Sweet Justice for the AETA4!

Please join us for an evening of vegan desserts and a silent auction to raise money for the AETA4 defense fund. More details to come -please check the website below.

The AETA 4 are four Bay Area individuals who have been accused of violating the “Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.” They were arrested, in the very first use of this sweeping law, for activity like “chalking defamatory slogans,” creating fliers, and protesting while wearing masks..

WHO ARE THE AETA 4?
The AETA4 are four individuals –Adriana Stumpo, Nathan Pope, Joseph Buddenberg, and Maryam Khajavi– facing federal charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) for allegedly having “demonstrated outside the private residences of several University of California Berkeley researchers” and of having “marched, chanted, and chalked defamatory comments on the public sidewalks in front of the residences.” The FBI also claims that some of the defendants produced and/or distributed flyers containing the home addresses of vivisectors.

WHAT CAN I DO?
The most urgent need right now is to raise enough money to fund a formidable legal defense team. The prosecution of the AETA4 marks a dramatic escalation in the federal government’s war on animal rights activism, and it must not go unchallenged. The AETA jeopardizes our very right to protest by prohibiting any sort of “interference” with an animal enterprise – whether it be a circus or a vivisection laboratory – that allegedly places another person in fear for his or her safety. The AETA will be tested for the first time in this prosecution. We have the opportunity to assemble a strong defense team to challenge this law and defeat these charges—but we need your help. If convicted, the accused face up to five years in prison and the government will very likely pursue further such prosecutions.