Via Slashdot, the story of 64-year old Keith Henson’s arrest.
Henson, an outspoken critic and picketer of Scientology bases was convicted in 2001 of “interfering with a church”. You can read about the on Wikipedia and on Henson’s website. Whatever you may think of Henson and Scientology, it’s clear from reading the court documents that critical elements of his defense were not permitted at trial, including the argument that Henson was exercising his right to free speech.
Also clear is this: Henson is no lunatic. He’s a highly educated electrical engineer who has researched and written extensively. (A list of his articles is at the bottom of the Wikipedia article).
Part of the fuel that fed the Scientology fire to take aim and hit so hard at Henson was a string of joking emails about “Tom Cruise missiles“, which they claimed were the basis of a “terrorist threat” against them. I went through the thread as archived by Google and had difficulty figuring out what exactly, he’d written, but anyone reading them would know immediately that they were a joke.
After his trial and conviction, Henson fled to Canada after receiving threats which promised him harm in jail. He remained a fugitive until Friday when Arizona authorities arrested him and is awaiting extradition back to California.
More discussion here and here.
Other articles and resources: Daily Kos, Extropy Institute’s Legal Defense Fund
Technorati Tags: Keith Henson, free speech, Scientology, religion, bullies
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