Peace activists released in London

Peace activists released in London

By Mark Lynas

Two peace activists were given a three-month suspended prison sentence at the High Court in London on January 24, after they defied a court injunction forbidding them from carrying out protest actions against a leading arms manufacturer.

Stephen Hancock and Ciaron O'Reilly are members of the Ploughshares movement, which campaigns non-violently against the manufacture, trade and use of military equipment.

The verdict was seen as a victory by the peace campaigners, who had expected jail sentences of six months to two years.

Hancock and O'Reilly's crime was to break into an arms factory, owned by British Aerospace, and bury a child's coffin in the ground. The two say their act was in symbolic remembrance of "all the East Timorese children who have died during the Indonesian occupation".

In 1993 British Aerospace signed a contract to supply 24 Hawk ground attack aircraft to the Indonesian air force. A further 16 Hawks were ordered last year.

[From OneWorld News Service.]

From GLW issue 261