sentence. She highlighted previous animal rights cases where the “crimes” alleged would legally be considered more serious, yet resulted in sentences lower than or equal to the sentence being threatened by the judge (at previous hearings, Benson threatened a sentence of two years or more).

Judge Benson talked about the attention the case has received, and restated that he felt the recommended sentence was too low.

Lodder and Blackridge fur farms: guilt by association

He expressed his belief Viehl was involved with more Animal Liberation Front actions than those he was charged with, making clear he would be sentencing Viehl for crimes to which little to no evidence linked him, and for which he has not been charged.

He began this point by bringing up the A.L.F. raid of the Lodder fur farm in Kaysville, Utah. 6,000 mink were released from this farm in September, 2008. The judge pointed out Viehl was pulled over near the farm several weeks before the raid. The judge cited a police report which stated he was stopped dressed all in black, and a second occupant of the vehicle was seen stuffing a ski mask under a car seat. A subsequent (warrantless) search of the vehicle allegedly turned up wire cutters. Weeks later, 6,000 mink were released from the fur farm.

He also mentioned an alleged “attempted” mink release at Blackridge Farms in Hyrum, Utah. Viehl and a second person were allegedly followed by a mink farmer after they were seen passing the farm late one night in October, 2008. The judge stated that after noticing he was being followed, Viehl pulled the car over and approached the farmer’s vehicle to ask why she was following them. Benson pointed out the vehicle was the same vehicle said to be used in the McMullin raid.

The evidence

The judge admitted the only evidence against Viehl was a car key found at the farm the morning after the raid, and cell phone records which placed Viehl’s phone near the McMullin farm the night of the mink release. He stated that even with the cell phone records, “without that key, we may not be here right now”.

Benson retreated to the emotive language both him and the prosecutor have made familiar in this case, stating Viehl “caused terror”, and that he knows of no other word for releasing animals from cages than “terrorism”.

“We have so many rights to properly change laws” in this country, he said. This was a naive or deliberately misleading statement while two SHAC 7 defendants and Kevin Olliff remain in jail for attempting to affect change in a legal, above-ground fashion through protest and outreach.

Judge: Viehl “heavily involved” in other A.L.F. raids

Consistent with previous statements from the judge, he linked Viehl to a broader conspiracy, stating he had “no doubt [Viehl] was heavily involved” in other Animal Liberation Front actions. He called him a “copycat”, and said the sentence would be aimed towards deterring future activists from carrying out A.L.F. actions.

With that, he handed down his sentence: Two years in prison, three years probation, nearly $66,000 in restitution, and no contact with the Animal Liberation Front.

With credit for time served, good time, and halfway house, Viehl expects to be released in August.

- Peter Young

Write William “BJ” Viehl:

William James Viehl
Inmate #2009-05735
Davis County Jail
800 West State St.
Farmington, UT 84025

Contact: info@voiceofthevoiceless.org or email VOV here.Become vegan: Learn why a vegan diet is essential for the animals and this planet. Watch Meet Your Meat.
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Peter Young is TPC’s Senior Editor of Direct Action and the creator of VoiceOfTheVoiceless.org. Young is a veteran animal liberation activist and former political prisoner convicted for his role in liberating thousands of animals from fur farms across the country. Emerging from a grand jury indictment, 7 years of being wanted by the FBI, a federal prison sentence, and nearly 15 years in the animal liberation movement; today Peter is a frequent lecturer at universities and events, writer on liberation movements, and unapologetic supporter of those who work outside the law to achieve human, earth, and animal liberation.

2009 was a particularly bad year for the Italian prison system, especially if you happened to be one of its ‘guests’ having to suffer the severe overcrowding that was exacerbated by an overall lack of funding in the system. As a result, the summer saw a series of prison protests, including mass hunger strikes and riots, as well an explosion in a historically already high rate of suicide, self-harm and other ‘suspicious’ deaths.

This overcrowding crisis means that the prison population currently stand at 64,910, its highest level since 1946, a population housed in jails built for only 43,480. The most obvious effect of this overcrowding is on the suicide rate. In the decade 2000-09, there were 1,568 deaths, 565 (36%) of which were suicides (with 12 times that number of attempted suicides). Last year there were 174 deaths in Italian prisons, of which 72 (41%) were classified as suicide. That is 27% higher than the average for the previous decade, against a 10% for the overall death rate. This is the highest suicide rate since 2001 (12.11 per 10,000 vs. 12.52), and by far the highest number for more than 20 years. It is also the highest in Western Europe apart from France, Luxembourg and Switzerland! And just to reinforce the dangers of being a prisoner in Italy, in the first 2 weeks of 2010 there have already been 5 suicides.

The initial response of the Italian government to the unrest last summer was to announce a series of draft emergency plans last August. These plans have now come to fruition with the announcement of a yearlong state of emergency throughout the Italian prison system. Presented to the Council of Ministers on the 12 January by Justice Minister Angelino Alfano, there are four elements to these plans:

* the building of 47 new prison wings, largely using private investment, creating 21,749 new beds and bringing the prison capacity up to 80,000;
* to amend Article 385 of the Penal Code and bring in home detention for those with less that a year to serve on their sentences (estimates put this at 32% of the current prison population) and ‘community service’ for those sentenced to less than 3 years;
* 2,000 new prison officers;
* and an extension to the powers already granted to Franco Ionta, head of the DAP (Dept of Prison Administration) as special commissioner for prison construction. The later means that he will be able to summarily decide on all contracts involved in the new €600m building scheme, answerable only to Berlusconi himself. Planning will be simplified and projects will follow the pattern of 24 hour working followed in the aftermath of the L’Aquila earthquake.

Needless to say the plans have not been universally popular. During the debate there was a demonstration by public sector unions outside the Italian parliament organised by UILPA Prisons (Italian Workers’ Union – Civil Servants section), OSAPP (Autonomous Union of Penitentiary Police), FP-CGIL (Civil Servants section of the Italian General Confederation of Labour) and SI.DI.PE (Union of Prison Directors and Officers). FP-CGIL, UILPA, RdB (Rank & File Union) and FLP (Federation of Public Workers & Functionaries) have also declared a strike by judicial workers for 5 February in opposition to the plans.

The PSD (Party of Security and Defence Professionals – effectively the Military’s trade union even though they are banned from joining unions) has claimed that no new building scheme is needed as there are already 40 prisons standing empty across Italy. Some, like San Valentino (Pescara) and Arghillà (Reggio Calabria), have never been occupied. Others, such as Morcone (Benevento), are standing empty after extensive refurbishment.

The government’s scheme has also been denounced by prisoner support groups such as Antigone and Hands Off Cain, and the opposition PD (Democratic Party) have introduced a counter-motion declaring that the whole judicial system is broken and building new prisons is not the solution. They point out, amongst other things, that 50% of all prisoners are currently on remand and 30% will be inevitably have the charges against them dismissed. Other have pointed out that the government’s anti-immigration policies and the general racism in Italian society means that 37% of the prison population are foreign prisoners, where as only 6.5% of the total population are foreign nationals.

Inevitably criticism has also focused on the role and powers of Franco Ionta and the potential for corruption given the sweeping powers that have been invested in him, under the direct supervision of il Dude Berlusconi himself. Given the government’s professed anti-mafia/anti-corruption stance, it is to be seen whether the financial corruption alleged to have occurred around the L’Aquila projects will be repeated with the prison building schemes.

http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/2010/02/14/state-of-emergency-declared-in-italian-prison-system/