From german_scn_news@hotmail.com Fri Jun 01 21:35:31 2001 From: German_Scn_News Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Re: Gold Base French-German ICBM/Tom Cruise Missile Coordinates Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 21:35:31 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 77 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: p-285.newsdawg.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Sender: german_scn_news@darkstar.zippy Path: news2.lightlink.com!news.lightlink.com!gail.ripco.com!news.chaven.com!ord2-feed1.news.digex.net!intermedia!feeder.qis.net!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!newsfeed.stanford.edu!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!darkstar.zippy!german_scn_news Xref: news2.lightlink.com alt.religion.scientology:1310643 Scientology Critic in custody for usenet posting Riverside, USA June 1, 2001 Heise Online A US citizen who was convicted for posting messages critical of Scientology is applying for political asylum in Canada. Scientology critic Keith Henson was sentenced in April by a district court in California's Riverside County to 200 days confinement because he allegedly published a bomb threat in Usenet against Scientologists. What sealed his fate was a short sentence he typed in as an reply to a post in the alt.religion.scientology news group under the heading "Re: 'Gold Base' French-German ICBM/Tom Cruise Missile Coordinates": "Modern weapons are accurate to a matter of a few tens of yards." In those words the California court saw proof of Henson's presumed bomb threat. In addition, the 58-year-old man had to answer up for taking part in a demonstration in front of the Scientology sect's Golden Era Studios east of Los Angeles. As Henson's wife, Arel Lucas, told a local Canadian newspaper, Henson has been protesting against the Scientology sect for five years and regards it as a criminal syndicate. She said because of that Scientology saw to it that her husband was charged regardless of what he did. The court evaluated Henson's participation in the demonstration as interference with a religion. This is said to be a hate crime, which is punishable in California (Section 422.6 Cal. Penal Code). Henson avoideded sentencing by escaping to Canada. There he was arrested in a parking lot of a shopping center in Oakville accompanied by his friend, Gregg Hagglund, a "Freedom of Speech" activist. Hagglund regards the criminal proceedings against Keith Henson as an infringement of the First Amendment of the American Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. For the time being, however, the Scientology opponent remains in a Canadian holding cell. Whether he stays will be reviewed in a judge's decision, according to what his wife said yesterday [1]. His confinement in Canada is based on Henson's not revealing his conviction in the USA to the authorities when he entered the country. The Scientology Organization is regarded in Germany as a destructive cult about which sect commissioners from the major churches have been warning people for years. Bremen Pastor Helmut Langel has told the Scientologists in a brochure that their religious concept is a sheer facade under which guise the sect pursues strictly commercial goals. In doing that, he said, the sect is aware that it ruins its members financially and psychically. Links: [1] http://www.freehenson.da.ru [2] http://www.heise.de/ --- Red Skies at Night --- Unofficial translation/critical interpretation of German media, For non-commercial use only. Recent events - http://cisar.org/trnmenu.htm Informational publications http://members.tripod.com/German_Scn_News Thousands of articles sorted by date http://cisar.org/sortdate.htm