ARTICLE: Supporters rally for Lindsay

[dhayden at ardac.org]

Supporters rally for animal rights activist jailed
after refusing to testify 
Associated Press 

SAN JOSE - Nearly two dozen activists protested outside
San Jose federal court Tuesday to support Lindsay
Parme, a Cabrillo College student jailed for refusing
to testify before a New Jersey grand jury investigating
animal rights activists.

Supporters passed out leaflets and urged people to call
Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, where the
20-year-old African-American studies major has refused
food since her incarceration began Thursday. The jail
does not serve meals that comply with her strictly
vegetarian, or "vegan," diet.

Vegans shun all animal-based foods, including meat,
fish, seafood, eggs, milk and other dairy items. Most
proponents of veganism, a movement started in the 1940s
by a vegetarian society in England, also refuse to
purchase leather shoes or any products made with animal
byproducts or tested on animals.

It's unclear why the FBI arrested Parme, a Santa Cruz
resident who was planning to transfer to the University
of California, Santa Cruz, outside her Santa Cruz home
last week. Grand jury investigations are secret, and
the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey does not
disclose the focus of any investigation or even confirm
that any particular investigation exists.

According to supporters, FBI agents arrested and jailed
Parme, who has been an animal-rights activist since the
age of 14, because of her involvement in a
Philadelphia-based animal rights group that opposes the
research group Huntingdon Life Sciences. Activists say
the group has conducted more than 500 grusome
experiments on animals in laboratories in Europe and
North America.

Nicholas Hensey, Parme's friend and supporter, said
Parme will stay in the Milpitas facility until June 27,
when she'll be taken to an Oklahoma transfer station
for federal prisoners, then possibly to the grand jury
in New Jersey.

"As a political activist who routinely engages in
lawful and legitimate protests, Lindsay believes this
is just an attempt to intimidate her and other
activists," Hensey said Tuesday. "She's facing 18
months in jail for simply asserting her right to remain
silent and for freedom of association."