UK animal rights activist sentenced in Japan
( 2003-08-25 15:17) (Agencies)
A British animal rights activist received a suspended prison term from a
Japanese court on Monday for breaking into university laboratories which she
believed were used for animal experiments.
Dawn Hurst, 31, stole a dog from one laboratory and a dozen videotapes from
another, Kyodo news agency quoted the court ruling as saying. It said the
offences took place in Tokyo and and the western Japan city of Osaka in 2001 and
2002.
Hurst, a member of a group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC),
received a three-year prison term suspended for five years, a court official
said.
Judge Satoshi Shibayama at Osaka District Court said he suspended the
sentence because Hurst had sincerely repented for her actions.
He was quoted as saying: "Her self-righteous criminal acts, arising from her
dogmatic belief that animal experiments are animal abuse, are not worthy of
consideration."
Prosecutors had demanded a three-year prison term for Hurst, saying her
actions were habitual and deliberate, and had obstructed valid scientific
experiments, Kyodo said.
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