Scientology's History Of Harassing Writers Of Books

Subject: Scientology's history of harassing writers of books (edition 1.1.6) Newsgroups: alt.censorship,comp.org.eff.talk,alt.religion.scientology,misc.legal The following is a short and incomplete history of Scientology's attempts to harass writers of books and suppress their work, by legal and illegal means. To keep this from being even longer than it now is, I've confined it to authors of books only, leaving aside writers and publishers of newspaper and magazine articles, as well as broadcasters. This is edition 1.1.6 - added material on - added material on - added material on

of this Stewart Maurice John A.

file. Changes since 1.1: Lamont's _Religion Inc_ Burrell's _Scientology_ Lee's _Sectarian Healers and Hypnotherapy_

Changes since 1.0: - added material on Paulette Cooper from Stewart Lamont's _Religion Inc._ - added excerpt from Russell Miller's article in _Punch_ - added material about harassment of Jon Atack, from _Evening Argus_ (Sussex, UK newspaper) - added short paragraph on Cyril Vosper's _The Mind Benders_, from Robert Kaufman's _Inside Scientology_ - added a paragraph on John Symonds' _The Great Beast_, from Stewart Lamont's _Religion Inc._ You can always get the latest edition of this file from http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/scientology/harass/writers.txt from Jon Atack's _A Piece of Blue Sky_ part 8, chapter 1, "Scientology at Law",

page 327:

"In the 1970s, the Church fought to prevent the sale of books critical of Scientology. They failed in this attempt, but caused authors George Malko, Paulette Cooper, Cyril Vosper, and Robert Kaufman considerable difficulty (not only from the law suits: Roy Wallis, in his _Salvation and Protest_, described the harassment he received after writing about Scientology). In 1982, Paulette Cooper, author of _The Scandal of Scientology_, testified that the Church had brought _eighteen_ suits against her. More recently Russell Miller has defended against attempts to prevent distribution of his _Bare-Faced Messiah_ in England, Canada, Australia, and the United States." ------------- Jon Atack's A PIECE OF BLUE SKY -------from Jon Atack's _A Piece of Blue Sky_: Epilogue, page 397: "At the end of May 1989, Scientology's New Era Publications filed suit against the publishers of this book, alleging infringement of copyright. Even the Scientologists could find no precedent in U.S. law for their demand to see the manuscript prior to publication. As Mel Wulf, the defending attorney, expressed the situation, "Such an order would...have the inevitable effect of casting a chill upon freedom of speech and of the press." His argument was in vain; in an opinion issued at the end of July, Judge Louis L. Stanton ordered delivery of the final manuscript to the Scientologists." "In January 1990, Judge Stanton prohibited publication of _A Piece of Blue

Sky_ on grounds of copyright violation. However, the appeal was successful, and the three judges ruled unanimously that the book could retain all 121 passages complained of by New Era." In March of 1994, Jon Atack had to put up with placard-waving demonstrators outside his home, as well as leaflets sent to neighbors accusing him of an "unprosecuted history of drug dealing". In addition, a private detective has been snooping on his family and that of his wife. [Source: Evening Argus of Sussex, England, April 12, 1994.] ----------- Russell Miller's BARE-FACED MESSIAH --------from Bent Corydon's _L Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?_ (2nd edition) part 1, chapter 26, pages 266-267: "Russell Miller is no stranger to Scientology harassment. His biography of Hubbard entitled, _The Bare-Faced Messiah_ was initially published in England several months after the release of _Messiah or Madman?_ in America. It had to contend with a number of harassive lawsuits; however Scientology was unsuccessful in stopping the book, and it was released throughout the British Commonwealth." The book goes on to describe an attempt to frame Miller for the murder of a South London private detective, reported by the Sunday Times of London. In November 1979, a detective hired by the Church shot at a Sunday Times reporter. "[Scientology] challenged Miller's biography in the United States on a legal technicality and won a much disputed court decision. As a result _Bare Faced Messiah_ is available in Great Britain, and throughout the United Kingdom, but difficult to find in the USA." The book's US edition went out of print after just one month due to litigation. [Source: phone conversation with sales and publicity staff at Henry Holt Publishing in New York City] from "See You In Court", a first-person article by Russell Miller in _Punch_ magazine, 19 Feb. 1988, page 46: "Indeed, I had barely started researching the bizarre life and times of L. Ron Hubbard before the first of many lawyer's letters arrived, advising me to desist and threatening dire consequences if I persisted. "Attorneys acting for Mr. Hubbard's estate even took the trouble to inform my publishers in New York and London that I was a liar. So thoughtful." "Strange things happened. I was followed for several days in Los Angeles. I was told my house was under constant surveillance, my mail was being intercepted, and my telephone was tapped. I became aware that teams of private detectives were trawling my friends and associates in both Europe and the United States, apparently in the hope of proving that I was an agent for the CIA, or the KGB, or MI5, or a duplicitous combination of all three. It seems they believed I took a mini-break from the book to bump off an American in East Berlin."

