Keith Henson was picked up in Prescott AZ

Keith Henson was convicted of MISDEMEADOR in a trial with outrageous irequities and apparently doctored court record. The charge involve a comment made about blowing up Church of scientology members with a "Tom Cruise Missile". Not a funny joke, but not worth going to jail over.

'Tom Cruise' missile jokester arrested (CNET News.com - February 5, 2007)

note from his wife, Arel Lucas

Scientology & Unfair Game

Hey Scientologists, shame on you — again: The church recently got the Riverside County D.A.’s Office and Canadian law enforcement authorities to gang up on a 58-year-old grandfather who liked to protest outside the church’s Hemet compound. By Gale Holland

UnFair Game: Scientologists get their man (laweekly.com - June 22 - 28, 2001)

Scientology has never obeyed to the FDA/justice orders

Source: Keith henson was picked up in Prescott AZ Friday night (ytmnd.com - February 4, 2007)

The account of the the wife of Keith Henson, Ariel Lucas

Source: fr.soc.sectes - February 7 2007

Here's my account to someone from the BBC today--sorry it took so long, but it took from 7 this morning to 7:30 this evening to get him out on bail.

(My Day Mostly at the Detention Center)

I've been going nuts today since 6:15 a.m. trying to find out exactly the same things. There was a hearing at 8 a.m. for which we were so fortunate as to have an attorney attending. The judge set a bond for Keith at $7,500.  I was due in a meeting, got out of the meeting, went immediately into another one, ran out to my car after I heard from the attorney that the bond had been set, went back in to get phone numbers to find out where and how to pay bond, and found out I'd locked my keys in my car. So it was 11 a.m before I could get to a bank and draw the money out of my retirement fund.

So I did that, but they couldn't give me cash. I showed up at the courthouse as directed, with a cashier's check, but they directed me to the "jail window." They can't take anything but cash. (By now my feet are already sore.) Went to a nearby bank. They couldn't cash the cashier's check I had received from a local bank not an hour before without my having an account at the bank. I went to a nearby store to ask where a branch of my other bank (without enough money) was. Walked to that bank. They had to call the issuing bank but were able to cash the cashier's check. So now I'm walking around downtown Prescott with $7,500 cash headed for the "Jail Window." I'm filling out the paperwork when suddenly I'm approached by two clerks who say they can't let him go because he's about to be taken back into court to see the judge. They tell me to wait.

I go out to the lobby when it suddenly occurs to me that the lawyer who represented him that morning had driven back to his office 2 hours away and most likely knew nothing of these circumstances. I went back into the "Jail Window"(less room) to ask whether my husband was not entitled to representation at this hearing.  They said they'd send a supervisor out to see me.  In the meantime, I'm frantically calling his lawyer.

Turns out they had the same problem--couldn't reach his lawyer. (I'm glad they were trying.)  So I called Lawyer #2, waiting in the wings, whom I'd meant to hire but he wasn't available over the weekend. Lawyer #1 and I had agreed that he'd just as soon not commute 2 hours to Prescott when needed, so I'd just hire this other local lawyer. Lawyers #1 and 2 are soon both calling the court intermittenty with calling me.

Here's what went down.  Keith was arrested in a bizarre manner Friday afternoon around 3:30 pm after being confronted and then chased by a plainclothes police detective (unknown to him) in an unmarked car. He fled to a nearby Wal-Mart so there would be witnesses to what he thought surely would otherwise be a shooting (of himself). He then was surrounded by 3 regular City of Prescott police cars with uniformed police who stood around while the plainclothes detective called "California" to see whether "they wanted him," as he told me when I showed up after Keith's initial frantic cell call to me. The detective body blocked me from getting more than a few inches beyond my car toward Keith and my other car, that he had been driving. He told me to "sit quietly" in the car and wait--or else.

Soon they had him in handcuffs and off to jail. It was after 6 or 7 that night before he had been booked, and after 7 before he was able to get his blood pressure meds (from me, through the jail nurse, because no one was around to verify his meds).  Beginning Friday afternoon, as soon as I got home from watching his arrest, I began calling and emailing people to get the word out and get press. I didn't hear from Keith himself until Saturday night, when he finally reached me. By that time the lawyer a friend had found for him had called him and was able to confirm that he had my home number.  He was stressed but OK and getting his meds. He had been placed in solitary as an "FOJ" (fugitive of justice--of!?!), with curtailed visiting privileges. I spoke with him again yesterday, and he had hardly slept because it was so cold in the prison, and inmates were only allowed one blanket. (It was 20 degrees F here last night.)  I went in yesterday and put money in his fund so he could buy contact lens supplies, paper, pens, etc., but the "commissary" won't be open till Wednesday (orders for delivery Thursday).

