On 1 May Fr Martin Newell of the London Catholic Worker was sentenced to 14 days in prison in relation to an anti-war Christian service, wall-writing and symbolic grave-digging at the Ministry of Defence on 28 December 2004.
Martin had refused to pay compensation of £660 to the MoD, after he was found guilty of criminal damage at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court.
Before sentencing Martin said: “I work with refugees. I see the effects of wars daily. Jesus said `whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do to me,' and the war in Iraq is killing our brothers and sisters.”
Jubilee
In 2000-2001, Martin served over six months in prison for disarming a convoy truck being prepared to carry Trident nuclear warheads - an action he carried out with Susan van der Hijden of the Amsterdam Catholic Worker - at RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire. Due to the vagaries of the prison system, this time Martin was released from Brixton after only two and a half days.