Antifa Members Convicted in First Ever Terrorism Prosecutions for Radical Left Org.
Five Antifa members have been convicted of terrorism offences for their part in an ambush attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas on the Fourth of July.
The convictions also mark the first time members of the group have officially admitted to being part of an organized Antifa cell.
Veteran Antifa-watcher Andy Ngo reports, “On Nov. 19, Seth Sikes, Joy Abigail Gibson, Lynette Read Sharp, Nathan Baumann and John Phillip Thomas each admitted to one count of providing material support to terrorists for their role in the shooting attack on the Prairieland facility in Alvarado, Texas, that resulted in a police officer being shot in the neck and other officers being fired upon.
“As part of their plea deals, which would see them imprisoned for no more than 15 years (they were facing up to decades in prison), they also agreed to a set of stipulated, or formally agreed-upon, facts of the case.”
All five individuals admitted they had “conducted an act of terrorism.”
Ngo continues, “Sikes’ admission provided more detail about how the North Texas Antifa cell operated: ‘Sikes and his coconspirators adhered to an Antifa, anarchist ideology and organized cells or ‘affinity groups’ around their beliefs.’ Formally organized Antifa networks are decentralized, with militants forming cells calling themselves ‘affinity groups.’”
They admitted to planning the attack in detail, using an encrypted messaging app to send surveillance photographs of the facility they attacked.
They also admitted to dressing in “black bloc,” the Antifa black uniform “in order to conceal their identities from law enforcement and provide cover for each other to commit crimes without being identified.”
At least nine others have also been indicted on terrorism-related charges for their role in the July Fourth attack.
It is expected that more will chose to take plea deals to avoid life imprisonment.
In September, President Trump issued an Executive Order to designate Antifa a terrorist organization. The Order claims the group uses “illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide” to overthrow the US government.
More recently, four overseas Antifa groups were designated foreign terrorist organizations, putting them in the same class as ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
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