I emailed back and forth with the attorney and agreed to print out and bring fee and representation agreement copies with me to meet him at 7 a.m. this morning. I got up at 6:15, raced around, thought well, I'll be back here before I need to go to work at 8, and raed out without makeup, lunch, breakfast, etc.

When I got to the jail, the lawyer unexpectedly took me with him to see Keith. By now I'm hardened to seeing him in an orange suit, after his Canadian stint in jail when the $ciclos reported him to the police as "armed and dangerous." We were, of course, separated by the usual glass, but we had a private room for consultation with his attorney, who had convinced staff that I needed to be a part of the fee agreement, financial arrangements, etc. Even in an orange suit and disarranged hair, Keith looks good to me.  I stayed until I absolutely had no time to spare, left for work, got in and did a minimum, left again, and now we're back around to the meeting, car, banks, etc.

OK, well, what happened after the hearing today is that the Yavapai County Attorney (the district attorney in other jurisdictions) got a frantic call from the Riverside County district attorney that Keith is a flight risk and they had to get him back into court and have his bail raised. The County Attorney contacted the judge, who temporarily raised his bail to $500'000. Lawyer #1, bless his soul, phoned in time to get in a 3-way conference with the judge and Yavapai County attorney and tell them what theRiverside County district attorney was carefully concealing from Yavapai County : the fact that Keith's original crime was not a felony--for which extradition is routine--but a misdemeanor--for which extradition is rare, almost unheard of.  In fact, both the judge and County Attorney were convinced that Arizona does not extradite for misdemeanors.  That turns out not to be true, but my lawyer didn't argue with that viewpoint; he let them find it out for themselves. (Needless to say, I'm sticking with Lawyer #1.)

So the County Attorney had to get back with Riverside County to confirm that Keith's "crime" was not a felony, which left the County Attorney and judge more bewildered than ever.  What's the beef ? So the judge went off to deliberate, and I've just heard that bail has been lowered to $5,000 for his appearance at a scheduled March 5 hearing in the same court. So I'm off again in a few minutes as soon as I can close up shop here at 5.  Maybe Keith will be able to tell you his side of all this this evening (I hope) or tomorrow.

In the meantime I've asked help in engineering a telephone, email, fax, and letter campaign to the governors of California and Arizona asking them to : (California) reconsider having signed the extradition warrant; and (Arizona) not sign the extradition warrant. (Both states must sign.)

Do you wonder why Keith doesn't want to serve time in the Riverside County jail, with that kind of double -dealing ? It's not nice to conceal the status of a citizen for nefarious purposes ($cientology's), but the district attorney did that just this afternoon. Now maybe it was a sin of omission and not commission, to just let the Arizona officials assume that Keith was a felon, because that was the natural assumption.  (Who would go to this much trouble for a mere misdemeanant?)

I think today's proceedings raise an awful lot of questions about what is going on in Riverside County, Cali- fornia, and what went on there in 2000 and 2001 around Keith's original arrest, unarrest, arraignment (and non-arraignment), hearings, trial, sentencing, denial of appeal, etc. This is one of those Watergate things- -the original trespasses were bad enough, but the coverup is worse. Unfortunately they're even more motivated now to cover up what has gone down this weekend, and that doesn't bode well for Keith. I expect we'll be moving to another house, hoping to avoid the surveillance we've obviously been under.

You see Keith's email address in the cc. I don't know whether he will be able to get back to you tonight, but you and he should be able to get something together in the next few days.

Thanks, and best wishes.

'Tom Cruise' missile jokester arrested

CNET News.com - February 5, 2007

in California stems from a post that Henson made in the alt.religion.scientology Usenet newsgroup that joked about aiming a nuclear "Tom Cruise" missile at Scientologists, and Henson's picketing of the group's Golden Era Productions in Riverside, Calif.

Michael Kielsky, Henson's defense attorney, said Monday that his client will likely be released on Monday evening and is required to appear in court for a March 5 hearing.

Kielsky said that Henson was mistreated by police and jailers--including being told during the arrest that he had no right to an attorney and being held in solitary confinement in a poorly heated cell without adequate bedding. "My best information is that it's very political," he said. "They gave him an extra blanket but then an hour later they took it away--(this is) a 66-year-old man with a heart problem."

A message left with Sheila Polk, the Yavapai County Attorney, was not returned on Monday.

A brief flap that ensued over the amount of Henson's bond delayed the process. A judge initially set the amount at $7'500, but then increased it to $500'000 at the request of prosecutors, according to the Yavapai County Detention Center. After a telephone conference with the judge and attorneys on Monday afternoon, the bond was lowered to $5'000.

Henson's frequent encounters with Scientology, coupled with his lengthy resume of programming, electrical engineering and futurist accomplishments, have made him something of a legal cause celebre in technology circles.

Supporters have created a "Free Keith Henson" blog, posted a note from his wife, Arel Lucas, and are asking for donations to a legal defense fund. The fund was set up by members of the Extropy Institute, a nonprofit group that has been a gathering point for futurists and technologists since 1991.

