Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

“A seagull stole my defense, sir...”

smashedo | 04.05.2007 18:36 | Lebanon War 2006 | Anti-militarism | Palestine | Repression | South Coast

Two activists from Manchester to stand trial in Brighton for aggravated trespass at edo mbm arms manufacturers last July

The saga of Brighton arms manufacturer edo mbm's battle with members of the public who are concerned by the manufacture of components for bomb racks used by the Israeli military in an innocuous-looking industrial estate near Moulsecoomb continued last week with a new trial of 3 people accused of aggravated trespass with the intention to disrupt lawful activity. The defendants secured themselves to barrels of concrete outside the gates of the factory on the 17th July 2006, five days after Israel began their aerial assault of Lebanon. They will argue that edo's activity is unlawful by virtue of their supply of high tech weaponry to the Israeli air force and their consequent complicity in war crimes. Edo mbm also make components for the hellfire missile, as used in the bombardment of Iraq, which left over 100,000 dead.

The case was adjourned until 23th July, as three of the five listed days for the trial were taken up with legal argument. The defense requested the disclosure of export licenses granted to the company by the department of trade and industry (DTI). According to Peter Davis, a director of the company due to give evidence at the beginning of the re-listed trial in July, edo mbm is engaged in manufacturing activity which is fully compliant with UK law.

The judge rejected the disclosure request with such panache that the defense lawyers described it as the worst ruling they had ever seen. Consequently the defendants are left in a catch 22 situation: without a disclosure request granted it is difficult to prove illegal activity, but without proving illegal activity to the level deemed necessary to this court (the company have publicly advertised that they make the components and a former director admitted it in court) it is not possible to get a disclosure request granted.

However, some creatures hanging around Brighton and Hove Magistrates court last week took more notice of the defense's case than the judge. A seagull whipped their skeleton argument out of a barrister's hand just before it was about to be handed to the man on high. Whisperings of 'conspiracy' grew louder as the bird shat on the carefully constructed document before scattering it around the front of the court building, leaving court officials irate and the barristers scratching their heads.

It wouldn't be the first case of conspiracy involving the police, edo and their winged accomplices. Collusion and corruption scandals reached their peak in early 2006 when the queen's prosecution service dropped 23 criminal cases against protesters after the police were ordered to produce documents relating to a meeting they had had with edo and their former lawyers.

Join the luckless defendants in court on the 23rd July for what promises to be a truly entertaining performance from judge Parsons, and the cross-examination of Peter Davis that may be more successful than the disclosure application in squeezing information out of edo mbm.

Brighton and Hove Magistrates Court,
Edward St,
Brighton,
BN2 0LG.

For more info: www.smashedo.org.uk

smashedo

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech