Deflated Waihopi satellite dish

A Wellington jury has been told three anti-war activists broke into a secure Government spy base near Blenheim last April and slashed holes in the inflatable cover of a satellite dish in order to save lives.

In the Wellington District Court today Adrian Leason, Peter Murnane and Sam Land faced two charges of committing wilful damage, by cutting a fence and slashing the dome, and a third of burglary, by being in the yard belonging to the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in the Waihopai Valley.

The accused admitted the damage, but said they were acting to save the lives of people overseas.

Michael Knowles, defending Leason, said a “Faustian pact” between the intelligence agency and the Government cloaked the base’s activities from public accountability in democratic society.

“The Government doesn’t ask and the GCSB doesn’t tell,” he told the jury.

The case was a meeting of the law, morality and humanity, with the accused defending those unable to defend themselves, he said.

Source: The Dominion Post

This week’s reflections

• NZ Protestors saving overseas lives (News item)
• Solidarity with my brothers whom I’ve never met
• Infantile protest, serious consequences
• Give them “VC’s” not punishment

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