Friday, May 02, 2008



No Sabotage

Police have confirmed that the Waihopai protestors will not be charged with sabotage. Good. It was drawing a very long bow anyway, and with the GCSB publicly stating that Waihopai deals mainly with trade details, it would have been ridiculous for the police to claim that it was vital to the security of New Zealand (unless by "security" they mean "lining rich people's pockets" - which wouldn't be the first time such claims have been made).

Meanwhile, the protestors are still held on remand, which is odd. Bail is a human right in this country, and the only reasons for denying it are a risk of non-appearance, a risk of reoffending, or a risk that the accused will interfere with witnesses. None of these seem to be true in this case - so why are they still in jail?