On 31 August, the New Zealand high court imposed £600,000 in damages and costs on three peace activists who punctured a dome at a US national security agency base at Waihopai in New Zealand on 30 April 2008. The Waihopai Ploughshares (Sam Land, Adrian Leason and Peter Murnane), who carried out their action in protest at the role of the base in the US-led “war on terror”, were acquitted by a jury on 17 March 2010 (see PN 2520). (The government plans to restrict the use of the “right of claim” defence that they used in future such cases.) Despite their acquittal, the Waihopai Ploughshares are being asked to pay NZ$1.2 million (£600,000) to repay the cost of repairing the dome. They plan to appeal. www.ploughshares.org.nz
Topics: Drones & autonomous weapons