Sheppard, Simon
0800006404, 4B B2
C/O Santa Ana Jail
PO Box 22003
62 Civil Center Plaza
Santa Ana
CA92701
USA

Dear Kev,

Many thanks to you and Kate for the letters, received this morning. They cheered us up considerably, practically the only news we've had. It seems that our scheme of seeking political asylum was a good one, even if it doesn't work out in the end it will have made a point and embarrassed the UK government (which they certainly deserve).

We appealed the first official we saw at LAX with "I'm sorry to be a nuisance but we wish to claim political asylum." Thence we were processed for about 12-14 hours. Then held in "tanks" for 24 hours. After our rapid flight it took about a week to recover from this (jet lag also part of the equation). We are currently in a federal jail, could be a lot worse. The Feds seem to be awash with money and everything is new. There are bad reports of the State prisons. We probably have a strong case for release pending our asylum case and there'll be a hearing about that in a week or two. Steve and I have managed to stay together, though it's been touch and go at times and we are presently sharing a two-person cell. The asylum claim may take 3 months.

If I read you right, there was no conviction for the printed matter (holohoax and DBS) so on appeal we could be completely aquitted. That's good news, but entirely representative of the malicious nature of the prosecution if they are seeking a retrial on just those remaining charges. The fact that the convictions are solely in respect of internet web pages can be quoted in our favour in our claim here for political asylum.

The more publicity we can get, the better. It has cost us dear in travel expenses and so forth and the publicity is its benefit (even though twisted, mendacious, etc. - they say all publicity is good publicity). I'm only allowed two free letters (I only discovered this yesterday! Also my list of addresses is locked away elsewhere) so I hope you don't mind if I use this letter to you to convey messages to others, and a few misc. items:

1. Can you please tell Adrian to definitely appeal anything on which he believes there are grounds for appeal.

3. Also can you tell Adrian to try and recover as much material as possible, and/or prevent its destruction pending appeal. E.g. the police were trying to return my scientific papers to me and these are very difficult to replace.

4. If you have a supporter Stateside can you ask him to send $20 to my "Community" account, which would pay for envelopes and stamps. The number to quote is: 0800006404 or A95754424.

5. If you know of any supporters Stateside in the LA area would they be willing to provide emergency shelter if we are released pending our asylum application? Problem is that although we have funds for a hotel, until we are approved we are not allowed to work, to replace the money we spend. We do not want to end up destitute in a foreign country (accommodation and/or legal fees).

Anyway, we are taking it easy after the stress of our flight and reading lots of books. Please convey our thanks and best wishes to all those who have expressed their support. We're doing our best not to let them down.

All the best,