------------ Bent Corydon's L. RON HUBBARD: MESSIAH OR MADMAN? ------from Corydon's book, preface, pages 11-12: "In 1986, after the `Church' discovered that the book you are reading was being written, a roughly 6'4" 250 lb man in a black leather jacket and gloves arrived at my workplace asking for me. "Failing to locate me, he told one of my assistants, `Since Corydon's not here, you'll do.' He then yelled, `You are standing in the way of Ron's bridge!' and proceeded to punch him in the face, and knock him around. [Footnote: This person's name is Dennis Clarke. He has since been promoted to the position of `Director' of The Citizen's Commission on Human Rights, one of Scientology's `front groups'. He now wears a suit and tie, and eye-glasses.]" from Corydon's book, chapter 25, "Scientology's War on Your Right to Know", pages 261-4 "It became painfully obvious, during the early stages of the writing of _L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?_ that publishing houses were AFRAID of Scientology. Scientology's army of `secret agents', goons in leather jackets, and well paid lawyers diligently carrying out Hubbard's policy of harassment through frivolous litigation, DO have an impact. "There were many efforts made to stop _Messiah or Madman?_ from reaching publication. (These included a bizarre attempt to have Publisher Lyle Stuart jailed for refusing to provide a pre-publication copy of the book, and an unsuccessful attempt by a private investigator to bribe the printer into providing an advance copy. An attempt for which he was later arrested by the New Jersey Police.)" Corydon goes on to discuss a number of physical threats and groundless slander and libel suits that Scientology threw at him, during his 1987 book tour, including three in a single week (See footnote, page 422.). The church sent a letter to the _St. Petersburg Times_ (in Florida) stating the following: "It has come to our attention that...[you] are considering publication of a review of _L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?_ by Bent Corydon....If you forward one of his lies you will find yourself in court facing not only libel and slander charges, but also charges for conspiracy to violate civil rights. If you publish anything at all on it, you may still find yourself defending charges in court...We know a whole lot me about your institution and motives than you think." (The newspaper didn't give in, and went on to win a Columbia Journalism Review award.) ---------- Paulette Cooper's THE SCANDAL OF SCIENTOLOGY ---------from Roy Wallis's _The Road to Total Freedom_, page 218-19: "Forged letters and documents have proved a source of embarrassment to others who have criticized or commented on Scientology. Paulette

Cooper, author of a work hostile to Scientology, was the subject of a totally defamatory circular, allegedly written by `a concerned neighbor', which sought to mobilize the tenants of her apartment block to secure her `removal from our residence, and if possible, have her put under appropriate psychiatric care.' (Representations by the Church of Scientology make it incumbent upon me to indicate that Miss Cooper's writings on Scientology have been the subject of much litigation. Sums in settlement and apologies from the publishers concerned, have been received by the Church of Scientology in respect of an article in _Queen_ magazine, and the book _The Scandal of Scientology_." That was written in 1977.

Much more became known later:

-----from Bent Corydon's _L Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?_ preface, page 11: "In 1970 Paulette Cooper wrote, and had published, a book called _The Scandal of Scientology_ containing some biographical matter on Hubbard. She was hounded by Church of Scientology agents for a decade, and at one point was almost convicted on Federal felony charges, having been framed by Church agents. "Documents obtained by the FBI in 1977 revealed an elaborate plan to have her incarcerated, or have her driven to suicide. She finally received a large cash settlement from the Church, with the understanding that she would not press criminal charges against Scientology, and also would stop the publication of her new book on the subject." ------from Jon Atack's _A Piece of Blue Sky_: part 5, chapter 1, "The Guardian Unguarded", pages 223-224: "After the publication of her book _The Scandal of Scientology_, in 1971, Paulette Cooper became a major target for harassment. Distribution of her book was severely restricted through a series of court actions in different states, and even different countries. Cooper simply did not have the legal or financial resources to defend against all of these actions. As a result of a GO [Scientology Guardian's Office] Op she was indicted for making a bomb threat against the Church of Scientology. The GO wanted to finish her off for good. Operation Freakout was intended to put Cooper either into prison or into a mental hospital. "A U.S. Court Sentencing Memorandum gave this description of Operation Freakout: In its initial form Operation Freakout had three different plans. The first required a woman to imitate Paulette Cooper's voice and make telephone threats to Arab Consulates in New York. The second scheme involved mailing a threatening letter to an Arab Consulate in such a fashion that it would appear to have been done by Paulette Cooper. Finally, a Scientology field staff member was to impersonate Paulette Cooper at a laundry and threaten the President and the then Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. A second Scientologist would thereafter advise the FBI of the threat. "Two additional plans to Operation Freakout were added on April 13, 1976.

