He was sentenced to two months imprisonment for sedition and for conspiracy to commit wilful damage on 19 July 2006. Letters he wrote from prison were posted on his blog, prompting criticism and questions in Parliament from National's Corrections spokesman Simon Power.
In 1996, he was imprisoned (but then released on appeal of sentence) for falsifying nomination signatures and was forced to resign as a member of the Glenfield Community Board, to which he had been elected unopposed the previous year.
[7] He also wrote articles in Craccum criticising suicide prevention workers[8] and explaining how to rip off the student loan system; the former being condemned by the New Zealand Press Council in a ruling as "consistently irresponsible and malicious.
[11] Selwyn was arrested on charges of sedition and wilful damage in relation to throwing an axe through the Auckland electorate office window of then-Prime Minister Helen Clark over the foreshore and seabed controversy on 18 November 2004.
[16] However, Judge Josephine Bouchier said when summing up that Selwyn knew the documents were unlawful and intended to encourage lawlessness and disorder, and the police were quoted as saying the verdict was a "victory for society".
[18] The report said the current law was "an unjustifiable breach of the right of freedom of expression" and that "they have been inappropriately used in New Zealand in times of political unrest and perceived threats to established authority.