PIne Gap 4 to Stand Trial in Alice Springs & Other Anti-War Resistance Updates

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Thursday April 20, 2006 23:35

by Ploughshares

TRIAL later 2006-Alice Springs, Northern Territory, AUSTRALIA

They're on Trial For Us, We're on the Loose for Them

This week four people were brought to the Australian Supreme Court. The four calling themselves Christians Against All Terrorism had last December cariied out a citizens inspection of the CIA/NSA Pine Gap base outside of Alice Springs, Northern Territory Australia.Pine Gap is supposed to be one of the most "secure" military sites in Australia. Besdies playing a global spying role it also targets for cruise missile attacks in Iraq. Check link below for photos from Dec Citizens Inspection.

Pine Gap 4 Pre-Trial Day 1 Report Wednesday April 19

A group of anti-war protesters claim "operational secrecy" is hindering their efforts to defend themselves against charges of breaking into a top secret Australian spy base.
Donna Mulhearn, 37, Jim Dowling, 50, Adele Goldie, 29, and Bryan Law, 51, have faced a committal hearing in Alice Springs Magistrates Court, charged with breaking into the Pine Gap spy base in central Australia.
The four were charged under the Defence Special Undertakings Act with entering a prohibited area and taking photos on December 9 last year.
The group, which styles itself Christians Against All Terrorism, fronted the hearing wearing jackets and overalls saying "Citizens Inspection Team".
Mulhearn, a well-known Catholic pacifist from Maitland, is a former "human shield" who was captured and later freed by insurgents during her second trip to Iraq.
Members of the group claimed to the court that US military action in Iraq was "terrorism" and a humanitarian emergency that Australian citizens should deal with.
They said they would rely on the defence "of necessity", which says private citizens can take illegal action when there is an extraordinary emergency threatening them.
Representing themselves, the members claimed that the fact they had gained access to the site showed the Australian Federal Police protecting the base were unable to protect Australia from a terrorist threat.
Among those quizzed by the four about the role of Pine Gap in the targeting of missiles in Iraq was the deputy chief of the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility, Michael Burgess, the top Australian official at the base.
However, the defendants were told the base was an intelligence collection facility and that operations there were classified.
In court, the group tried to extract information about buildings at Pine Gap, 20km from Alice Springs, and what they were for.
"We needed to inspect Pine Gap for terrorist activity," group member James Dowling told the court, after calling US Intelligence chief John Negroponte "a known terrorist".
Mr Negroponte inspected the base just three days before the group broke in.
But the protesters were told repeatedly that most things about the base, including even whether employees rode bikes on the grounds, was "classified".
All four protesters are charged with criminal damage and entering a prohibited area.
Goldie, Dowling and Mulhearn are further charged with using a camera in a prohibited area.
The charges carry jail terms of up to seven years and their use had to be decided by Attorney General Phillip Ruddock.
The group face separate charges of criminal damage under the NT criminal code.
Law said the group was the first to ever be charged under the Defence Special Undertakings Act and had been kept in suspense for four months.
"It has certainly raised the stakes," he said.
Law, a father of one, and Dowling, a father of seven, said they expected custodial sentences if the case went to trial and they were found guilty.

Pine Gap 4/ Pre-Trial Day 2 April /20th.

Four anti-war protesters have been committed by an Alice Springs court to stand trial on charges of breaking into the top secret Pine Gap spy base "to stop war crimes".
Protesters Donna Mulhearn, 37, Jim Dowling, 50, Adele Goldie, 29, and Bryan Law, 51, told the Magistrates Court they had entered the base because they saw it as their duty as citizens to act when their government was involved in "crimes against humanity".
The four, members of a group calling itself Christians Against All Terrorism, will stand trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court in June on charges which could see them jailed for up to seven years.
They are accused of entering the Pine Gap prohibited area 20km from Alice Springs on December 9 last year and damaging fences, sensors and switches.
Ms Mulhearn, who went to Iraq twice as a "human shield", Ms Goldie and Mr Dowling are also accused of using a camera in a prohibited area.
They told the court they believed the joint US-Australian facility played a role in the targeting of missiles in Iraq.
"We went to Pine Gap to take personal responsibility for what we believe is a crime against humanity," group member Jim Dowling said.
He said the Nuremberg war crimes trials in which Nazi leaders were prosecuted had pointed out "that citizens have a right and a duty to take action against their government when it is committing war crimes".
Alice Springs Magistrate Michael Carey found there was sufficient evidence to commit the four for trial and adjourned minor charges under NT law until July.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock had to approve the use of the charges under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act and the protesters claim it is the first time they have been used since the legislation was passed in 1952.
They will be arraigned on June 5 in Alice Springs for a trial later that month and will face further charges under the NT criminal code in July.
They have not yet been required to enter a plea.
Mr Law objected to a bail condition that barred the group from going within two kilometres of Pine Gap, saying it obstructed their constitutional right to conduct a civilised protest at the gates of the base.
He told the court that the top Australian official at the base, Deputy Chief of Facility Michael Burgess, had given permission for a peaceful protest to be held.
But Mr Carey said the condition would stand because there had been no change to group's risk of reoffending.

LINK - to photos of the Pine Gap action
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/12/101603.php