Jeremy Hammond of the hacktivist group Anonymous has pleaded guilty to hacking into the private intelligence firm Stratfor, the FBI and other institutions. Hammond says his goal was to shed light on how governments and corporations act behind close doors. Some five million Stratfor emails ended up on the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, shedding light on how the private intelligence firm monitors activists and spies for corporate clients. In a statement, Hammond said he accepted the plea deal in part to avoid an overzealous prosecution that could have resulted in at least 30 years in prison. He has already served 15 months, including weeks in solitary confinement. Joining us from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says Hammond's prosecution comes as part of a wider crackdown "on effective political activists and alleged journalistic sources."
After being threatened with 40 years to life in prison for his brave actions and suffering numerous injustices at the hands of the legal system, Jeremy accepted a non-cooperating plea deal to one count of violating the arcane and draconian Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Despite lodging nearly 265 letters of support calling for leniency, Jeremy was sentenced to the maximum allowed under his plea agreement and is currently serving his ten-year sentence at a medium-security federal prison in Manchester, Kentucky.
Since his arrest in March of 2012, Jeremy has been cut off from his friends and family, and punished with extensive stays in solitary confinement treatment normally reserved for the most egregious offences. Jeremy did nothing for personal gain and everything in hope of making the world a better place. He needs our support now more than ever.
“I believe in the power of the truth.”
You can help pay his prison college fees here : https://freejeremy.net/
And send him letters and gifts here : https://freejeremy.net/take-action/writing-to-jeremy/
#FreeJeremy @AnarchoPirate