The fourth plan called for Scientology field staff members who had ingratiated themselves with Cooper to gather information from Cooper, so that Scientology could assess the success of the first three plans. The fifth plan was for a Scientologist to warn an Arab Consulate by telephone that Paulette Cooper had been talking about bombing them. The sixth and final part of Operation Freakout called for Scientologists to obtain Paulette Cooper's fingerprints on a blank piece of paper, type a threatening letter to Kissinger on that paper, and mail it." [Atack cites as his source "Sentencing memorandum in U.S.A. vs. Jane Kember, District Court, DC, criminal case #78-401, page 23. Jane Kember ran the Church of Scientology's Guardian's Office from 1969 to 1981. She was sentenced to 2-6 years for "burglary, aiding and abetting."] In addition, Atack's book contains (part 6, chapter 4, "The Clearwater Hearings", pages 278-280) a long account of writer Paulette Cooper's testimony before the City Commissioners of Clearwater, Florida, in May 1982. Cooper describes the Church's campaign of harassment against her, which included: anonymous phone calls to her and her family anonymous leaflets sent to neighbors accusing her of being a prostitute and child molester a phony "flower delivery man" who pointed a gun at her cousin Joy, then tried to choke Joy false reports to the Attorney General's office, IRS, and other agencies sending detectives to harass her and her mother false charges that Cooper had sent bomb threats, causing her to be indicted (eventually, the charges were dropped) stealing her medical records breaking into her lawyer's office Quoting from Atack, page 280: "It took over two years for the bomb threat charges against Cooper to be dropped. She was completely exonerated after the FBI found the GO [Scientology Guardian's Office] Orders for the Ops against her. By that time her book, _The Scandal of Scientology_, had long been out of print. The Guardian's Office had even imported small quantities into foreign countries, so they could obtain injunctions against its distribution. Copies were stolen from libraries and bought up from used book shops, then destroyed." -----Another account of Cooper's testimony can be found in Bent Corydon's _L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?_, in part 1, chapter 14: "Freaking Out Paulette: A Six Year Operation to Drive a Journalist Insane", pages 172-178. ------from Stewart Lamont's _Religion, Inc._, pages 71-72: "Books about Scientology have a greater permanency than newspaper articles and therefor it should not come as a surprise that vigorous smear-campaigns have been conducted against the authors of such investigations. The first book to run foul of the church was _The Scandal of Scientology_ by

journalist Paulette Cooper, which was written in 1971. To try to silence her, the Church of Scientology cooked up a scheme to steal some of her stationery and make it appear that she had sent them two bomb threats. One of the forgeries read: 'James, this is the last time I'm warning you. I don't know why I'm doing this but you're all out to get me and I'll give you one week before Scientology is an exploding volcano. I'll knock you out if my friends won't.' "The Scientologists themselves then called in the police and as a result Paulette Cooper was arrested and indicted on three counts, facing up to fifteen years in jail if convicted. She told the _60 Minutes_ television programme in April 1980: 'The whole ordeal fighting these charges took eight months. It cost me $19,000 in legal fees. I went into such a depression. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't write. I went down to 83 pounds. Finally I took and passed a sodium pentothal -- or truth serum -- test and the Government dropped the charges against me in 1975.' "Further tactics were to write her phone number and obscene graffiti on walls in New York City where she lives, and put her name on pornographic mailing lists. "When the Clearwater scandal broke and she was booked to appear in Florida at broadcaster [Bob] Snyder's invitation, the church decided to 'handle' its old nemesis in a new operation entitled 'Freakout'. Its goal was 'to get P.C. incarcerated in a mental institution or jail or at least hit her so hard that she drops her attacks'. "Phase one involved telephone threats to Arab consulates by a voice impersonator (Ms Cooper is Jewish). Phase two, sending a threatening letter along the old bomb-hoax lines to such a consulate. Phase three, an impersonator would publicly threaten the President and Henry Kissinger while another Scientologist would tip off the authorities. Phase four, agents who had ingratiated themselves with Cooper (she at one time apparently had a relationship with a Church of Scientology man who was working as an undercover agent) would help assess the success of the plan and if necessary notepaper bearing her fingerprints would be typed over with a bomb threat to Kissinger. "'Operation Freakout', however, didn't get off the ground. Although she appeared in the television programme in 1980 and at the Clearwater hearing instigated by attorney Michael Flynn, Cooper eventually signed a truce with Scientology and was offered a settlement (see pages 142-3). For some of the campaigners, the hassle, the wounds, the possibility that justice may not be done, makes them back off." ---from _Religion Inc._, pages 142-3: "PAULETTE COOPER, as we saw in Chapter 4, was up there among the chief enemies of Scientology and was high in the damages stakes with a suit for $55 million when [Boston attorney Michael] Flynn became her attorney. In 1982 she participated as one of his star witnesses in

