[New York, NY]\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0On November 20th, 2012,\u00a0U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska denied bail to Jeremy Hammond, a 27-year-old Chicago activist accused of hacking into the private intelligence firm Stratfor and releasing information to Wikileaks (full transcript<\/a>).<\/p>\n Jeremy Hammond, a 27-year-old Chicago activist<\/p><\/div>\n On November 22nd, 2012 a\u00a0communique<\/a>\u00a0from hackers highlighted Judge Preska\u2019s failure to disclose that her husband, Thomas J Kaveler is an employee of\u00a0Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP<\/a>, a current Stratfor client and associate, and moreover was himself<\/em> a victim of the alleged hack (Kaveler\u2019s Stratfor issued user ID is\u00a0234103\u00a0SOURCE<\/a><\/strong>). \u00a0After independent confirmation of these facts, activists and attorneys have issued a call for Judge Preska to immediately recuse herself for failure to disclose this conflict of interest.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0At 1:00 pm on Thursday, November 29th in New York\u2019s Foley Square\u00a0(MAP<\/a><\/strong>)\u00a0activists, attorneys, and friends of Jeremy Hammond (including\u00a0NLG President, Gideon Oliver, activist film maker Emily Kunstler, Andy Bichlbaum co-creator of the Yes Men,\u00a0John Knefel cohost of Radio Dispatch, and\u00a0Chicago activist Natalie Wahlberg) will rally and hold a press conference to brief the media on their efforts to see Judge Preska recuse herself and assure Hammond access to a fair trial and due process.<\/strong><\/p>\n WHAT: Press Conference & Rally<\/strong> The criminal complaint against Hammond alleges that the\u00a0hack exposed the private information of 860,000 Stratfor clients, as well as 5 million emails, which WikiLeaks later published under the name \u201cGlobal Intelligence Files.\u201d \u00a0The complaint goes on to say the hackers used Stratfor-associated credit card data to charge at least $700,000 on behalf of \u201cdozens of charities and revolutionary organizations.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Some of this data released belongs specifically to Judge Preska\u2019s husband. \u00a0Judge Preska failed to disclose her relationship with Stratfor and in doing so has denied Jeremy Hammond the opportunity for a fair trial. \u00a0Hammond has pleaded not guilty to all charges alleged in the complaint.<\/p>\n Tom Kaveler & Judge Preska<\/p><\/div>\n A\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0issued by the Anonymous Collective reads, \u201cJudge Loretta Preska\u2019s impartiality is compromised by her husband\u2019s involvement with Stratfor and a clear prejudice against Hammond exists, as evidenced by her statements.\u201d The press release continues, \u201cWithout justice being freely, fully and impartially administered, neither our persons, nor our rights nor our property, can be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeremy\u2019s friends, family and supporters stand in absolute solidarity with the following concerns expressed in the press release issued by Anonymous,\u00a0\u00a0\u201cJudge Preska by proxy is a victim of the very crime she intends to judge Jeremy Hammond for.\u00a0\u00a0Judge Preska has failed to disclose the fact that her husband is a client of Stratfor,\u00a0\u00a0his email contents were released as part of the Stratfor dump and should recuse herself from Jeremy\u2019s case or be in violation of\u00a0\u00a0multiple Sections of Title 28 of the United States Code.\u201d<\/p>\n According to\u00a0Sue Crabtree, a member of the Jeremy Hammond Solidarity Network\u00a0who attended the bail hearing last week, Judge Preska ordered the continued incarceration of Hammond on the basis that he is a danger to the community and likely to flee the country if released from holding. Crabtree notes that Hammond, \u201cdoes not now, nor has he ever, had a passport and has also since been added to the Domestic Terrorist Watch List.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Judge Preska, Hammond was denied bail due to the possibility of a 37 years-to-life sentence, combined with his \u201clack of regard for legal authority make him a flight risk.\u201d \u00a0She also said Hammond\u2019s peerless computer savvy puts him in a different class compared to defendants who make bail while facing other computer crimes. According to Crabtree, Judge Preska said Hammond\u2019s alleged crimes \u201cmake him more dangerous to the community than an online sexual predator because he is able to hide his identity.\u201d Judge Preska closed Tuesday\u2019s bail hearing with a reiteration that he could be sentenced to serve anywhere from 360 months-to-life if convicted on all charges relating to last year\u2019s Stratfor hack.<\/p>\n While Hammond\u2019s case continues to develop a laundry list of stories of extralegal misconduct at the hands of Stratfor are being uncovered from the leaked Stratfor emails. \u00a0Documents show Stratfor contractors spying on members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) upon the request of Coca Cola, documents detail jovial conversations about extra-judcial killings in the U.A.E., and repeated mentions of Dow Chemical hiring Stratfor to surveil The Yes Men, an activist-artist group who have used media stunts to shed light on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy where as many as 20,000 Indians lost their lives and 500,000 others were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas. \u00a0Moreover, the documents reveal that Stratfor was spying on the Bhopal victims who had since spoken out against Dow\u2019s negligence.