Posted
09th August 2001
Marshall Islands resists US pressure
Majuro, Marshall Islands, August 6th, 2001:The
Marshall Islands government today dropped a deportation case
against New Zealand Greenpeace activist, Richard (Alice) Leney.
Alice had broken no laws. But the Marshall Islands government
has been under great pressure from American authorities to deport
him from Marshall Islands for his peaceful opposition to the
Star Wars programme.
Today
the Marshall Islands government dropped the case. Instead the
Minister of Foreign Affairs will issue a special order, requiring
Alice to depart the Marshall Islands as soon as he receives
his passport, or when his visa expires later this month, whichever
occurs first. Alice had been camping on a small island in Marshall
Islands for the last three months in order to bear witness to
U.S. testing of the Star Wars missile defence system from the
Kwajalein Missile Range. Alice had arranged a "peace picnic"
for local people on the day of the missile test.
Even with his arrest, around 60 local people picnicked and watched
the launch from Meck Island near the missile range. Greenpeace
anti-nuclear campaigner Steve Campbell says "The Republic of
Marshall Islands has today shown itself to be a free country,
despite the US government's attempts to force it to quash free
speech and protest. "It's encouraging to see that on the anniversary
of the US's bombing of Hiroshima, one government has decided
not to bow to new US military pressures," says Campbell.
The
United States conducted 66 atmospheric Nuclear Tests in the
past in the Marshall Islands, and Alice has a long history of
working with radiation victims resulting from those tests. "The
US should fulfil its responsibilities to the people of the Marshall
Islands still suffering from those nuclear tests and deal with
outstanding compensation issues, rather than involving them
in a new nuclear arms race," says Alice Leney. The Marshall
Islands' decision comes as 15 other Greenpeace activists face
conspiracy charges following the delayed launch of the Star
Wars missile in Vandenberg, California three weeks ago. Two
journalists who documented the protest face the same charges.
Contact: Stephen Campbell, Greenpeace campaigner on ++61 418
681 275 or Alice Leney, Greenpeace activist on (692) 625 1348
Samantha Magick, Greenpeace communications officer on (61) 407
740 454.
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