A Bob Brown Foundation activist who was arrested after locking himself to an excavator with a bike lock during a forest protest three months ago has been released from prison.
Speaking on Friday after becoming a free man again, an undeterred Ali Alishah said that his sentence had “absolutely no effect” on his commitment to environmental activism.
The 40-year-old said the forests of the Styx Valley, where he was taken into custody, hold great personal significance to him and are “entirely irreplaceable”.
“They are rich, carbon-dense, ecological wonderlands that should not be being destroyed just to satisfy the crony capitalism that has taken over our state,” he said.
“The anti-protest laws are no deterrent … people will continue to stand up and jail time is not a deterrent either.”
In April, Alishah was sentenced to four months in prison, with one month of his sentence suspended.
But despite his incarceration, the environmental crusader is already planning to return to the forests to continue fighting.
“It was an honour to be standing up for what I believe is a duty and I believe it’s incumbent upon us to stand up for Tasmania’s native forests,” he said.
“I am told that there is a very, very significant coup in the north-west that I’m interested in and I’ll be making more statements about that at a later date.”
Alishah said the protest that led to his arrest was “entirely peaceful” and posed no “threat or danger” to anyone.
“It was entirely organised. We had planned it, I had planned it and it was a safe undertaking of a protest act,” he said.
He also took time to thank his fellow inmates for their “kindness” during his time in Risdon Prison.
“We enjoy a great deal of support inside Risdon Prison and they thank us,” he said.
“They thank environmental activists for protecting the public assets and protecting Tasmania’s irreplaceable native ecology for future generations.”
