Veteran Tasmanian environmental campaigner Ali Alishah jailed for Styx logging coupe trespass

A veteran environmental campaigner who has previously been jailed for illegally protesting in Tasmania will spend more time behind bars after being convicted of trespass on Tuesday.

Ali Alishah’s supporters Colette Harmsen and Jenny Weber leave the Hobart Magistrates Court. Picture: Chris Kidd

Political consultant Ali Alishah, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of trespass relating to incidents in Sustainable Timber Tasmania logging coupes on February 16 and February 19 of this year.

In sentencing Alishah to four months’ imprisonment, with one month suspended, Magistrate Jackie Hartnett found that on the second occasion, the defendant had entered a logging coupe in the Styx forest and attached himself to an excavator by the neck with a bike lock and padlock.

Syed Ali Imran Alishah has been in custody since February 19, on two charges of trespass relating to demonstrations at a logging coup in the Styx Forest, just over an hour west of Hobart.

On both occasions, Magistrate Hartnett said, police were required to attend to remove Alishah from the coupe, taking them away from their work protecting the community.

Magistrate Harnett found that although both instances of trespass were committed with a political motivation, the defendant had not shown any remorse or contrition for his action.

Alishah’s sentence was backdated to 19 February, the day he was taken into custody.

He will be eligible for parole on 19 May.

In a statement released through the Bob Brown Foundation, Alishah said he was “immensely grateful” to those who supported what he described as the protection of Tasmania’s native forests.

And he remained defiant about his actions, indicating his jail sentence was a price worth paying.

“Three months served will be nothing, I would gladly serve three months in defence of Tasmania,” Alishah said.

Bob Brown Foundation campaign manager, Jenny Weber, said non-violent protests posed no serious risks to the protesters or others, and that anti-protest laws had been enacted to attempt to stifle opposition to current forestry practices.

“Citizens will be undeterred by this sentence today, they will continue to protest as long as the governments and corporations dangerously risk our liveable planet,” Ms Weber said.