Tre Arrow to be extradited to the US

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A court on Thursday ordered the extradition of Tre Arrow, one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, to face firebombing charges in the United States. Canada to Extradite U.S. Firebomb Suspect
By JEREMY HAINSWORTH, Associated Press Thursday, July 7, 2005

(07-07) 10:15 PDT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A court on Thursday ordered the extradition of Tre Arrow, one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, to face firebombing charges in the United States.

Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, is accused of participating in the 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI claims he is associated with the Earth
Liberation Front (ELF), a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years.

British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Kristi Gill ruled that there was enough evidence against Arrow to have him extradited to face federal charges. His lawyer said he
would appeal, a process that could take months.

The former U.S. Green Party candidate for Congress in 2000 — who says the trees told him to change his name — last
week told the court that he was innocent of the charges and a target of a government conspiracy.

"I am innocent of the charges the U.S. government is trying to pin on me," Arrow said. "Just as many other activists have experienced, I am being targeted by the
U.S. government and the FBI, not because I am guilty but because I have chosen to challenge the status quo."

In extradition cases, Canadian prosecutors represent the extraditing state, in this case the United States. For an extradition to be ordered, the B.C. Supreme Court had to
find there was sufficient evidence to convict Arrow on the same charges in Canada.

Prosecutor Rosellina Patillo said evidence from the United States Attorney in Oregon indicated Arrow was among four conspirators involved in the bombings of a gravel company and a logging company between April and June of 2001. The
evidence comes from statements of Arrow's three coconspirators who have pleaded guilty to the bombings at
a Mount Hood logging company.

The suspects intended to firebomb a U.S. Forest Service office, but abandoned the idea after they found the security system was too tight, Patillo said.

She said the Ross Island Gravel Company was targeted "because it was guilty of stealing soil from the earth." In that attack, three trucks were blown up and the damage was $200,000. The second attack, on June 1, 2001, was against a Mount Hood logging company. They placed
incendiary devices under seven vehicles, damaging three at a cost of $50,000.

She said that in each case, the incendiary device was a plastic container filled with gas; the fuse was a stick of incense with matches attached to it.

Arrow's lawyer, Tim Russell, contends the evidence against him from his coconspirators is hearsay and inadmissible in
a Canadian court. Arrow is seeking refugee status in Canada, but that process has been suspended pending the outcome of the
extradition hearings, his lawyer said.

The 30-year-old Arrow contends he won't get a fair trial in the United States because of the FBI's assertion that his alleged crimes are acts of terrorism. He faces federal
charges in Oregon of using fire to commit a felony, destroying vehicles used in interstate commerce and using
incendiary devices in a crime of violence. The charges carry up to a combined 80 years in prison.

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Support site is http://www.trearrow.org

Environmentalist and refugee hopeful, Tre Arrow has been incarcerated in Canada for over a year. He is being imprisoned while awaiting a possible extradition to the United States. Like the 125 000 American draft dodgers who came to Canada between 1964 and 1977, Tre came to Canada hoping to escape persecution in the United States. This became Tre's only option when his life in Portland, Oregon was unjustly turned upside down in the Summer of 2002. The US government is laying charges that would see him locked up for the rest of his life if convicted. After working tirelessly for years to protect some of the only ancient forests left in the North Western U.S., Tre had become an extremely well-known and important organizer. Like other peaceful organizers, Tre found himself at the forefront of an environmental movement which successfully interfered with industrial powers; he therefore became a target. Environmental journalist Tim Ream wrote in reference to Tre's case, “If you garner increasing popular support, you are a threat to everything the state stands for. You must be stopped.”