Urewera raid charges must be dropped

Global Peace and Justice Auckland is renewing the call on the Solicitor General to drop the charges against the 15 political activists arrested in the October 2007 so-called anti-terror raids.

Yesterday's confirmation the case has been adjourned and will not proceed in the Auckland High Court next week underlines the injustice which state agencies continue to pile on the defendants.

It's close to four years since the arrests were made and still no date for the case to be heard. Justice delayed is justice denied demands the case now be abandoned.

The 15 people involved have had to cope as best they can but their lives have been on hold for most of the last four years as they face the prospect of a three-month trial. At least one defendant resigned a full-time job last month to prepare for the case - only to face yet another adjournment and ongoing chaos in their life.

The defendants have suffered enormously through the intervening years. The dramatic police media conference on 15 October 2007 which claimed a terror attack had been foiled means that whenever the names of the defendants are "googled" their association with terror charges is there now and forever. They have already been served a life sentence.

The ludicrous nature of the charges is underlined by the earlier revelation that the threat to the life of George Bush, so eagerly leaked by police and breathlessly reported by the Dominion Post, consisted of a plan to catapult a bus on top of the former US President and high-profile war criminal.

The police case has a firm foundation on hot air and it's long past the time it was abandoned.

The ball is in the hands of Solicitor General David Collins.

John Minto Spokesperson

Mike Treen Spokesperson

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