Civil Liberties Group Defends Online Scientology Critic http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167198.html
By David McGuire, Newsbytes
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A.,
22 Jun 2001, 4:01 PM CST

Fearing that fugitive Scientology protester Keith Henson is being unjustly "slimed" by the Church of Scientology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Friday publicly proclaimed its support for the convicted Internet critic, who has taken refuge in Canada from California authorities. "Online civil liberties groups are concerned about what happened to Mr. Henson," EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn said today. "We felt the need to counter some of the sliming that is going on by Scientology." Cohn said that during the period surrounding Henson's trial, the Church of Scientology "bombarded" the media with scathing attacks against Henson, who in April was convicted by a California criminal court of threatening to interfere with the church's freedom to practice religion. EFF and other Henson supporters contend that the court seriously misconstrued a handful of postings that Henson had made to an online Scientology newsgroup. Cohn said that prosecutors blew out of proportion Henson's comments about launching a "cruise missile" at one of the Church's compounds. Although transcripts from the trial have yet to be released, Cohn said that the trial judge in the case refused to allow the jury to see Henson's comments in the proper context. Read in context, it would be obvious that Henson was joking in his postings, Cohn said. "It seems like to us that this kind of normal hijinks on a Listserv has been turned into a criminal conviction," Cohn said. Henson's posts are archived on a pro-Henson site located online at http://freehenson.da.ru . Following his conviction, Henson fled to Canada, where he was later captured by Canadian authorities. Earlier this month, however, Canadian authorities agreed to review Henson's request for asylum. Cohn said that EFF is keeping a close eye on the case, but has no immediate plans to participate in Henson's appeal. Neither Henson, nor the Church of Scientology were immediately available for comment on this story. Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com . 16:01 CST Reposted 16:12 CST (20010622/WIRES TOP, ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS/EFF/PHOTO)
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