Jailed protesters ‘political prisoners’

Press, 14 August 1982, Page 1

Jailed protesters ‘political prisoners’

PA Auckland A human ) rights group seeks political-prisoner status for some '■ jailed Springbok tour protesters. . Mr T. 0. Newnham, vicepresident. of . the i Citizens’ Association for Racial Equality, said he believed it would be the first time politicalprisoner status had been sought for New Zealand citizens. C.A.R.E. would prepare and forward files, to Amnesty International in support of its case.

He described six jail sentences ranging from six to 12 months given protesters in the High Court on Thursday as grossly unjust and said the protesters ' had been

made scapegoats for the events round Eden Park during the third Springbok rugby test last year. C.A.R.E had not decided which protesters to make cases for yet, but Mr Newnham said , an obvious choice would be Maudie Hogan, one of the six protesters jailed. , Hogan was given a sixmonth sentence for unlawful assembly. “Obviously, there were thousands of other people who were there at the time who were equally guilty of that,” Mr Newnham said. He noted that Mr Justice Sinclair had said Hogan was a “stirrer.” Mr Newnham said, “That

gets to the heart, of the matter. The charge was not of being a stirrer, but . that was why she got six,months.” About 80 people demonstrated outside Mount Eden Prison on Thursday evening in support of the sentenced protesters. The chairman of HART, Mr John Minto, said that further ■ demonstrations would 'be., held against the sentences, including a march from Eden Park to the prison on September 12, the anniversary of the third test. Mr Minto said the sentences were “outrageous in the circumstances.” He said the courts had been inconsistent with their sentencing.