East Timor activist fined heavily

East Timor activist fined heavily

By Tim E. Stewart

DARWIN — Well-known Darwin activist Shell 63 has been fined $1000 for jumping into a parliamentary limousine during a demonstration for freedom for East Timor.

The incident occurred during the visit of the Malaysian high commissioner to the Northern Territory three days after the Malaysian government closed down the second Asia Pacific Coalition for East Timor conference.

The APCET conference, held in Kuala Lumpur last November, was attacked by police and pro-government thugs. International observers at the conference were jailed, then deported.

During the court case, the magistrate commented, "We can't have people jumping into diplomat's cars; otherwise there'd be anarchy". Lesser charges of "unreasonably causing substantial annoyance" were dropped.

From GLW issue 292