Anti-drone activists sent to jail in US

Photo: EPA

A US court has sentenced 12 Americans to jail for an anti-drone protest staged at the Hancock Air National Guard Base at Syracuse, NY, in October 2012. DeWitt Town judge David Gideon found the defendants guilty of disorderly conduct and gave them a $250 fine and 15 days in jail each but cleared them of trespass charges because of the conflicting testimony given over the location of the base's boundaries, according to the National Catholic Reporter online newspaper.

After the verdict was delivered, the twelve, all of them members of the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars organization, were immediately taken to the Jamesville Penitentiary.

Dozens of supporter were rallying outside the court, chanting: "Courage, brother, you do not walk alone. We shall walk with you and sing your spirit home."

Speaking ahead of Friday's hearing, the defendants said they were willing to go to jail if ordered to do so.

The Hancock base is home to the 174th Attack Wing of the New York Air National Guard that pilots the MQ-9 "Reaper" drones used in combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

Earlier this week, four anti-drone protesters stood trial in Sacramento, California. They were arrested in April 2013 on charges of trespassing after attempting to deliver a letter to the Beale Air Force Base's commander, in which they accused President Barack Obama and the US military involved in the drone program of crimes against humanity and multiple violations of the law.

Magistrate Allison Claire refused the defendants a jury trial. They got 90 days of unsupervised probation and 10 hours of community service each after being found guilty of trespassing.

The Beale base is home to Global Hawks reconnaissance drones.

"We, the people, charge the US President, Barack Obama and the full military chain of command, to Beale Air Force Base Colonel Phil Stewart, 9th Reconnaissance Wing Commander, every drone crew and service member at Beale Air Force Base, and every other U.S. base involved directly or indirectly with the U.S. drone program, with crimes against humanity, with violations of part of the Supreme Law of the Land, extrajudicial killings, violation of due process, wars of aggression, violation of national sovereignty, and killing of innocent civilians. US military and CIA Drone attacks have killed thousands of innocent civilians, including women and children, in the Middle East, Somalia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In the name of combating terrorism against the US, we are terrorizing innocent people and creating many more enemies and potential terrorists in the process. Our government has become a lawless power, acting as judge, jury, and executioner, just because it can…By most independent studies, the vast majority of those killed are civilians," the activists said in an open letter to the Beale base personnel last April.

Meanwhile, five other activists, who were convicted of trespass during their June protest at the Central Intelligence Agency, are planning to appeal the verdict. The five had sought to meet with CIA Director John Brennan over the agency's involvement in US drone killings in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

In October 2012, Catholic Worker Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa, was sentenced to six months in jail for his protest against drone warfare at Whitehead Air Force Base in Missouri.

Who's next? 

Voice of Russia, National Catholic Reporter, Church & Society, War Is A Crime.org