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Press Releases & Updates 2005
22nd June 2005
Celebrity Support for Vanunu Activists as they Prepare for Trial
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Five anti-nuclear activists will next week go on trial at Hemel Hempstead Magistrates Court accused of Criminal Damage to Northwood Military HQ. However, they have received personal messages of support from actress Susannah York and Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. The activists’ case will raise questions about the legality of Trident replacement, hot on the heels of statements from both former Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook and former Defence Secretary, Michael Portillo, in opposition to any new nuclear weapons system, raising the pressure on Tony Blair.
The protestors (Joss Garman, Briony Tomlins, Philip Gordon, Sarah Shoraka and Graham Thompson) from Trident Ploughshares dressed in white “whistleblower” overalls and Vanunu masks and cut their way through a high security fence to get into the command and control centre for Trident on April 21st last year.
They acted to follow on in the footsteps of Vanunu and blow the whistle on Britain’s own nuclear WMD programme. On 27th June, they will go on trial represented by leading civil rights lawyers, Bindman and Partners, and the trial may last until July 1st.
The protestors’ case was featured in The Independent recently due to a disclosure the defendants received in which the Crown acknowledged that there is a “respectable body of expert opinion which is of the view that any decision by Britain to develop a new or further nuclear weapon system as a follow on to Trident would directly violate the undertakings made by Britain at the sixth Review Conference of NPT state parties in May 2000.”
Susannah York declared, “Well done you whistleblowers - five more to
follow in Vanunu’s footsteps. Don’t stop walking!”
Meanwhile, Ken Livingstone wrote, “Nuclear weapons are one of the greatest threats to the future existence of humanity. I believe those who are trying to keep the case for their abolition in the public eye by symbolic actions will be understood in years to come as performing a great service to society.”
Three of the five activists, despite the looming court case, have already pledged to carry on with their campaign. On July 4th they will be amongst several thousand demonstrators who intend to close down Faslane naval base in Scotland, two days before the G8 Summit, by blocking the gateways to the home port to Britain’s nuclear armed submarines.
The experienced peace activists - who between them have swum out in front of submarines, whitewashed the gates of Downing Street following the publication of the Hutton Report, and organised the Greenpeace banner drop off Big Ben - will argue that they were legally and morally justified to break into Northwood, since they were acting to prevent a greater crime.
Last updated: 30th June 2005
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