the Clearwater hearings (at which the Church of Scientology declined to testify since it could only put its case at the conclusion). Flynn, she now says, persuaded her that she should name Hubbard in her suit since he would not appear and therefore she would win by default or because the Church of Scientology would pay up rather than produce Hubbard. "But in a dramatic reconciliation with its old enemy in 1985 the Church of Scientology proudly announced that it had settled all cases for an against Ms Cooper and brandished an affidavit in which she says Flynn misled her into thinking Hubbard was still in charge of the Church of Scientology and had used her in a strategic campaign. In the elaborate game of bluff and counter-bluff, accusation and recusal, perhaps nothing should surprise the observer of Scientology. It would be nice to think this was a story of reconciliation, a truly religious story with a happy ending, but judging by the tactics adopted by the Church of Scientology to discredit Ms. Cooper, I am inclined to think it is more likely the case of a psychologically battered woman throwing her towel into the ring." -----------Cyril Vosper's THE MIND BENDERS --------from Robert Kaufman's _Inside Scientology_, page 263: "A recent British publication which the Scientologists tried to ban, _The Mind Benders_ by Cyril Vosper (Neville Spearman), covers some of Malko's ground in greater detail; Vosper was a Scientologist for fourteen years." from Roy Wallis's _The Road to Total Freedom_, page 205: "Books critical of Scientology have often been the subject of extensive litigation. At one stage in the litigation connected with Cyril Vosper's _The Mind Benders_, a High Court judge was reported as saying of applications by the Church of Scientology that its author and a newspaper editor be committed to prison for contempt of court, that these actions were deliberately taken `to try and stifle any criticism or inquiry into their [the Church of Scientology's] affairs." [Footnote: _Daily Telegraph_, 4 March 1972.] from Wallis, page 219: "Cyril Vosper alleges that a copy of his manuscript disappeared from his lodgings, and, while on holiday in Spain, he was questioned by the police when they opened a parcel addressed to the place in which he was staying, containing obscene caricatures of General Franco." -----------Robert Kaufman's INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY --------from Roy Wallis's _The Road to Total Freedom_, page 219-220: "Olympia Press, the publishers of Robert Kaufman's _Inside Scientology_, were also attacked by means of forged documents. These documents, circulated to newsagents and booksellers, were written on headed Olympia notepaper. They suggested that in the light of litigation in which Olympia was involved, all stocks of the firm's books should be returned for cash refunds. A further forged letter purportedly emanating from Olympia's

accountants, claimed that Olympia was going into liquidation. The officers of Olympia have also alleged that illegal entry was made to their premises, that galley proofs of Kaufman's book were stolen from the printers, and that their files were tampered with." [Footnote: _The Observer_ (London newspaper), 29 July 1973] "Kaufman, who is also a musician, found that his booking for a concert hall was cancelled mysteriously prior to a performance. While he was appearing on a `phone-in' radio programme, a man telephoned, alleging that he had been a male nurse in a psychiatric hospital in which Kaufman had been a patient. He claimed to have seen Kaufman's psychiatric records and alleged that Kaufman had been diagnosed as a `paranoid schizophrenic with castration fears and homosexual tendencies.' ---------- George Malko's SCIENTOLOGY: THE NOW RELIGION ----------from Paulette Cooper's _The Scandal of Scientology_, pages 70-71: "On September 30, 1970, it was reported in the _New York Post_ that the Scientologists were suing Delacourt Publishers and author George Malko for a book they did on Scientology." from Roy Wallis's _The Road to Total Freedom_: page 7 footnote: (following a list of books he consulted) "It should be noted that of these works, that by [Maurice] Burrell was withdrawn shortly after it appeared, and the publishers of the works by Cooper and Malko have undertaken not to reprint them." page 22 footnote: "Malko's book has been withdrawn by its publishers who also paid a legal settlement." --------- Roy Wallis, author of THE ROAD TO TOTAL FREEDOM --------Wallis, page 219: "Following the distribution of an article by the present writer [Wallis], commenting on Scientology, a young man, later discovered to have been a Scientology staff member, visited the author at a university at which he was employed. He used a false name and sought to win the author's confidence. He was later found to have made personal inquiries of students and others concerning the author. Shortly following this visit, forged letters bearing official letter headings were received by various individuals, designed to be a source of inconvenience and embarassment to the author. The young man who visited the university later appeared in Scientology publications as a graduate of a Saint Hill course." [Footnote: This and similar cases are discussed in Roy Wallis, `Religious sects and the fear of publicity', New Society (7 June 1973), pp. 545-7.] ---------- John Symonds' THE GREAT BEAST --------from Stewart Lamont's _Religion, Inc._, page 20: The Church of Scientology was successful in obtaining a retraction by _The Sunday Times_ [of London] in 1969 and in winning an action in 1971 against the author John Symonds and publishers of _The Great Beast_, a biography of [Aleister] Crowley, which alleged that Hubbard's new religion

