SMASH EDO

PRESS RELEASE

 http://www.smashedo.org.uk
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DATE: Saturday November 5th 2005.
EMBARGO. For Immediate Release

CONTACT: Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson on
Phone: 07875 708873
Email:  smashedopress@yahoo.co.uk
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ATTORNEY GENERAL TORPEDOES WAR CRIMES DEFENCE IN HIGH COURT; PROTESTERS DEFIANT



On Wednesday the Attorney General intervened in an injunction trial at the High Court where protesters were seeking to bring up war crimes in Iraq and Palestine as part of their defence. Yesterday Judge Wallace glossed over evidence of war crimes in Iraq and Palestine stating that a ruling on whether crimes had been committed was unnecessary.



The defendants argued that EDO MBM, a Brighton arms manufacturer was guilty of offences under the ICC Act through its supply of weapons to conflicts in Iraq and Palestine.

The Attorney Generals barrister argued that no war crimes had been commited. He also argued for a more stringent interpretation of the already draconian Protection from Harassment Act 1997 which is being used to impose a collective punishment on all protesters who wish to demonstrate outside the Brighton arms factory. The Attorney General's interpretation was rejected by Judge Wallace.



Andrew Beckett, press spokesman for Smash EDO, said 'the ruling was a result of the interevention of the Attorney General, it was a clear attempt to stifle debate in the courts about war crimes committed by the UK government in Iraq. However, the evidence of war crimes will still be used in the court case and we will continue to protest at EDO MBM until they cease supplying weapons to be used against civilians'



Copies of the judgement of Judge Wallace are available on request.



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Notes for Journalists

Brighton&Hove is a UN Peace Messenger City.

The injunction referred to was served under the 1997
Protection from Harassment Act (originally designed to
protect women from stalkers) and is the first of its
kind directed at activists outside of the animal
rights movement. Crucially it is a civil injunction
but carries criminal penalties. It affects anyone
deemed to be a protestor.



Initially EDO/MBM requested a large "exclusion zone"
comprising the whole of Home Farm Industrial Estate.
They and Sussex police also wanted to limit
demonstrations to two and a half hours, with less than
ten people who had to be silent. Judge Gross refused
to impose these conditions at the initial hearing of
an interim injunction, which was put in place in the
period before the full trial to be heard at the High
court in London from November 21st.

In his summing up he said, "The right to freedom of
___expression is jealously guarded in English law" and
consequently refused to impose the requested limits on
size, timing or noise made at demonstrations.

He also said that he doubted that protesters were
'stalking' employees of EDO MBM.

EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole UK subsidiary of
huge U.S arms conglomerate EDO Corp, which was
recently named No. 10 in the Forbes list of 100
fastest growing companies. They supply bomb release
mechanisms to the US and UK armed forces amongst
others. They supply crucial components for Raytheon's
Paveway IV guided bomb system, widely used in the
"Shock and Awe" campaign in Iraq.

EDO also withdrew a threatened libel action against
Indymedia over being named as "warmongers".

Lawson-Cruttenden & Co


Solicitors firm working for EDO have been instrumental
in developing the Protection of Harassment Act 1997
from a measure designed to safeguard individuals to a
corporate charter to make inconvenient protest illegal. They
have pioneered to use of injunctions to create large
"exclusion zones". They have secured numerous
injunctions against anti-vivisection and anti-GM
protestors.



Campaign against EDO MBM. People involved in the anti-EDO campaign include, but are not limited to: local residents, the Brighton Quakers, peace activists, anti-capitalists, Palestine Solidarity groups, human rights groups, trade unionists, academics and students. The campaign started in August 2004 with a peace camp. It's avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their complicity in war crimes and to remove them from Brighton