Convicted of making threat to interfere with religion

Henson was convicted in 2001 under a California law (Sec. 422.6) that criminalizes any threat to interfere with someone else's "free exercise" of religion. One Usenet post that was introduced at his trial included jokes about sending a "Tom Cruise" missile against a Scientology compound (the actor is a prominent Scientologist). Picketing Scientology buildings and other "odd behavior" were also part of the charges, Deputy District Attorney Robert Schwarz said at the time.

Jeanne Roy, a deputy district attorney in Riverside County, Calif., said that the next step for her office is to see whether Henson shows up for his March 5 court date. If he does not, an Arizona warrant would be issued for his arrest. If he does, Roy said, another court date would be set to deal with extradition through a process known as a governor's warrant.

"That won't happen by March 5," Roy said. "It's usually a 30- to 90-day process, depending on the state, for that paperwork." If extradited to California, she said, Henson faces a year in jail or six months in jail and 3 years of probation.

When asked whether it's common for California to try to extradite someone on a misdemeanor conviction, Roy said: "It's not common, but it's not unusual either. We do it in some cases."

Henson's family is concerned about what might happen to him in jail. "The Scientologists have made death threats to my father," his daughter Amber Henson said in an e-mail message to CNET News.com. "My mom and I are going to do everything possible to make sure that they are not able to silently do away with him." (The Church of Scientology could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.)

Before his misdemeanor conviction, Henson had become embroiled in a civil lawsuit that Scientology filed against him.

It arose out of supposedly secret scriptures written by L. Ron Hubbard, the late science fiction author and founder of Scientology, which describe a galactic overlord named Xenu who is allegedly the source of all human evil. Since the early 1990s, Scientology has made a concerted effort to remove those documents from the Internet--including suing Henson--but they finally found a permanent legal home in the Netherlands.

Scientology's tactics, which critics say include cult-like retention practices and intimidation, have drawn fire in the past. A Time magazine cover story, for instance, concluded that "Scientology poses as a religion but really is a ruthless global scam." Xenu and Cruise were also satirized in a November 2005 episode of South Park.

UnFair Game: Scientologists get their man

By Gale Holland

Source: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/01/31/news-holland.shtml

LA Weekly - June 22-28, 2001

First Amendment

hubbub: Keith Henson

It was 2:15 p.m. when Keith Henson and his friend Gregg Hagglund finished picking up contact-lens solution and shaving lotion at a suburban Toronto mall and climbed into their car. Before they could fasten their seat belts, two unmarked vans squealed up, pinning their Mazda economy sedan in from the rear and the passenger side. A handful of emergency-services task-force officers - Canada's version of a police SWAT team - spilled out, wearing body armor and carrying submachine guns. As shoppers hurried into the nearby mall food-court entrance, Hagglund found himself staring down the barrel of a Glock pistol. "You could stick your fist down one of those things," he recalled.

When the May 29 takedown was over, Henson, a Palo Alto computer consultant, was in custody at the "super-maximum-security" Metro West Detention Centre on a Canadian immigration warrant. The warrant was based on Henson's April 26 criminal conviction in Hemet, California. And what was the Internet activist's crime ? Espionage, perhaps ? Terrorism ? Henson was found guilty of a single misdemeanor count of interfering with a religion. To those familiar with a ferocious five-year war between the church and its Internet critics, it comes as no surprise that the religion was Scientology.

Earlier this month, Henson was freed, pending a hearing on his application for political asylum in Canada. Henson, who says he did no more than post nasty Usenet messages and picket Scientology locations, claims the church set him up. He may go down in history as the first person to file an international human-rights claim over a misdemeanor conviction. The case is likely to raise questions of how far a religion can go to protect itself from dissidents, and of free speech on the Net. And if Henson has his way, it will probe whether Scientology has reverted, in the words of a St. Petersburg, Florida, Times editorial, to historic practices of "spend[ing] virtually unlimited time and money on pursuing, setting up and bringing down its critics."

"We may get involved," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an Internet civil-liberties organization. "There's a general concern that Scientology was out to get Keith Henson."

Henson, a graying, bespectacled, 58-year-old grandfather, seems an unlikely candidate for international fugitive on the run. A self-proclaimed "small-l libertarian," he is known in the Net community as a founding member of the L5 Society, advocating space colonization. Another cause to which he has lent his not-inconsiderable zeal is cryonics, the practice of freezing diseased human bodies in the hope of saving them with future medical cures. In short, he's a not-atypical Netizen, brilliant, maybe, eccentric, yes, but thoroughly nonviolent, associates say.

"He's certainly been interested in fringe areas of science, but I don't think any of those are harmful areas," said John Gilmore, an EFF founder who has done business with Henson. "He's an ordinary guy who got in the face of Scientology."

