The U.S. Department of Justice alleges Dibee was a member of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, which engaged in acts of \u201cdomestic terrorism.\u201d By\u00a0Conrad Wilson\u00a0(OPB) A Washington man who belonged to environmental groups and was accused of activism-motivated attacks in Oregon in the late \u201890s before fleeing the country has agreed to … <\/p>\n
Assistant U.S. Attorney Quinn Harrington said during a Tuesday hearing in the U.S. District Court for Oregon that the plea deal would resolve all of 54-year-old Joseph Mahmoud Dibee\u2019s federal charges in Washington, Oregon and California.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said Dibee was a member of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, which the U.S. Department of Justice held responsible for acts of domestic terrorism. The ELF and ALF caused millions of dollars in damage across five Western states during the 1990s and early 2000s. In all, the federal prosecutors indicted 18 people as part of a conspiracy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all incorporated in the plea agreement we have,\u201d Harrington said. As part of the agreement, he said, the Justice Department would dismiss Dibee\u2019s charges in Washington state.<\/p>\n Other terms of the plea were not immediately available. Dibee\u2019s attorney did not return a request for comment, and Oregon\u2019s U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office declined to comment. It is not yet clear what penalties Dibee would face under the plea agreement.<\/p>\n Dibee, one of the last remaining fugitives from the ELF\/ALF cases, was arrested by the FBI in Cuba in 2018 after 12 years as an international fugitive living in Syria and Russia, where he worked on large-scale environmental projects.<\/p>\n Dibee is also accused in a 1998 fire at a USDA facility in Olympia, Washington, and a 2001 fire that burned hay and a pole barn at a Bureau of Land Management facility near Litchfield, California. He faces conspiracy to commit arson, arson of a government building and other charges in those cases.<\/p>\n Dibee, who was on the phone during Tuesday\u2019s hearing, confirmed to U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken that he agreed to a plea. The hearing is set for Monday.<\/p>\n The parties indicated that negotiations had been underway for several weeks, aided by the mediation of former U.S. Magistrate Judge Tom Coffin.<\/p>\n Matt Schindler, Dibee\u2019s defense attorney, said at the hearing that negotiating the plea deal has not been easy for his client.<\/p>\n \u201cFor him, I think this has been a really challenging, really difficult process,\u201d Schindler said. \u201cIt says a lot about who he is as a person that he\u2019s willing to come to this point despite what he\u2019s been through. It\u2019s was a very challenging few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Dibee has long contested the government\u2019s characterization of his actions as domestic terrorism.<\/p>\n \u201cIn most cases where the government charges terrorism, it\u2019s actually not,\u201d\u00a0Dibee told OPB in a 2021 interview<\/a>. \u201cThe thing is for me, being an Arab man in the United States, I\u2019m more susceptible, more vulnerable to that accusation. And I recognize that.\u201d<\/p>\n In that interview, Dibee said he was not involved in any organized environmental groups, but acknowledged he had a \u201cconfrontational\u201d approach to his beliefs in the \u201890s. He said his approach to environmental causes has changed since then, and he is focused on using technology to help people adapt to the effects of climate change.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dibee2022-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>A Washington man who belonged to environmental groups and was accused of activism-motivated attacks in Oregon in the late \u201890s before fleeing the country has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/horseslaughterplant-300x211.jpg\")
<\/a>Federal prosecutors charged Dibee in Oregon with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, and one count of conspiracy to commit arson and destruction of an energy facility. They said he was part of a group of activists that in 1997 burned down Cavel West, a slaughterhouse in Redmond, Oregon, that processed horses and sold meat in Europe.<\/p>\n<\/a>Dibee has been in home confinement in Seattle since early last year, where he cared for his elderly father.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n