Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, established authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are seditious libel. A seditionist is one who engages in or promotes the interest of sedition.
El Sayyid Nosair is a convicted terrorist, currently serving a life sentence. An Egyptian-born American citizen, he assassinated Meir Kahane in 1990 in New York City, and was later convicted of involvement in the 1993 New York City landmark bomb plot. Nosair was acquitted in his initial trial on murder charges for the assassination of Kahane, but in his later trial was found to have committed the murder.
The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation is a gang active primarily in the United States as well as internationally. The gang was founded by Puerto Ricans in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954. The Latin Kings are one of the largest Hispanic and Latino street and prison gangs worldwide.
Seditious libel is a criminal offence under common law of printing written material with seditious purpose – that is, the purpose of bringing contempt upon a political authority. It remains an offence in Canada but has been abolished in England and Wales.
The United Freedom Front (UFF) was a small American revolutionary Marxist organization active in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally called the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit, and its members became known as the Ohio 7 when they were brought to trial. Mainly led by Raymond Luc Levasseur and assisted by Tom Manning, between 1975 and 1984 the UFF carried out at least 20 bombings and ten bank robberies in the northeastern United States, targeting corporate buildings, courthouses, and military facilities associated with "South African Apartheid, imperialism, and corporate greed." Brent L. Smith describes them as "undoubtedly the most successful of the leftist terrorists of the 1970s and 1980s." The group's members were eventually apprehended and convicted of conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, and other charges.
Thomas William Manning was an American Marxist militant convicted of killing New Jersey State Police trooper Philip J. Lamonaco during a traffic stop in 1981. Before and after the murder he was involved with a Marxist organization, the United Freedom Front (UFF), which bombed a series of US military and commercial institutes and committed bank robberies in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Edward Lewis Brown and his wife, Elaine Alice Brown, residents of the state of New Hampshire, gained national news media attention as tax protesters in early 2007 for refusing to pay the U.S. federal income tax and subsequently refusing to surrender to federal government agents after having been convicted of tax crimes.
Carlos Alberto Torres is a militant Puerto Rican nationalist. He was convicted and sentenced to 78 years in a U.S. federal prison for seditious conspiracy, conspiring to use force against the lawful authority of the United States. He served 30 years and was released on parole on July 26, 2010.
Oath Keepers is an American far-right anti-government militia whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the government of the United States, including the transfer of presidential power as prescribed by the United States constitution. It was incorporated in 2009 by founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, a lawyer and former paratrooper. In 2023, Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, was sentenced to 12 years for the same crime. Three other members have pleaded guilty to this crime, and four other members have been convicted of it.
Raymond Luc Levasseur is the former leader of the United Freedom Front, a militant Marxist organization that conducted a series of bombings and bank robberies throughout the United States from 1976 to 1984, in protest to US intervention in Central America and around the world, racism, and the South African apartheid regime.
Seditious conspiracy is a crime in various jurisdictions of conspiring against the authority or legitimacy of the state. As a form of sedition, it has been described as a serious but lesser counterpart to treason, targeting activities that undermine the state without directly attacking it.
Carmen Hilda Valentín Pérez is a former member of the FALN, an armed clandestine group which fought for Puerto Rican independence from the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. She was arrested and charged in 1980 for seditious conspiracy and other charges and was sentenced on February 18, 1981, to 90 years imprisonment. She was incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison and released early from prison after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999.
Alberto Rodriguez was a Puerto Rican member of the FALN who received a sentence of 35 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. He was sentenced in 1985, and incarcerated first at United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, PA, and later at the federal penitentiary at USP Beaumont, TX. However, he was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer in August 1999. Alberto and 10 other Puerto Rican prisoners were released on September 10, 1999.
Joseph Randall Biggs is an American veteran, media personality, organizer of the Proud Boys, and convicted felon for his participation in the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
Elmer Stewart Rhodes III is an American former attorney and convicted seditionist. He founded the Oath Keepers, an American far-right anti-government militia. In November 2022, he was convicted of seditious conspiracy and evidence tampering related to his participation in the January 6 United States Capitol attack culminating at the main campus of the United States Capitol complex. On May 23, 2023, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of then-President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building, disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes to formalize Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 United States Presidential Election. By the end of the month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had opened more than 400 case files and issued more than 500 subpoenas and search warrants related to the riot. The FBI also created a website to solicit tips from the public specifically related to the riot and were especially assisted by the crowdsourced sleuthing group Sedition Hunters. By the end of 2021, 725 people had been charged with federal crimes. That number rose to 1,000 by the second anniversary of the attack, and to 1,200 by the third anniversary, at which point over 890 people had been found guilty of federal crimes. These federal cases are handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (D.C.). State cases, of which there are fewer, are handled in the D.C. Superior Court.
The city held its first National Security Education Day after the national security law had come into force. Chief Executive Carrie Lam emphasized that the law had helped Hong Kong to emerge from the "dark violence" of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. National Security Committee Adviser Luo Huining also gave a speech. Even very young children were photographed handling toy weapons, which drew criticism.
Kelly Meggs is an American convicted felon who previously led the Oath Keepers' Florida chapter. He was found guilty of seditious conspiracy following his forced entry into the United States Capitol during the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Meggs was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Pat Gros is an American political activist who with her partner Raymond Luc Levasseur went underground for ten years as part of the United Freedom Front. The group carried out bombings of political targets and robbed banks for funds. Whilst living underground with rotating false identities and moving home frequently to avoid capture by a Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), Gros had three daughters. Over the course of a decade, the UFF carried out around 19 bombings and stole at least $900,000 from banks, until in 1984, Gros was arrested with her family. At trial she was sentenced to five years in prison for harboring a fugitive, namely her partner. In 1989, the FBI brought further charges of racketeering and seditious conspiracy against Gros, Levasseur and another UFF member. This trial collapsed and Gros, who was already released on probation, faced no further charges.