How Henson, who is neither a former church member nor a relative of one, became embroiled with the controversial religion calls for some explanation. Skeptics, who have long questioned whether Scientology is a religion or a business, congregated on alt.religion.scientology (ARS), a lively but not exactly headline- grabbing Usenet group. In 1995, Scientology tried to shut the site down. The retrospectively ill-advised attempt was followed by denial-of-service and "sporging" (forgery and spoofing) attacks, which raised the hackles of the hardcore Net community. A new generation of anti-Scientology activists was born.

Alt.religion.scientology now is one of the most popular Usenet groups.

"Scientology's action had the psychological effect you would have seen of a gang of thugs riding into a Midwestern town and burning down the newspapers," Henson said.

Henson began contributing to ARS, then graduated to posting top-secret Scientology "sacred texts" on the Net. The dissemination of "scriptures" such as the story of Xenu, a galactic overlord who supposedly solved an intergalactic overpopulation problem 75 million years ago by space-transporting excess beings to Earth and blowing them up with hydrogen bombs, is a sore point for Scientology. The church not only fears scaring off new recruits; sales of the texts are a moneymaker. The church went so far as to surreptitiously install censorware on members' computers, blocking sites likely to post texts. Scientology has also waged a legal campaign against the postings.

When Henson posted the so-called NOTs 34 advanced training manual on the Net, Scientology sued him for copyright infringement. The church won a $75,000 judgment, forcing Henson into bankruptcy. Being nothing if not persistent, Henson also began picketing Scientology facilities nationwide, including the church's film-production compound outside Hemet. The razor-wire-enclosed spread, called Golden Era Productions, occupies 500 acres along Gilman Hot Springs Road. Inside its faux-English castle-inspired building, workers produce an array of videotape programs, radio and television addresses, and Sunday services for the church. Other projects include restoring recordings of L. Ron's 3'000 90-minute lectures, producing posters, fliers, magazines and books, and translating materials into 16 languages.

Critics, who call the facility "Gold Base," claim the compound also houses the church's highly secretive security apparatus. Many of the 700 Scientologists who work at Golden Era are bused in from apartment complexes in Hemet, dressed in those blue seafaring uniforms you see outside the church's building in Hollywood (one of Scientology's world headquarters).

By varying estimates, Henson spent 40 to 50 days last summer walking the highway in front of Golden Era. His protest signs focused on the deaths of several women in the care of the church, most notably Lisa McPherson, whose controversial death is the subject of an upcoming civil trial in Florida (another Scientology world headquarters). He accompanied Scientology buses to the employee quarters, taking down church members' license numbers and addresses.

At times, the Hemet protests took on a faintly ludicrous, Spy vs. Spy cast, with Scientology agents and picketers bombing around Hemet, watching one another. Ida Camburn, a 78-year-old anti-Scientology activist who houses out-of-town protesters, says Scientology P.I.s tailed her from her residence at the Sierra Dawn Mobile Home Park.

"They had five private investigators sitting in my neighborhood last summer when Keith was here, following me around and scaring me half to death," Camburn charged. "One morning I was turning left, one pulled up beside me on the right side, as I made a left, she also turned left real fast out of the right lane, so close I could feel her ... I went into the medicine shop, and there she's sitting grinning at me."

The Sierra Dawn park manager told police that residents were frightened because of "the private investigators who sit in cars for hours at a time and watch Ida's house."

Henson also continued to contribute to alt.religion.scientology, which is closely monitored by the church. One of his postings was a suggestion to land a "Cruise missile" on Gold Base; another said of Scientology, "destroy it utterly." Henson says the messages were inside jokes : "Cruise" referred to actor Tom Cruise, a longtime Scientologist, and the "destruction" quote was a takeoff on one of L. Ron's own incendiary statements.

"Like I'm going to take a bomb out of my pocket and throw it over the fence," Henson said.

"Does that even pass the giggle test ?" asked EFF's Cohn.

But Golden Era general manager Ken Hoden says Henson's bomb postings were taken seriously.

"Based on evidence we were able to collect off the Internet, his intention was to destroy [the production facility] utterly, to leave not one stone unturned," Hoden said.

Hoden denies that the church tailed Camburn or other activists, and says instead that Henson, whom he compares to Timothy McVeigh, is a stalker with an extensive background in explosives.

"He's no different. The man's obsessed, and he's a dangerous individual," Hoden said.

"He would take pictures of people, take down their license-plate numbers, and he wasn't carrying a sign then; it's pretty intimidating stuff," agreed Deputy District Attorney Robert Schwarz, who prosecuted Henson.

