Friday November 19th 2004

Press Conference with Naomi Klein:
‘Now we’re taking you to court!’ - Protestors insist on trial as government and ‘plunder promoter’ drop charges

In what is believed to be a politically motivated decision, the Crown Prosecution Service has dropped charges of ‘Aggravated Trespass’ against two female protesters who demonstrated inside an Iraq privatisation conference last April.

Ewa Jasiewicz, activist Jounalist had recently returned from 9 months solidarity work with trade unionists, families, refugees and women’s groups in Iraq. Pennie Quinton is an Indymedia activist and journalist.

The Crown stated that ‘there is not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction’.

Ewa and Pennie have been charged with intending to disrupt a “lawful activity” when they entered the Iraq Procurement Conference, unfurled banners, and addressed the delegates as collaborators in the daily massacres in Iraq. Their actions caused the conference venue to be evacuated and all activity to be suspended.

Naomi Klein, award-winning journalist and author of No Logo, had been scheduled to give evidence at the trial. She will take part in a press conference alongside the defendants and their lawyer at The National Union of Journalists, 308 Grays Inn Road, WC1, 4pm this Tuesday 24th November.

Pennie and Ewa are claiming their right to trial under Section 23 of the Prosecution of Offenses Act 1985. This means they are in effect, taking the government and event organisers Windrush Communications to court. Prosecution witnesses from Windrush have refused to attend the trial. They will now be witnessed-summoned. Windrush have failed to disclose evidence, in violation of repeated court orders, to reveal invitations, attendees, order of business and contracts procured, relating to the event. They will now be ordered to submit again.

The defence will continue to argue that the meeting was not a lawful event as it was facilitating acts in breach of the Iraq constitution - illegal under the Hague Regulations of 1907 and Geneva Conventions 1949. Britain and the US are signatories to both the Hague Regulations and Geneva Conventions.

In a leaked memo dated March 26th 2003, UK Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith advised Prime Minister Blair that in his view, 'the imposition of major structural economic reforms would not be authorised under international law'. (Source: Guardian, 7 November 2003, “Pillage is forbidden: Why the privatisation of Iraq is illegal“ Aaron Mate).

This case will be the first time the legality of the pillage of Iraq is challenged in court. The defendants hope the court will rule that the conference was unlawful as occupying forces must comply with international law.

Ewa and Pennie regard the prosecution’s climb-down as a victory and a total vindication of the validity and necessity of their actions and legal argument.

They state: ‘The decision undertaken by Windrush Communications to back down when faced with the legal consequences of their actions - in our belief, aiding and abetting pillage in Iraq in contravention of international law - is an open door to other activists to take further action to expose the ‘unlawful’ activity of companies and event organisers like Windrush’.

For information, contact the former defendants -
Ewa Jasiewicz at  freelance@mailworks.org or 07749 421 576
Pennie Quinton at  pennieq@yahoo.com.
Their solicitor Rhiannon Jones at Bindman and Partners 0207 833 4433  r.jones@bindmans.com


Related Information:

Iraq business deals may be invalid, law experts warn (Source: Thomas Catán, Financial Times September 30th 2003)

The US-led provisional authority in Iraq may be breaking international law by selling state assets, experts have warned, raising the prospect that contracts signed now by foreign investors could be scrapped by a future Iraqi government.

International businesspeople attending a conference in London October 2003 heard that some orders issued by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) may be in breach of the 1907 Hague Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"Is what they are doing legitimate, is it legal?” asked Juliet Blanch, a partner at the London-based international law firm Norton Rose. "Most [experts] believe that their actions are not legal", she said. "There would be no requirement for a new government to ratify their [actions]."

International law obliges occupying powers to respect laws already in force in a country "unless absolutely prevented" from doing so.

According to international law experts, that throws doubt on the legality of the CPA's September 19 order opening the Iraqi economy to foreign investment. In what amounted to a blueprint for transforming Iraq into a market economy, Order 39 permitted full foreign ownership of a wide range of state-owned Iraqi assets, barring natural resources such as oil.


Background

1 - Windrush Communications organised the Iraq Procurement Conference, bringing together:

“Over 200 companies and organisations from around the world … to discuss the wide range of economic opportunities available. The event was open to interested businesses and organisations from all countries, immediately following the awarding of up to $18.4 billion in contracts from the US Congress and prior to the handover from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to the new Iraqi government on 30 June.” (Source:  http://www.iraqprocurement.com)


1- On the Iraq Procurement Conference, Jasiewicz says-

The decisions which set the living standards and possibilities for generations to come; The decisions which determine who will starve and who will survive and who will live and who will die, are not made on the battlefield by people in uniform, they are made by people in suits behind closed doors, in soft-carpeted hotels and function rooms. They are made in private and demand absolute silence. They are made by the powerful and remorseless. They are made by those who legitimise theft, excuse crimes against humanity, and seal the fate of an entire country’s future with a pen’s stroke. There are made in events like Iraq Procurement 2004.

You make history, when you do business - Barbara Kruger

3- Relevant Links:

 http://www.iraqprocurement.com/ - website of the Iraq Procurement Conference

 http://www.cpa-iraq.org - website of the Occupation Administration - Orders can be found in the Documents section. Of particular relevance are Orders 30 and 39 plus Orders on Taxation Strategy

 http://www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk/ - Up-to-date info and analysis on the continuing occupation and traumatisation of Iraq

 http://www.workersliberty.org/files/Occupied_Basra_19.pdf - Ewa Jasiewicz's 3 month research report on workers struggle in British Occupied Basra

 http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=2180 SOC Workers Throw Out KBR, Reconstruct Their workplaces Autonomously article by Ewa Jasiewicz

 http://www.labournet.net/world/0312/Iraq3.html - Iraqi Workers Threaten General Strike, Armed resistance - article by Ewa Jasiewicz

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/01/283668.html - Basra Braces Itself for Industrial Shut-Down - article by Ewa Jasiewicz on Electricity Sector workers threatening strike action

 http://www.kclabor.org/occupied_basra_electricity_worke.htm - Update on Electricity Workers Strike article by Ewa Jasiewicz

 http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/02/09/2722630 - Umm Qasr workers wrestle with the prospect of forming a union. There is now a trade union at Umm Qasr! International Longshore and Warehouse Union members, employed by SSA Marine (formerly known as Stevedoring Services of America), the company which has been responsible for Umm Qasr since the occupation began sent a letter of solidarity and encouragement to the workers at the key Port. It is thought this helped workers gain the confidence and build on the already existing desire to form a union.