was derived from black magic. --------- John A. Lee's SECTARIAN HEALERS AND HYPNOTHERAPY ------In 1967, the Committee for the Healing Arts of the Province of Ontario commissioned John A. Lee to study non-medical healing practices in that province. The study included Christian Science, Unity, Spiritualism, Christian faith healing, New Thought, Concept-Therapy, a few self-described "hypnotists" who advertised in the Toronto Yellow Pages, and various other unlicensed and unconventional healers. Lee finished his report in December, 1967, and the Committee published it with The Queen's Printer in 1970 as the book _Sectarian Healers and Hypnotherapy_, by John A. Lee. Lee reported that he received excellent cooperation from most of the groups and individuals he studied. But when he got to Scientology.... The "Church" used the same techniques for dealing with us as it instructs its members to use against any alleged opponent or apostate, the so-called "Suppressive Persons" techniques...In our case this involved scurrilous press releases accusing at least one member of the Committee on the Healing Arts of personal "crimes" and impugning the motives of the whole Committee. After lengthy consideration the Committee concluded that further use of its powers of investigation would not add substantially to information already available (the general drift of which was amply confirmed by the "Church's" tactics) and would merely delay a final report on the matter. The above quote is from a footnote on page 73. ----- Stewart Lamont's RELIGION INC. ----John Penycate, a reporter for the BBC's _Panorama_ TV show, reported in the 30 April 1987 edition of the BBC's magazine _The Listener_ (page 14): "Last year, though, Stewart Lamont a freelance broadcaster in Scotland, wrote a book on Scientology called _Religion Inc._ Legal action forestalled both a paperback and an American edition, and people purporting to represent the Midland Bank visited his neighbors in Glasgow, inquiring about his private life. A hired private detective contacted his ex-wife seeking damaging information about him." ----- Maurice Burrell's SCIENTOLOGY: WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES --The 19 November 1987 issue of the BBC's magazine _The Listener_ contains, on page 34, a review of "Bare-Faced Messiah", written by one Martin Fagg. The review opens: "The disciples of Lafayette Ron Hubbard are nothing if not litigious. In 1970, I reviewed, for another weekly, _Scientology_ by Maurice C. Burrell...[snip]... The review appeared--but the book did not, the `Church of Scientology' having meanwhile obtained an injunction inhibiting, or at least delaying, its publication. Shortly thereafter, the editor of the paper received, under a thunderous letterheading, a protest from the movement's

`D/Guardian Legal WW' at its East Grinstead HQ, denouncing the review as `extremely defamatory'. The letter was printed in the paper's correspondence columns, but no apology was proffered or retractation [sic] made." ---------- BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Jon Atack, A Piece of Blue Sky. Carol Publishing, NYC, 1990. Maurice Burrell, Scientology: What It Is And What It Does. Lakeland, London, 1970. Paulette Cooper, The Scandal of Scientology. Tower Publications, NYC, 1971 Bent Corydon, L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman? 2nd edition, Barricade Books, Fort Lee, NJ, 1992. Robert Kaufman, Inside Scientology. Olympia Press, London & NYC, 1972. Stewart Lamont, Religion Inc. Harrap, London, 1986. John A. Lee, Sectarian Healers and Hypnotherapy. The Queen's Printer, Toronto, 1970. George Malko, Scientology: The Now Religion. Delacourte Press, NYC, 1970 Russell Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah. Michael Joseph, London, 1987. John Symonds, The Great Beast: The Life of Aleister Crowley. Many editions published, 1956-1973. Cyril Vosper, The Mind Benders. Neville Spearman, London, 1971. Roy Wallis, The Road to Total Freedom. Columbia University Press, NYC, 1977.