But from the beginning, the Henson investigation was hardly business as usual. Opened at the behest of Scientology, the case relied on evidence provided by the church's "Internet expert," Gavino Idda, and private investigator Edwin G. Richardson. At one point, Riverside County Sheriff's Detective Tony Greer, the lead investigator, said, "In reviewing all of the Internet postings I did not see any direct threat of violence towards the church or any personnel of the church." At the D.A.'s direction, however, the investigation continued. Scientology lawyers also attended the trial, and conferred with Schwarz during the breaks.

Schwarz said it was not unusual for victims to help prosecutors.

"Scientology has absolutely no say in whether or not we file a case," Schwarz said.

After a disastrous non-defense defense - Henson and supporters say Riverside County Superior Court Judge Robert Wallerstein gutted their case - the jury hung on two counts, but convicted Henson of the interfering charge, which is classified as a hate crime.

Facing a recommended 200 days in Riverside County Jail, which Henson feared had been infiltrated by the Scientologists' Criminon rehab program, the defendant fled before his sentencing date to Toronto, where he and Hagglund, a Canadian Scientology foe, picketed a downtown Scientology office. The church complained, bringing out the SWAT team.

"We get notified by Scientology, we check, and he's an undesirable," Toronto Police Fugitive Squad Detective Phil Glavin said of Henson. "We look on the Internet, and he's a self-proclaimed bomb expert."

Henson worked in the 1970s for an explosives company in Arizona, and arranged pyrotechnic parties in the desert "similar to Burning Man," he acknowledged, but that's a far cry from mad bomber. Henson told deputies his aim against Scientology was "psychological warfare." This goal, and some of Henson's tactics, may sound extreme. But the activists say he was just giving back as good as he got from the church, which has repea- tedly picketed, videotaped, defamed and followed him. Outside Golden Era, P.I.s spat upon and intimidated him in a practice known within the church as "bull baiting."

"Scientology goons accused me of having sex with girls, boys and goats," Henson said.

Henson blames his prosecution on a Scientology doctrine called "fair game." In 1967, Hubbard announced that any suppressive person (Scientology jargon for "enemy") "may be deprived of property or injured by any means, by any Scientologist ... He may be tricked, sued or lied to, or destroyed."

Hoden says fair game doesn't exist. But a number of former Scientologists say that not only is fair game in force, they helped carry it out.

One of the apostates, Frank Oliver of Florida, flew in to testify on Henson's behalf, but the judge refused to let him take the stand. Oliver told New Times Los Angeles his Scientology duties : "Spy on people. Gather intelligence. Write reports." ("Oliver is a liar," Hoden said.)

A former Scientologist, Tory Bezazian, says she didn't believe in fair game until she left the church. "They always say they're not fair gaming. But they do it. That's what they did to Keith, that's what they did to me."

Bezazian, at the church's behest, was arrested last year in Florida, as was former Scientologist Jesse Prince, who was charged with marijuana cultivation. The case was instigated by Scientology and ended in a mistrial. The St. Pete Times editorialized against the prosecution: "The Church of Scientology set out to destroy Jesse Prince ... [who is] one of those people the Church of Scientology perceives as n enemy because he is a vocal critic."

"I have nothing against Scientology's beliefs; it's their practices I oppose," Henson said.

"All we're trying to do is practice our religion," Hoden responded.

Henson's asylum application could take nine months to two years to resolve. In the meantime, he plans to be back on the picket line soon, despite a Canadian order to keep away from the church.

"I have 100'000 fans following my case," Henson said. And they aren't quitting either.

"They will never shut me up, because I won't shut up," Camburn said"

Les scientologues tombent sur un os. "Unfair Game"

Par Gale Holland

LA Weekly - June 22-28, 2001

First Amendment

hubbub: Keith Henson

Il était 14h15 lorsque Keith Henson et son ami Gregg Hagglund terminaient leurs courses dans un mall de la banlieue de Toronto, il y avait de la solution pour lentilles de contact et de la bombe à raser, puis montèrent en voiture. Avant d'avoir pu accrocher leur ceinture de sécurité, deux voitures banalisées à l'arrêt, ont coincé leur petite Mazda contre le trottoir. Une armée d'officiers de la force des services d'urgence — la version Canadienne des services de police SWAT — en est sortie, ils étaient équipés de gilets pare-balles et de mitraillettes. Alors que les clients allaient et venaient au centre commercial, Mr Hagglund s'est trouvé nez à nez avec un pistolet Glock.

Après cette arrestation du 29 mai, Henson qui est conseiller en informatique à Palo Alto, s'est retrouvé au Centre de Détention Metro West dans les "quartiers de haute sécurité" sur l'ordre des services d'immigration Canadiens. Le motif de l'arrestation était basé sur le procés d'Henson du 26 avril à Hemet en Californie. Quel crime avait donc commis l'activiste Internaute? Espionnage peut-être? Terrorisme? Henson n'avait en fait été jugé coupable, que parce qu'il gênait une religion. Ceux qui connaissent la guerre féroce que l'église mène depuis cinq ans contre ses critiques Internautes ne s'étonneront pas d'apprendre que c'est de la Scientologie dont il est question.

