FBI lets anarchist web geek go free

The 18-year-old arrested by the FBI for content published on his anarchist website was released without charge last week.

Sherman Martin Austin was released on 14 February after charges against him were dropped.

He had previously been flown to Oklahoma Federal Prison, in the custody of US marshals, after details about bomb making techniques were posted on his anti-government site, Raisethefist.com.

Austin has also admitted to hacking into a number of websites to post anti-government messages.

An update on the Raise The Fist website, now back online, reads: "Sherman was being held in 'high-security' federal prison following his arrest on Feb. 2nd by the NYPD at the WEF protests.

"He was held in Brooklyn Navy Yard jail for approx 30 hours before being taken into a back room where he was interrogated by FBI and Secret Service, and then released with no charges. Within minutes he was then re-arrested by the FBI."

Heavily armed FBI agents raided the home of the Los Angeles geek on 2 February and confiscated computer equipment used to run Raisethefist.com.

Apparently the offence of distributing bomb-making information alone carries a statutory maximum of 20 years imprisonment.

It is not yet known whether Austin will face charges in the future. The FBI is said to be "still investigating the matter".

According to Raise The Fist, no reason was given as to why the FBI dropped the charges.

"He still has the sword of Damocles hanging over him. The government arrested him out of the blue and then reversed themselves out of the blue," Austin's lawyer Susan Tipograph said.

"Who knows what they're going to do next?"