Keith Henson is Jailed

Keith Henson, who had to seek asylum in Canada to seek refuge from Scientologists has been arrested on a charge of....offending the Scientology religion.

He was initially charged with attempting to use a long range Tom Cruise missile to commit terrorism....no really.

He bucked that charge...but then...
Though Henson was found innocent of long-range missile terrorism, for his activities he was convicted of interfering with a church — a California hate crime for which he received a six-month misdemeanor prison sentence. But Henson said he feared his life would be in danger from Scientologists if he were imprisoned - and he fled to Canada in 2001.

He was already bankrupt from an earlier ruling that he’d infringed on Scientology copyrights. But Henson continued picketing Scientologists in Toronto, and they apparently retaliated by informing Canadian police of his presence. (Henson believes the Scientologists told police he was a terrorist and bomb maker.) L.A. Weekly reported two unmarked vans pulled up and “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.” Describing the event, the EFF reported Henson was “arrested in a shopping mall parking lot, by a heavily armed paramilitary unit.”

He ultimately applied for asylum in Canada...the first American they've agreed to hear the case of on such terms, but he fled when he feared he'd get extradited to Califonia where he fears for his life in prison.

He was recently arrested in Arizona and faces extradition to California to face charges of exercising his first amendment rights...by criticizing scientology.

Details here, and here. The Free Keith Hanson blog is here.

Hat Tip to Instapundit.

Prayers to XENU