David Barbarash was the North American press officer for the Animal Liberation Front from mid-1999 until late-2002. The ALF press office in the UK is run by Robin Webb. Barbarash also founded the North American Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group in Toronto in the early 1980s.
Barbarash was convicted of breaking windows to fast food restaurants, fur stores and butcher shops in Toronto in 1988. Barbarash was also convicted of property damage worth $50,000 and the theft of 29 cats from the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1992. His partner in this crime, Darren Thurston was jailed, but Barbarash fled to the US to avoid arrest, and lived in hiding there for two years until the FBI found him in California. In 1994, Barbarash was deported back to Canada and served four months in jail before being released for time served and a guilty plea. Darren Thurston served two years in prison for this same action.
The RCMP's (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) investigation of David Barbarash in 1997 began in response to a series of pipe bombs sent through the mail to various individuals and organizations across Canada in 1995. In 1998, Barbarash and Thurston were charged with sending letters with razor blades inside to hunters and guide outfitters across British Columbia. The charges were later dropped after the RCMP refused to provide documents to the defendants' lawyers. The documents would have confirmed that the RCMP were using undercover police agents, a fact they lied about at the defendants' Preliminary hearing. Template:Citation needed
Barbarash always maintained his innocence and alleged the undercover agents were attempting to entrap him to commit crimes in the course of their investigation.
Barbarash's home in Courtenay, Canada was raided on July 30, 2002 in response to a request from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which regards the ALF as a domestic terrorist organization. Materials seized during this raid were returned to Barbarash without ever reaching US custody owing to a judge who overturned the search warrant in response to what she termed "triple-hearsay" used in obtaining the warrant. Template:Citation needed
Barbarash has been linked to Anti-Racist Action, Anti-Fascist Militia, Militant Direct Action Task Force, the Justice Department, Earth First!, the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. Template:Citation needed "Just because they can’t speak up for themselves doesn’t mean that we have the right to do whatever we please to them."
References[]
- The ALF Unmasked – Interview with David Barbarash, Animal Liberation, New South Wales, undated.
See also[]
- Animal liberation movement
- Veganism
- Henry Spira
- GANDALF trial
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da:David Barbarash