Four Christian pacifists are celebrating after being spared prison sentences in the Northern Territory Supreme Court. They were facing up to seven years in jail after being found guilty of breaking into the USA's Pine Gap spy base.

The Pine Gap trial held over the past few weeks in Alice Springs has not had much mainstream media attention - for a background of the case please see www.pinegap6.org The shroud of secrecy surrounding Pine Gap was maintained during the trial. Justice Thomas ruled in favour of the Commonwealth's submission for public interest immunity at the start of the case. The ruling stated: "Information as to operations of the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap except as may be disclosed by the prosecution brief is not relevant to any issue in this case."

Pine Gap is a military spy base for the United States located 20 km outside Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Pine Gap gathers military intelligence and uses a satellite tracking system to pinpoint targets in U.S. bombing raids on Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also the command centre for the 'Missile Defence System', an integral part of the US 'Star Wars' system enabling the US to dominate space.

At dawn on December 9, 2005 a ‘Citizen’s Inspection’ took place causing Pine Gap to shut down for five hours. Six hundred employees were denied access into the base and the employee’s cars queued up for several kilometres outside. Two members of Christians Against ALL Terrorism, Jim Dowling and Adele Goldie, had entered the Pine Gap base undetected and photographed themselves on the roof of a building before being arrested. Two other members of the group Donna Mulhearn and Bryan Law went undetected for an hour before being arrested cutting through the last inner fence.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock took their actions seriously enough to charge the group under the untested Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952, which carries a maximum jail sentence of 7 years. The top photo shows the Pine Gap Four (from left) Jim Dowling; Donna Mulhearn; Bryan Law and Adele Goldie arriving at court on the first day of the trial, 29th May 2007.

Justice Sally Thomas expressed reservations over the law's severity. She said that hundreds of people have been dealt with in the lower courts for similar offences. "It's a big step up from a relatively minor thing dealt with in the Magistrates Court to this," she said. "They are facing serious charges carrying lengthy jail terms, while hundreds of people have been dealt with in the Magistrates Court."

Justice Thomas had allowed the defendants to present evidence throughout the 11 day trial including their beliefs about Pine Gap's role in the war in Iraq which resulted in civilian deaths and suffering. She later instructed the jury to disregard that evidence and any sympathies they might have for the defendant's beliefs.

In her closing address, defendant Donna Mulhearn asked the jury to consider the stained hiking boots she was wearing in court. She had worn them in an Iraqi marketplace, in the aftermath of a US missile. "Now, in this court room, there is blood on my boots. Blood of a human being, that is there because of the targeting decisions made in Pine Gap," she told the jury. "I'm asking you to honour the memory of this person's blood.. for the sake of the truth, for the sake of your humanity, I'm asking that you find me not guilty."

The Pine Gap Four conducted their inspection to disrupt the machinery of war and to draw Australia's attention to the missile guidance system in its heart. Following sentencing today Mr Law said "We have still won. Our action was and is calculated to effectively intervene into the war-fighting operation of Pine Gap, under the public gaze, as part of an effective campaign to limit the damage from war in Iraq in the short term, and bring about global disarmament in the medium term. "What's moral is not always legal, and what is immoral is not always illegal. If there is a minor law that has to be broken in the pursuit of moral faith then I will break it."  

This is a statement issued on behalf of the Pine Gap 4 after the sentencing: We want to thank all our supporters in Alice Springs, across Australia and throughout the world. We renew our commitment to non-violent resistance, which is a powerful way that ordinary people can make a difference in the world. We encourage others to take their next step in rising up against war. Join your local peace group, or if you can, support actions challenging the US-Australian war games - Operation Talisman Sabre - that will start next week in Queensland.

To read the blog of the Pine Gap 4 click View the page link below.

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