Au début du mois, Henson a été libéré, en attendant une audition concernant sa demande d'asile politique au Canada. Henson qui explique qu'il n'a rien fait de plus que de poster de méchants messages sur internet et de manifester devant les bâtiments de la Scientologie, affirme qu'il s'agit d'un coup monté par l'église. Il pourrait être le premier à déposer une plainte internationale pour violation des droits de l'homme à cause d'une simple arrestation pour un délit. Ce procés risque de soulever des questions telles que: jusqu'à quel point une religion peut-elle aller pour se protéger de ses opposants et de ce qu'ils disent sur Internet. Et si Henson continue dans cette voie, on verra si la Scientologie a vraiment changé, selon les termes du St Petersburg Time de Floride, d'après lequel "les pratiques de l'église consistent à dépenser un temps et un argent illimité pour poursuivre, faire arrêter et faire tomber ses critiques".

"Il se peut que nous nous impliquions dans cette affaire" a déclaré Cindy Cohn, directeur juridique de EFF, une organisation s'occupant des droits civils sur internet. "Nous soupçonnons la Scientologie de s'être arrangée pour faire tomber Henson".

Henson, grand-père grisonnant à lunettes de 58 ans, ne semble guère être le candidat idéal à la fuite inter- nationale. S'auto-proclamant " petit libertaire", il est connu dans la communauté internaute comme membre fondateur de la société L5, qui recommande la colonisation de l'espace. Une autre cause à laquelle il a donné beaucoup de temps, est la cryogénisation, la pratique de congélation des corps humains malades afin de les sauver par des soins médicaux dans le futur. En bref, il est plutôt un internaute typique, brillant peut-être, excentrique oui, mais totalement non-violent, expliquent ses associés.

"Il s'est certainement interessé à des domaines marginaux de la science, mais je ne pense pas qu'aucun d'entre eux soit dangereux" a expliqué John Gilmore, un fondateur d'EFF qui a fait des affaires avec Henson. "Ce n'est pas un gars ordinaire qui se dresse contre la Scientologie".

Comment Henson qui n'est ni un ex-membre de l'église, ni parent avec l'un d'entre eux a-t-il pu s'impliquer dans la lutte contre cette religion controversée. Les sceptiques, qui ont longtemps soulevé la question de savoir si la Scientologie est une religion ou une affaire commerciale, se sont rassemblés sur alt.religion. scientology (ARS), qui est un groupe Usenet très vivant mais qui ne traite pas forcément de sujets qui font la une. En 1995, la Scientologie a tenté de faire disparaître ce site. La tentative qui paraît être retrospecti- vement une très mauvaise idée, a été suivie de divers dénis de service, ainsi que d'attaques "sporging" (c'est à dire d'envoi massif de messages dont l'origine est fausse), qui ont fini par hérisser la communauté dure du Net. Une nouvelle génération d'activistes anti-Scientologues était née. Alt.religion.scientology est à l'heure actuelle l'un des groupes les plus populaires de l'Usenet.

"L'action scientologue a eu l'effet psychologique qu'aurait pu produire l'arrivée d'une bande de voyous pénétrant une ville de l'ouest américain et incendiant les journaux" a expliqué Henson.

Henson a commencé à participer sur ARS, puis a posté sur internet un "texte sacré", classé top-secret par la Scientologie. La dissémination d'"écrits sacrés" tels que l'histoire de Xénu, tyran galactique supposé avoir résolu le problème de la surpopulation intergalactique, il y a 75 millions d'années, en transportant sur Terre les excédents et en les faisant exploser à la bombe à hydrogène, a constitué un point particulièrement sensible chez les scientologues. Non seulement l'église craint que cela n'effraie les nouvelles recrues, mais en plus cela représente pour elle un manque à gagner. L'église est allée jusqu'à installer subrepticement un logiciel de censure sur les ordinateurs de ses propres membres, les empêchant d'aller sur les sites publiant ces textes. La Scientologie a également engagé une procédure judiciaire contre ces postages.

Lorsque Henson a posté une partie d'un manuel d'entraînement avancé sur le Net, appelé le NOTs 34, la Scientologie l'a poursuivi pour violation de copyrights. Elle a gagné et a obtenu de Henson le paiement de 75'000 dollars, l'acculant à la faillite. Pour le moins persistant, Henson a commencé à manifester devant les locaux de l'église un peu partout en Amérique, y compris le complexe proche d'Hemet où l'église possède un studio de production de cinéma.

