Autumn 2020
IN THIS E-BULLETIN
JORDANIAN ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTIVIST NEEDS SUPPORT
FIVE MORE KINGS BAY PLOWSHARES ACTIVISTS SENTENCED
INVITATION TO GET INVOLVED! NUCLEAR BAN TREATY ENTRY INTO FORCE DAY, JANUARY 22
PLEASE SUPPORT IMPRISONED ANTI-NUCLEAR AND ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS – THE NUCLEAR RESISTER NEEDS YOU!
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Jordanian anti-nuclear activist needs support
Basel Burgan, an environmental and anti-nuclear activist in Jordan, is accused of cyber crimes and spreading rumors “that damaged a government institution.” In January of 2019, he shared a Facebook post of a report released by a Jordanian scientist working in the U.S. who had once been a consultant to the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission. The report described problems with a Research Nuclear Reactor. In March 2019, Burgan was imprisoned for a week until public pressure successfully won his release on $7,000 bail.
Hearings in the case against him began in September, continuing every other week. Unless the case is dismissed, and barring additional delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a verdict by next spring could lead to a sentence of 6-24 months in prison for Burgan. The Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission has failed to show by the testimony of its witnesses in court that it was “damaged” in any negative way, except for receiving phone calls from some Jordanian officials, due to the Facebook posts.
International support is needed to demand dismissal of these outrageous charges that threaten to stop his environmental and anti-nuclear advocacy. Individuals and non-governmental organizations are asked to please write to the Jordanian Prime Minister’s office to express concern over the prosecution of Basel Burgan and demand the charges against him be dismissed. Write via email to info@pm.gov.jo or fax to +96264642520, or by postal mail to: Prime Ministry of Jordan, P.O. Box 80, Amman 11180, Jordan.
Read more here.
Five more Kings Bay Plowshares activists sentenced
Fr. Steve Kelly, Elizabeth McAlister, Mark Colville, Clare Grady, Martha Hennessy, Patrick O’Neill and Carmen Trotta – the Kings Bay Plowshares – entered the Trident nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, Georgia in April 2018 and engaged in symbolic acts of disarmament. They were convicted in October of 2019 on charges of misdemeanor trespass and three felonies: destruction of property on a Naval Station, depredation of government property and conspiracy to do these things.
Elizabeth McAlister was sentenced in June to time served (17 months). Mark Colville is scheduled to be sentenced in December. The other five were sentenced in October and November.
FR. STEVE KELLY, S.J.
On October 15, in the federal courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, Fr. Steve Kelly, S.J. of the Kings Bay Plowshares was sentenced to 33 months in prison. Federal Judge Lisa Godbey Wood also ordered that Kelly pay restitution of $33,503.51, jointly and severally with his six codefendants, and a special assessment of $310. Three years of supervised probation will follow his prison term.
When he was sentenced, Fr. Kelly had already served more than 30 months in Georgia county jails since his arrest, and the judge said he will receive credit for time served. Factoring in “good time”, he figures he has already completed the 33 months. He is still in the Glynn County Detention Center, and is waiting to learn what the Bureau of Prisons’ calculation is.
Kelly now faces a hearing in federal court in Tacoma, Washington for violating probation on an earlier sentence for trespass at the Trident nuclear submarine base near there. He expects the federal marshals to transport him at any time to the prison near Tacoma.
Read more here.
Read his pre-sentencing statement here (filed with the court prior to the sentencing hearing).
PATRICK O’NEILL
On October 16, in the federal courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, Kings Bay Plowshares member Patrick O’Neill was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Like Fr. Steve Kelly, who was sentenced the day before, Federal Judge Lisa Godbey Wood ordered that O’Neill pay restitution of $33,503.51, jointly and severally with his six codefendants, and a special assessment of $310. After his prison term, he will have three years of supervised probation. He will also receive credit for time served, 7 weeks.
Read more here.
Read his sentencing statement here.
CARMEN TROTTA
On the morning of November 12, Carmen Trotta of the Kings Bay Plowshares was sentenced to 14 months in prison via video conferencing with Federal Judge Lisa Godbey Wood. Like Elizabeth McAlister, Fr. Steve Kelly and Patrick O’Neill, he was also ordered to pay restitution of $33,503.51, jointly and severally with his six codefendants, and a special assessment of $310. Three years of supervised probation will follow his prison term. He will also receive credit for time served in 2018 after the action, 7 weeks.
Read more here.
Read his sentencing statement here.
CLARE GRADY
Via video conference with Federal Judge Lisa Godbey Wood, Kings Bay Plowshares member Clare Grady was sentenced in the afternoon of November 12 to one year and one day in prison, along with what the others had received: restitution of $33,503.51, to be paid jointly and severally with her six codefendants, and a special assessment of $310. She will have three years of supervised probation after her prison term. She will also receive credit for three months already served.
Read more here.
Read her sentencing statement here.
MARTHA HENNESSY
On November 13, Martha Hennessy, the sixth of the Kings Bay Plowshares defendants to be sentenced, was ordered to serve 10 months incarceration as well as three years supervised probation and restitution of $33,503.51, to be paid jointly and severally with her six codefendants, and a special assessment of $310. Presiding remotely by video from her Brunswick, Georgia courtroom, Federal Judge Lisa Godbey Wood granted Hennessy credit for time served in 2018 after the action, 7 weeks.
Read more here.
Read her sentencing statement here.
Invitation to get involved! Nuclear ban treaty Entry into Force Day, January 22
Now that nuclear weapons are outlawed, it’s time to take action!
On January 22, 2021, people around the world will celebrate the day that the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) enters into force (EIF Day), which the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) describes so eloquently as “the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons”.
Please join us — the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), Nukewatch, the Nuclear Resister and the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) — to help maximize the global impact of this historic event with a wide variety of public actions across the U.S. on that day and beyond. (click here and scroll down to see a list in progress)
We envision coordinated, nationwide public actions that spotlight the TPNW as a victory for humanity on this historic day, with coordinated publicity and documentation of these events. Places to act (including some where action planning is already underway) include: nuclear weapons facilities, military bases, federal buildings, congressional offices, churches, public squares, overpasses, and financial institutions, corporate facilities and academic institutions that are participating in nuclear weapons activities (using materials prepared by PAX/The Netherlands and ICAN).
Read more here.
Find resources here.
Please support imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists – The Nuclear Resister needs YOU!
The Nuclear Resister is a bare bones operation that depends on grassroots support to chronicle anti-nuclear and anti-war resistance, and support the women and men in prison for their acts of conscience. We need your help to continue this work – please read more here!! Or go directly here to make a secure online donation and find information about how to send a check. Each and every donation, large or small, will be gratefully received – thank you!