Chris McIntosh is an anarchist and environmentalist who was charged with the arson of a McDonalds in 2005. This attack on the Seattle, Washington restaurant was jointly claimed by the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front.

Despite there only being some minor property damage to an empty restaurant, the US government initially charged him with terrorist offenses carrying a minimum penalty of a thirty year sentence in federal prison. Those charges were based on the testimony of two well-known police informants. Faced with such a sentence, Chris pled guilty to lesser charges with a penalty of eight to ten years. He is currently serving an 8 year sentence.

Chris follows a vegan lifestyle. While in prison he had taken a hunger strike to protest against the federal prison industrial complex's insufficient fulfillment of his dietary needs. He was forced to call off his hunger strike after five days under threat of being force fed by detention center staff.

It is widely believed that Chris' case highlights the fact that under capitalism, crimes against private property are considered more serious than crimes against people, especially when there is a political motive. Even an eight to ten year sentence is more than many pedophiles, rapists, or murderers receive. The initial charges of terrorism would be farcical, were there not such serious penalties attached to them.

Despite no person ever being harmed in a ALF or ELF attack, the US government, or more specifically, the FBI “has made the prevention and investigation of animal rights extremists and eco-terrorism... domestic terrorism... an investigative priority.”- John E. Lewis, deputy assistant FBI Director of Counter-Terrorism, speaking at the U.S Senate Judiciary Committee, May, 2004. This witch-hunt culminated in what is commonly now known as “The Green Scare” (see our interview with lawyer-activist Lauren Regan, lawyer to Jeff “Free” Luers.)

In conclusion, we ask for your solidarity with Chris McIntosh. We condemn the federal and state governments for their morally corrupt heavy-handed treatment of Chris and other activists like Jeff “Free” Luers (who received a twenty-two year sentence for a property crime where no person was harmed). We stand with these activists in speaking against a system where property and profit come before animals, both non-human and human, and their environments.

We urge everyone reading this to lend their support to Chris McIntosh as a political prisoner.