Cet endroit qui est entièrement clos de hautes grilles renforcées de barbelés, s'appelle Golden Era Produc- tions, et occupe environ 200 hectares en bordure de la route de Gilman Hot Springs. A l'intérieur d'un bâtiment ressemblant à une imitation de vieux château anglais, les employés produisent divers programmes sur bande vidéo, radio où télévision, et les services dominicaux de l'église. On y réalise d'autres productions telles que la restauration des enregistrements des quelques 3000 conférences, chacune d'une durée de 1h30 de L.Ron Hubbard, réalisation d'affiches, tracts, magazines et livres, et la traduction des matériaux en 16 langues.

Les critiques, qui appellent cet endroit la "Base Gold", prétendent qu'on y trouve l'équipement le plus secret de l'église. Nombre des 700 scientologues qui vivent à Golden Era habitent des appartements regroupés à Hemet, ils sont habillés d'uniformes rappelant ceux de la Marine, comme ceux qu'on peut voir à proximité de l'immeuble de l'église à Hollywood (un des QG mondiaux de l'église).

Selon diverses estimations, Henson a passé 40 ou 50 jours à arpenter les trottoirs face à Golden Era. Ses pancartes de protestation avaient pour sujet les décés de plusieurs femmes au sein de l'église, en particulier celui de Lisa McPherson, dont les circonstances douteuses font l'objet d'un procés en Floride (autre QG mondial scientologue). Il a suivi les bus des employés de la Scientologie jusqu'à chez eux, et a noté les numéros minéralogiques et les adresses des membres de l'église.

Par moment, les protestations d'Hemet prenaient une tournure grotesque, espion contre espion, des agents scientologues et des manifestants s'espionnant les uns les autres. Ida Camburn, une activiste anti-scien- tologue de 78 ans, qui loge les manifestants qui viennent d'autres villes, dit que les détectives engagés par la Scientologie la surveillaient depuis sa résidence au Sierra Dawn Mobile Home Park.

"L'été dernier, lorsque Keith était dans les parages, il y avait cinq détectives privés qui me tournaient autour et me surveillaient, cela me faisait vraiment peur" a expliqué Camburn. "Un matin, il y en a une qui m'a suivie pas à pas, sur mes talons que j'aille ici ou là, tellement près que je pouvais la sentir... je suis entrée dans une pharmacie, et là elle s'est assise en me faisant un grand un sourire sarcastique". Le responsable du Parc Sierra Dawn a appelé la police car les résidents étaient effrayés par ces détectives qui restaient des heures dans leur voiture à épier la maison d'Ida".

Henson a continué à participer sur alt.religion.scientology, qui est surveillé de très près par l'église. L'un de ses messages, était la suggestion de faire attérir un "missile Cruise" sur la Base Gold; un autre disait à propos de la Scientologie "Détruisons-la complètement". Henson affirme que ces messages n'étaient que des plaisanteries: "Cruise" fait référence à l'acteur Tom Cruise, un scientologue de longue date, et la "destruction" en question n'est qu'une référence à une citation d'une des déclarations incendiaires de L.Ron Hubbard.

"Comme si je pouvais sortir une bombe de ma poche et la jeter par dessus la clôture" a ajouté Henson.

"Est-ce que ça n'a pas vraiment l'air d'un gag ?" a demandé Cohn de EFF.

Mais Ken Hoden, le directeur général de Golden Era, dit que

les menaces de bombe de Henson ont été prises au sérieux.

"D'après les preuves que nous avons pu recueillir sur internet, son intention était de d'anéantir complètement le studio et de ne laisser aucune pierre debout" a déclaré Hoden. Hoden nie que l'église ait suivi Camburn ou d'autres activistes, et prétend que Henson, qu'elle compare à Timothy McVeigh, est un spécialiste expérimenté en matière d'explosifs.

"Il n'est pas différent. Ce type est un obsédé, et c'est un dangereux individu" a expliqué Hoden.

"Il prenait des gens en photo, notait les numéros de leur plaque minéralogique, et ne portait pas de pancarte de manifestant; c'est une drôle de façon d'intimider les gens" a approuvé l'avocat du District Robert Schwarz, qui l'a poursuivi en justice.

Mais depuis le début, l'enquête sur Henson n'a guère ressemblé aux affaires habituelles. Elle a été ouverte à la demande de la Scientologie, on s'est fié aux preuves fournies par le soi-disant "expert internet" de l'église, Gavino Idda, et sur les allégations d'un détective Edwin G. Richardson. A un moment, le détective du comté de Riverside, le Shériff Tony Greer, qui était l'enquêteur principal a expliqué "En relisant tous les messages passés sur le Net, je n'ai vu aucune menace directe envers l'église ni envers aucun membre du personnel de l'église". A la direction du DA cependant, l'enquête s'est poursuivie. Les avocats de la Scientologie assistaient également au procés et ont discuté avec Schwarz pendant les interruptions de séance.

