Lakenheath
8 go to trial in Ipswich 2 years
after the action

On
3rd November the Lakenheath 8 had their final pre-trial review. The
trial will take place from December 1st - 4th at Ipswich Crown Court,
two years and two months after their taking action to prevent more
innocent victims in the continuing bombing of Iraq and Afghanistan
undertaken by US planes from USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. . (Crown court
applies to the venue, not this trial, which will be heard by a District
Judge).
On the 2nd October 2006, 8 people locked themselves
to the
gate of the Special Munitions Store at RAF Lakenheath in order to stop
the use of those weapons and in order to secure evidence of War Crimes.
They
phoned the MOD police to request their presence on an allegation that
war crimes were being committed.
The
Lakenheath 8 had locked their bodies to the gates to prevent the
deployment of weapons, including cluster bombs, and secured the
evidence for investigation for as long as possible. After 3 hours they
were forcibly removed by a specialist MOD cutting team.
The
8 were
some of the first to be arrested under the Serious Organised Crime and
Police Act section 128, and were further charged with criminal damage
for cutting through the fence.
At the pre-trial review the
defence
won the right to call expert witness, Rae McGrath, Nobel Laureate and
expert on cluster bombs. McGrath has also been heavily involved in the
Oslo agreement on cluster munitions. He will, however, be attending the
trial to give evidence rather than attending the signing of the Oslo
agreement in Norway.
Following a statement from the Minister
of
State on 4 December 2006 on the use of cluster munitions, Parliament
reconsidered these weapons and the humanitarian considerations arising
from deploying such indiscriminate bombs.
Hansard reported
on 20
March 2007 that 'dumb' cluster bombs would be withdrawn from service
with immediate effect. Parliament also confirmed that it would also
work towards an international ban on their use in the future. Britain
is one of 107 countries to be signing the International Convention on
Cluster Munitions in Oslo - on the 1st - 3rd December 2008.
However,
the UK ban will not stop cluster bombs being deployed by the US and
stored at US military bases across the UK. The Lakenheath 8 are among
many campaigners calling for the removal of cluster bombs from UK soil
and a ban on their use internationally.
Mell Harrison said '
After
years of campaigning using prescribed democratic process, still the
bombs were falling. Seeing the bombs inside Lakenheath and the images
of children screaming, and with missing limbs in the media, we had to
take direct action ourselves to stop these war crimes'
More
info on the Oslo agreement at
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/englishfinaltext.pdfand
lots more at
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/including
people's treaty to sign
http://www.minesactioncanada.org/peoples_treaty/index.cfmUS
Nukes Removed from USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk!
Eastern Region CND and Lakenheath
Action Group have received the news that US tactical nuclear weapons
have been
removed from USAF Lakenheath with open arms!
Lakenheath in Suffolk
has housed up to 110 nuclear weapons for many years and Lakenheath
action Group
and CND have campaigned against them.
Mell Harrison,
Eastern Region CND campaigns and Lakenheath action group member said
‘ This
is fantastic news, but its very interesting that the US government has
kept
this secret. We would like this news to be ‘confirmed or
denied’ by the base
and also like to know if these nukes where flown out over the
UK’. She also commented on security at the base
‘As one of the activists that have entered USAF Lakenheath a
few times I am
fully aware of just how inadequate the security is on these US bases
and our
concerns on this were confirmed by a US military report
the Blue Ribbon report
a few weeks ago’
CND and Lakenheath
action group have vowed to keep a close eye on these US bases and have
concerns
about USAF Lakenheath being used as a future base for National missile
Defence
interceptor missiles.
Pete Lux , Theatre of
War actor-vist and Eastern Region CND added ‘ USAF Lakenheath
is still involved in the bombing of
Afghanistan and Iraq, Still houses Cluster bombs and is still involved
in war
crimes. The protests will not stop, but we can at least celebrate the
removal
of the Nuclear bombs stored at the site.’
Lakenheath action
Group, CND and Theatre of War will be adding to the
‘Independence FROM America’
protest planned at USAF Feltwell ( USAF Lakenheath sister base) on 4th
July at 5.30pm with a celebration
for ‘ Independence FROM US nukes!‘join
us in making a 20 meter banner line away from the Feltwell fence so
that the activists on bail conditions after an action at Lakenheath to
stay 20m away can still attend and be part of the celebration and
protest.
Contact Mell Harrison on 08453370282
mellcndeast@cnduk.org
Further Information