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat could be sicker than an irresponsible company spending millions of dollars to spy on its victims?\u00a0\u00a0Thanks to the Stratfor leak, we know that\u2019s just what Dow Chemical did, when they hired Stratfor to spy on us Yes Men\u2014and on actual Bhopal victims\u2014to keep tabs on anti-Dow activities, none of which were illegal. Neither we nor the Bhopal victims would have found this out if not for the leak of the Stratfor emails. However it happened, we\u2019re very grateful for this contribution to democratic transparency, and to the effort to rein in these corporate giants that have gotten completely out of hand. Fortunately, people always find ways to resist,\u201d\u00a0said Andy Bichlbaum, co-creator of The Yes Men.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our increasingly authoritarian culture, the law is often used as a shield to protect those in power and bury their secrets far from the public eye, rather than as a mechanism for accountability. Those who are accused of fighting to bring transparency the shadowy world of the national security state and reveal information that is in the public interest are punished to the full extent of the law, while those who benefit from ever-increasing surveillance measures are protected at all costs,\u201d\u00a0say\u2019s John Knefel, Cohost of Radio Dispatch.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bigger story is what they\u2019ve done in this country to Jeremy Hammond, Bradley Manning, and what they have proposed to do to Julian Assange, and that really says that they\u2019re going to come down as heavily as they can on people who expose government secrets, whistleblowers,\u201dsaid Michael Ratner, President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Hammond is currently being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. He is not expected to take the stand until next year, but so far has been imprisoned for eight months without trial.<\/p>\n SPEAKERS AT THURSDAY\u2019S PRESS CONFERENCE WILL INCLUDE: WHAT: Press Conference & Rally<\/strong> (11-28-12) Activists to Hold Press Conference & Rally this Thursday, Demand Stratfor-Linked Judge Recuse Herself from Trial of Jailed Hacktivist Jeremy Hammond [New York, NY]\u00a0\u00a0On November 20th, 2012,\u00a0U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska denied bail to Jeremy Hammond, a 27-year-old Chicago … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sparrowmedia.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/jeremy-hammond.jpg\" "\\"Facing")
\nWHERE: Foley Square, NYC\u00a0(At Center & Pearl)<\/strong>
\nWHEN: Thursday, November 29, 1:00pm<\/strong>
\nINFO:\u00a0Jeremy Hammond Support<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook RSVP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sparrowmedia.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/preska1.jpg\" "\\"Disorder")
\nThe Jeremy Hammond Solidarity Network, as well as friends, family and supporters of Jeremy have issued a call to demand that\u00a0Judge Preska explain her personal involvement with Statfor, \u00a0to demand that Judge Preska immediately recuse herself from Jeremy Hammond\u2019s case, to demand a judicial investigation into Judge Preska\u2019s ethics violation, and to demand all charges against Hammond be dropped.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sparrowmedia.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/gideon.jpg\" "\\"gideon\\"")
<\/a>GIDEON ORION OLIVER
\n<\/strong>Gideon Oliver is the President of the National Lawyers Guild and a celebrated champion of social justice efforts in the New York metropolitan area.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sparrowmedia.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/emily.jpg\" "\\"emily\\"")
<\/a>EMILY KUNSTLER
\n<\/strong>Emily Kunstler is an activist and a documentary filmmaker. She is currently serving as a paralegal on Jeremy Hammond\u2019s legal team.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sparrowmedia.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/andy-bichlbaum.jpg\" "\\"andy")
<\/a>ANDY BICHLBAUM
\n<\/strong>Is an artist, activist, film maker, and the co-creator of the infamous\u00a0Yes Men<\/a>. \u00a0The December 2011 hack of Stratfor reveled that Andy was being followed and surveilled by Stratfor at the request of Dow Chemical for his work with the Yes Men to support the victims of the 1984 Bhopal Gas disaster.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sparrowmedia.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/natalie-wahlberg.jpg\" "\\"natalie")
<\/a>NATALIE WHALBERG<\/strong>
\nIs an organizer of Occupy Chicago and a close friend of Jeremy Hammond, Natalie will be speaking about the importance of prisoner support and solidarity.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sparrowmedia.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/john-knefel.jpg\" "\\"john")
<\/a>JOHN KNEFEL<\/strong>
\nIs a journalist and cohost of\u00a0Radio Dispatch<\/em><\/a>!<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0John recently covered the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. \u00a0His writing has appeared in\u00a0The Nation<\/em>,\u00a0Truthout<\/em>, and\u00a0Salon<\/em>. \u00a0John will be speaking about the ever-growing and pervasive practices of private intelligence outfits like Stratfor.<\/p>\n
\nWHERE: Foley Square, NYC\u00a0(At Center & Pearl)<\/strong>
\nWHEN: Thursday, November 29, 1:00pm<\/strong>
\nINFO:\u00a0Jeremy Hammond Support<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook RSVP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"