Schwarz a dit qu'il n'était pas inhabituel que les victimes aident les procureurs. "La Scientologie n'a pas son mot à dire en ce qui concerne la poursuite ou non d'une affaire" a expliqué Schwarz.

Après la désastreuse non-défense de la défense — Henson et ses supporters ont déclaré que le Juge Supé- rieur de Comté Robert Wallerstein a coulé leur procés — le jury a laissé tomber deux des chefs d'accusation mais a poursuivi Henson pour ce qui est classé ici comme un crime de haine.

Devant donc faire face à 200 jours d'emprisonnement à la prison de Riverside, dont Henson craint qu'elle ne soit infiltrée par des scientologues sous le couvert du programme scientologue de réhabilitation des crimes, Henson a donc fui à Toronto avant le prononcé de la sentence, où lui et Hagglund, également ennemi de la Scientologie au Canada, ont manifesté devant les bureaux de la Scientologie. L'église s'est plainte et a fait envoyer l'équipe des SWAT.

Le détective de l'Escadron de la Police des fugitifs de Toronto, Phil Glavin, a dit à propos d'Henson "La Scientologie nous a averti qu'Henson était un indésirable, nous l'avons donc arrêté". "Nous avons fait des investigations sur internet, et nous avons appris qu'il s'était auto-proclamé expert en matière de bombe".

Henson travaillait dans les années 70 pour une compagnie spécialisée dans les explosifs en Arizona, et il a mis au point des spectacles pyrotechniques dans le désert comme "Burning Man" (spectacle où un homme se transforme en torche vivante au moyen d'astucieux truquages) a-t-il expliqué, mais on est très loin du poseur de bombes. Henson a expliqué aux députés que son but était de mener une "guerre psychologique" contre la Scientologie. Ce but, et certaines des tactiques de Henson peuvent sembler extrêmes. Mais les activistes disent qu'il ne fait que rendre coup pour coup, elle-même a manifesté contre lui, l'a filmé à son insu, l'a diffamé et l'a fait suivre. A l'extérieur de Golden Era, les détectives privés lui ont craché dessus et ont essayé de l'intimider en suivant la méthode que l'église appelle le "harcèlement".

"Ces connards de la Scientologie m'ont accusé de coucher avec des gamines,

des garçons et des chèvres" a ajouté Henson.

Henson explique que son procés est dû à une doctrine scientologue qui s'apelle le "fair game" ("gibier de potence"). En 1967, Hubbard a annoncé que toute personne suppressive, (en jargon scientologue "ennemi") "peut être privé de ses biens ou blessé par tout moyen, par tout scientologue... Et que tout scientologue peut le poursuivre, lui mentir, le piéger ou le détruire".

Hoden prétend que le fair game n'existe pas. Mais nombre d'anciens scientologues affirment que non-seu- lement il est toujours pratiqué mais que eux-même l'ont déjà pratiqué.

Un des apostats, Frank Oliver de Floride, est venu pour témoigner au nom de Henson mais le juge a refusé de le laisser parler. Oliver a décrit au New Times de Los Angeles en quoi consistaient ses devoirs envers la Scientologie: "Il s'agissait d'espionner les gens, de rassembler des renseignements. Ecrire des rapports". (Hoden a répondu "Oliver est un menteur".

Une ex-scientologue, Tory Bezazian, dit qu'elle ne croyait pas à l'existence du fair game jusqu'à ce qu'elle quitte l'église. "Ils ne cessent de répéter qu'ils ne pratiquent pas le fair game. Mais ils le font. C'est ce qu'ils ont fait à Keith et c'est ce qu'ils m'ont fait".

Bezazian a été arrêtée à la demande de l'église l'an passé en Floride, ainsi que l'ex-scientologue Jesse Prince, qui était accusé de cultiver de la marijuana. Ce procés avait été intenté par la Scientologie et s'est conclu par un non-lieu pour manque de preuve. Le St Pete Times a publié un éditorial sur ce procés : "L'Eglise de Scientologie a fait ce qu'elle a pu pour détruire Jesse Prince... qui est une de ces personnes que l'Eglise de Scientologie perçoit comme un ennemi parce qu'il est un critique qui refuse de se taire".

"Je n'ai rien contre les croyances de la Scientologie;

je m'oppose à leurs pratiques" a déclaré Henson.

“All we’re trying to do is practice our religion,” Hoden responded.

"Tout ce que nous voulons c'est pratiquer notre religion" a répondu Hoden.

La demande d'asile de Henson peut demander neuf mois à deux ans avant d'aboutir. En attendant, il a l'intention de revenir manifester en dépit de l'injonction Canadienne qui lui interdit de s'approcher de l'église.

"J'ai plus de 100'000 fans qui suivent mon procés" a dit Henson. Et ils ne vont pas, eux non plus, s'arrêter là.

"Ils ne me feront jamais taire, parce que je ne me tairai pas" a dit
Camburn.

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