This post comes to us from FreeAnons, a group which does great work all year round supporting incarcerated Anons and those under threat of incarceration. They have asked that we all take a moment to think of those Anons, and if we have more than a moment, to write to them as part of the #MailToTheJail initiative. They are our brothers and sisters; they are the ones who have gone ahead, breaking a path for those who follow. The risks they took in the process have put them in some hard places. The least we can do is tell them they have not been forgotten there.

And, while we are at it, let us all remember James Daniel McIntyre, @Jaymack, who paid the ultimate price and died of gunshot wounds inflicted by RCMP officers in Dawson Creek, BC a few months ago. Let us hope no Anon pays such a price ever again.

FreeAnons Mail to the Jail posted by permission

Since 2011, Freeanons has seen the arrest and unrealistic persecution of so many anons fighting for what they believe in.  When realizing the names of so many strong minded people being persecuted for their beliefs, it it literally overwhelming to us.  This list barely scratches the surface of worldwide arrests but we would like to give you even a small glimpse of the cases we have worked with over the 4  last years.  Your help is desperately needed to assist us in ensuring that these freedom fighters are never forgotten, ignored and that their causes remain our causes.  Take a small glimpse into our world or have you forgotten them?

Aken:  Green Rights activist and loved throughout the Anonymous community arrested in May, 2015,  is presently on house arrest with no access to friends or family outside of the home.  He faces decades in prison in his home country of Italy.

Otherwise:  A much loved activist residing and arrested in Italy in May, 2015 also threatened with decades in prison and spending time in isolation on house arrest.  These two men are deeply loved by many and have the full support of their comrades at Anonymous Italy.

3 French Anonymous related arrests:  Ercun, Seamymsg and Boby all accused of suspected attacks on institutional websites including the Ministry of Defense and all are facing up to ten years in prison in addition to 150,000 euros in fines.  We have yet to receive a final outcome on all 3 cases.

Adam Bennett aka Lorax:  Arrested on May 17, 2014 in Australia and currently awaiting trial while being restricted from the internet.  Lorax was a host of Radio Anonops always speaking truth to power.

Mathew Hutchison aka Rax:  Arrested in May, 2014 for the making of a YouTube video.  He is required to serve community service and be under the watchful eye of the Australian Government until such time he is released from oversight.

Justin Michael Soyke aka Absantos:  Also arrested in Australia and currently serving a 3 year prison sentence with release following 12 months and the completion of his sentence on supervised release status.

Stanley Cohen Attorney/Activist standing up for the rights of all:  Ultimately jailed for one year for interference with the IRS (we still have no idea what that implies) sentenced to one year in prison to be released on December 15, 2015.  Welcome Home Stanley!!!

Fidel Salinas:  was arrested in October, 2013 and ultimately sentenced to 6 months in prison and $10,600.00 in fines after his arrest.  He was represented by Tor Ekeland who was able to reduce the 440 year sentenced Salinas was threatened with.  Salinas continues to stand by his report that the FBI arrested him after he refused to provide assistance to the FBI.  According to Tor Ekeland Fundamentally this represents the FBI trying to recruit by indictment,” Ekeland recently said. “The message was clear: If he had agreed to help them, they would have dropped the charges in a second.”

Lauri Love:  First arrested on October 28, 2013, is an outstanding activist and friend to many is currently facing extradition to the U.S. from England, a fate that could prove to be life in prison.  Lauri is charged with breaching multiple U.S. government computers.  He is in dire need of support worldwide to prevent extradition to the U.S.  Lauri is also a beneficiary of the Courage Foundation:  Lauri Love Courage Foundation

Jonathan Cowden:  Arrested and served 13 months and 2 days in prison in May, 2013 for hacking into Israeli websites in support of Palestine.  Since his release from prison, he has been placed in such severe restrictions that locating employment has become nearly impossible.  Due to a violation of probation (possession of a pocket knife and a tablet computer)  Jon was transported from a loving home with his very supportive girflfriend in California to Missouri where he is currently being housed.  The sad fact of this case is that Jon served his initial sentence out of the watchful eyes of Anonymous and without the moral support needed to carry him through.  We cannot allow this same error to occur while he remains incarcerated at the time of this writing.  You can find his address on our letter writing event post.

John Anthony Borell aka @ItsKahuna:  Also a member of the CabinCr3w and arrested on hacking charges while facing ten years in prison.  He signed a plea agreement on April 15, 2013 resulting in 36 months in prison and $230,000.00 in restitution.  He has been released from prison but will be burdened with unrealistic restitution for the rest of his life.

Higinio Ochoa aka W0rmer:  Member of the CabinCr3w accused hacker and supporter of the Occupy Movement, W0rmer was arrested on March 20, 2012 and charged with hacking various government websites.  He accepted a non-cooperating plea deal and was released on August 14, 2014 and was returned to the loving arms of his wife and infant son.  He continues to be required to pay nearly $14,000.00 in restitution.  He was banned from internet access for nearly one year following his release from prison, making caring for his family nearly impossible. Hig remains a great speaker and presently has a blog talk radio show with access to the internet reinstated.

