CND in the News
CND in the News: 11-17 April 2006
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1 Welsh MEP set to visit nuclear site
South Wales Echo, April 12 2006
The on-going effects of the world's worst nuclear disaster are being
highlighted as the 20th anniversary approaches.
Plaid Cymru MEP and chairman of CND Cymru Jill Evans,
47, who lives in the Rhondda, is set to visit the ruptured reactor at
the Chernobyl power plant in the Ukraine at the end of the month.
Radiation spread across the former Soviet Union, Europe and parts of Wales
after an explosion during a test on April 25, 1986.
Rates of childhood cancer in Ukraine rose sharply and many children still
travel to Wales for respite care. More than 350 Welsh farms are still
subject to emergency restrictions on the movement of livestock…
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2 Iran not in breach of international law, says British MP
April 13, IRNA
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-239/0604130089134109.htm
Iran's successful enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel this week was
a breakthrough in its civil program and does not constitute a violation
of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), said British MP Jeremy
Corbyn.
"Iran's announcement is not a breach of international law or regulation.
Whatever our views of nuclear energy, Iran is allowed to be in the nuclear
club as a signatory to the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty," the
anti-war Labour MP said. "It voluntarily halted its uranium enrichment
plans to negotiate additional protocols to the NPT. But when negotiations
landed them before the Security Council, Iran overturned its voluntary
ban and resumed enrichment," he said Thursday.
Corbyn, who is vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary Human Rights
Group, expressed caution toward all rhetoric directed against Iran in
a joint letter to the Guardian newspaper, with the support of the chairs
of two peace groups.
"Saying Iran is a step closer to a nuclear bomb is akin to saying
that Britain will invade France due to the breakdown in negotiations over
the CAP (the EU's Common Agriculture Policy)," he said in his letter
co-signed by Kate Hudson of CND and Roudabeh Shafie of
Action Iran.
"Inherently, the technologies of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons
are similar but not necessarily a stepping stone, as nuclear activities
can be monitored to ensure they remain peaceful -- the aim of Mohammed
ElBaradei's current visit," they said.
Their letter said that "Iran's breakthrough was in its civil nuclear
program" and warned that "failure to differentiate paves the
way for another illegitimate war in the Middle East."
"We support the need for atomic energy to be monitored; however,
monitoring can only take place in an environment where the IAEA is empowered
to do its work rather than be hijacked by political agendas," it
said.
Their joint letter also warned that the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) was "further weakened by hypocrisy, as it fails to get adequate
backing to bring in line other countries who actually have nuclear weapons."
They pointed out that Israel, India, and Pakistan, all of which have illegally
developed nuclear arsenals, had refused to join the NPT and "yet
remain unreprimanded by the international community."
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3 RAF doctor jailed over Iraq refusal
Guardian Unlimited, Thursday April 13, 2006
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m22535&l=i&size=1&hd=0
An RAF doctor was today jailed for eight months after being found guilty
of failing to comply with lawful orders when he refused to serve in Iraq.
Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith - who likened the invasion of
Iraq to a Nazi war crime - was convicted on five charges, including refusing
to serve in Basra, by a court martial panel of five RAF officers. He will
also be dismissed from the service.
Kendall-Smith, a former university philosophy tutor who has dual British
and New Zealand citizenship and is based at RAF Kinloss in Morayshire,
Scotland, had argued that the ongoing presence of US-led forces in Iraq
was illegal. He told the military hearing in Aldershot, Hampshire, he
had refused to serve in Basra last July because he did not want to be
complicit with an "act of aggression" contrary to international
law.
Judge Advocate Jack Bayliss told Kendall-Smith that the court martial
panel believed he had acted on moral grounds. However, he accused him
of an "amazing arrogance" and said the sentence was intended
to make an example of him.
"Obedience of orders is at the heart of any disciplined force,"
he said. "Refusal to obey orders means that the force is not a disciplined
force but a disorganised rabble. Those who wear the Queen's uniform cannot
pick and choose which orders they will obey. Those who seek to do so must
face the serious consequences."
Following the sentencing, Kendall-Smith's solicitor, Justin Hugheston-Roberts,
said his client was "shocked" and "distressed" by
the judgment and would appeal against the conviction and sentencing. "He
has asked me to say that he feels now, more than ever, that his actions
were justified and he would not, if placed in the same circumstances,
seek to do anything differently," Mr Hugheston-Roberts said. "He
said this still has a long way to travel and he will now concentrate his
efforts on that task."
In court, Judge Bayliss ordered that Kendall-Smith serve half of his
sentence in custody and the remainder on licence. He also told him to
pay £20,000 from his personal savings of £140,000 towards
his defence costs, which were covered by legal aid.
Kendall-Smith was taken from the court to Colchester military prison,
where he will undergo a medical examination and a period of demilitarisation
that will see him stripped of his rank and ordered to hand over his uniform
and kit. He will then be transferred to a civilian prison, where he will
serve the remainder of his sentence.
Condemning the sentence, Kate Hudson, the chairwoman of CND,
said: "All military personnel are required to comply with international
law and to be familiar with it regarding warfare and the conduct of war.
We all know they cannot hide behind the excuse that they are on the receiving
end of orders from on high. We have full sympathy for him, and he has
our full support. We consider it to be a commendable and moral act."
Kendall-Smith formed his belief that the war was unlawful after serving
tours of duty in Kuwait and Qatar at the time of the invasion. "I
have evidence that the Americans were on a par with Nazi Germany with
[their] actions in the Persian Gulf," he told the court. "I
have documents in my possession which support my assertions. This is on
the basis that ongoing acts of aggression in Iraq and systematically applied
war crimes provide a moral equivalent between the US and Nazi Germany."
He said he had refused to take part in training and equipment fitting
prior to the deployment because he believed these were "preparatory
acts which were equally criminal as the act itself".
During the hearing, David Perry, prosecuting, said the case against Kendall-Smith
was that the orders were lawful and he had a duty to obey them as a commissioned
officer. He added that the question of the invasion of Iraq was irrelevant
because it had occurred prior to the charges, which date back to last
year. At the time of the charges, he said, the presence of US-led forces
in Iraq was legal because they were there at the request of the country's
democratically-elected government.
The charges faced by Kendall-Smith were that, on June 1 2005, he failed
to comply with a lawful order to attend RAF Kinloss for pistol and rifle
training, failed to attend a helmet fitting on June 6 2005, and failed
to attend a training course between June 12 and June 24 2005.
He was also charged with failing to comply with an order to attend a
deployment briefing at RAF Lyneham on June 30 2005 and failing to comply
with an order to replace a squadron leader for Operation Telic in Basra
on July 12 2005.
Kendall-Smith denied that he had refused the order because he did not
want to be posted overseas.
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