Brits sentenced for anti-RI protest

Brits sentenced for anti-RI protest

LONDON (Reuter): Two British activists who trespassed onto British Aerospace (BAe) property to protest at the export of Hawk missiles to Indonesia received three-month suspended jail sentences yesterday for contempt of court.

Ciaron O'Reilly of Liverpool and Stephen Hancock of Oxford admitted they had breached an injunction and buried a child's coffin on BAe land last December to bury in memory of East Timorese who have died under Indonesian rule.

BAe signed a contract in June 1993 to supply 24 Hawk missiles to Indonesia.

The judge said no one could fail to be impressed by what the men had said in their defense, but they had defied an injunction banning them from trespassing on BAe property to draw attention to their campaign.