Matt Dehart:  A search warrant was issued on the home of Matt Dehart on January 2, 2012 and was executed on January 25.  After applying for a student Visa to travel to Canada, Matt was arrested and detained at the Canadian border and taken into custody by the FBI.  Matt’s home was searched for suspected child porn but in reality, charges of espionage were being investigated against him. During his time of incarceration, Matt reports being drugged and abused.   He filed for asylum in 2013 to enter Canada.  Ultimately he was deported from Canada and back to the U.S. where he was promptly arrested and has been jailed since this date of March 1, 2015.  On November 13th 2015 he pled guilty to having explicit photos of under aged teenagers and for fleeing from his trial in a Tennessee court, accepting a seven and a half year sentence in the process and avoiding a possible 70 year sentence. The Courage Foundation claims DeHart was “cornered” into making the deal and that the government agreed to the plea to “prevent a drawn-out trial in which Matt’s political activity, the files he unearthed and the treatment he endured could come to light”.  Matt’s fate remains completely unknown at the time of this writing.

Matt DeHart Courage Foundation

Barrett Brown, Journalist and founder of Project PM:  Arrested on September 12, 2012 and sentenced to 63 months in prison for sharing a link and ordered to pay more than $900,000 in restitution to Stratfor, the spy firm exposed by Hammond.  Scheduled for release on May 25, 2017.

Barrett Brown Courage Foundation

Lulzcart:  A Romanian hacktivist  arrested and charged with 11 other defendants  with hacking multiple  government websites in 2012.  He was jailed for two months as he awaited trial and reported literally horrific conditions in prison.  He was ultimately given 3 years  suspended sentence and 6 years probation.

Reynaldo Rivera aka Neuron:  Affiliated with LulzSec  was arrested on August 29, 2012 and charged with the hack of Sony.  His plea deal included 366 days in prison, 13 months house arrest, 1,000 hours of community service restitution in the amount of $605,666.00.  Court documents state Hector Monsegur aka Sabu was an informant in The case against Neuron and multiple other members of LulzSec.

Cody Krestinger aka Recursion:  Affiliated with LulzSec was arrested  on September 22, 2011 and charged and  with the hack of Sony received 366 days in prison, 13 months house arrest, 1,000 hours of community service and restitution in the amount of $605,666.00.  It is stated in court documents that Hector Monsegur aka Sabu was also an informant in this case.

Christopher Weatherhead aka Nerdo:  Affiliated with Operation Payback, arrested and jailed in the UK and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Ashley Rhodes aka Nikon Elite:  Affiliated with Operation Payback, arrested and jailed in the UK and sentenced to 7 months in prison.

Peter Gibson age 24:  Affiliated with Operation Payback and given a 24 month suspended sentence.

Jake Birchall aka Fennic: age 16 at the time of his arrest in the UK:  Affiliated with Operation Paybacksentenced to community service due to his age.

Jeremy Hammond aka Anarchaos and member of Antisec:  Sentenced to ten years in prison for his role in the hack of Stratfor.  Eligible for Parole, as of the time of this writing, 2/22/2021.

Jeremy Hammond Courage Foundation

Ryan Ackroyd aka Kayla and member of Lulzsec:  Served a 30 month sentence in England

Mustafa Al-Bassam aka T Flow and member of Lulzsec:  Received a 20 months suspended sentence and required to serve 500 hours of unpaid community service.

Jake Davis aka Topiary and member of Lulzsec:  Sentenced to 24 months in a Youth Offenders Institute.  He ultimately served 38 days and underwent electronic monitoring for 21 months.

PayPal14:  A strong group of activists arrested for a DDos attack on Paypal.  All were charged in 2011 and underwent years of court proceedings and upheaval of their lives throughout their case.  Attorney Stanley Cohen represented one of the PayPal defendants but was a strong voice in support of the actions of this dedicated group who believed their actions should be viewed as a form of protest.  Ultimately they were given various sentences and ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars in restitution to PayPal.

Payback13:  A group of activists who took part in Operation Payback and arrested in the U.S. and charged in connection with the targeting the websites of entities committed to protecting copyrighted material.  All pleaded not guilty but ultimately accepted varying plea deals.  Contrary to some speculation, since these individuals were not known to each other, the accusation of snitching is a false accusation and should be ignored.

Dennis Collins aka Owen:  Defendant in both the PayPal14 and Payback13 cases fought viciously not only for himself but in the best interest of his co-defendants.  He lost his battle with a chronic and incurable illness on July 16, 2015, giving his life for a cause he believed in.  RIP Dear Owen.  You are so dearly missed by many.

Eric Rosol:  Eric was arrested and charged in relation to #opWisconsin which resulted in a shutdown of Koch Industry Websites  on February 27 and 28, 2011 was sentenced to 2 years Federal Probation and $183,000.00 fine.  He was facing 5 years in prison and $250,000.00 in fines.

Aaron Swartz:  (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer and Internet hacktivist. He was involved in the development of the web feed format  RSS and the Markdown publishing format, the organization Creative Commons, the website framework web.py and the social news site, Reddit, in which he became a partner after its merger with his company, Infogami. He was arrested on January 6, 2011 and  committed suicide while under federal indictment for data-theft, a prosecution that was characterized by his family as being “the product of a criminal-justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach”.

Categories: Anonymous, AntiSec, Barrett Brown, c4bin cr3w, CabinCr4w, Court Cases, Crews, Crime, Cyberwar, Dennis Owen Collins, FreeAnons, FreeMattDeHart, Hackers, Hacktivism, Higinio Ochoa, Jeremy Hammond, Jon Cowden, Lauri Love, Long Reads, Lorax, LulzSec, LulzSec, LulzSecMafia, Mail to the Jail, News, OpAnonDown, OpCyberPrivacy, OpFerguson, OpGCHQ, OpIsrael, OpPayback, OpPigRoast, OpSec, Payback 13, Paypal 14, TeaMp0isoN