Raytheon 9 on trial in Belfast, May 17th - Disarm the Arms' Profiteers!

The Raytheon 9 are on trial in Belfast on May 17th. I met with these good people last year in Lebanon. They are facing many years in jail for destroying computers in Raytheon's office in Derry, Northern Ireland.

Raytheon are the world's 5th biggest arms manufacturer and made a lot of profits providing missiles for Israel to blow the shit out of Lebanon 2 years ago. That's only a small part of their huge crimes against innocent civilians.

Raytheon have an office at ul. Frascati 4 / 2 in Warsaw. Ingrid Walling is the Country Manager for Central and Eastern Europe. Their contact no. is 0226221102, mobile 0602252542 and email Ingrid_Walling@Raytheon.com - Please consider calling, sending them an email and let them know what you think of their war crimes.

We are currently exploring the possibility of holding a solidarity vigil and handing in a letter of protest to these war profiteers on Monday May 17th at the Warsaw office as the trial is due to begin on that date.

Add a comment here if you are interested in getting involved. If you are reading from abroad then please consider sending solidarity messages to resistderry@aol.com and see if friends are interested in finding Raytheon's office in your city to do a protest, etc.

Article originally posted on A-Infos:

Nine people from Derry are facing jail sentences for their part in
‘decommissioning’ weapons of war. The silence from official Ireland is striking.
Not a murmer from Nobel Peace Prize winners John Hume and David Trimble, or from
Cowan or Paisley, or Adams or Gormley, or Gilmore or Empey. Not even an empty
platitude from Bono or Bob Geldof. Nobody was harmed but computers belonging to
a multinational arms firm were tossed from windows and destroyed. It seems that
the right of arms dealers to make big profits is a lot more important than the
right to life of people in the Lebanon.

Raytheon Systems Ltd. is an American defence contractor which specialises in
“defence” systems. Their products include Tomahawk cruise missiles, Patriot
missiles, “bunker busters” and cluster bombs. They are the world’s number one
producer of guided missiles. As well as supplying weapons of mass destruction to
the generals in the Pentagon and Whitehall, Raytheon arms oppressive regimes
like Israel, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Raytheon is the fifth largest defence contractor in the world and has made huge
profits in the aftermath of September 2001. As a company, it derives the bulk of
its profits from arms contracts with military states and it is a substantial
contributor to both the Republican and the Democrat parties in the US, and the
Labour Party in Britain.

As part of the so-called peace dividend, Raytheon established a software
development centre in Derry in August 1999. Welcomed by John Hume and David
Trimble, and supported by the local council with state funding and grants, the
company claimed that there was no arms-related production at the Derry plant.
However, in 2006 it emerged that Raytheon has contracts with the British
Ministry of Defence to develop software for missile targeting systems. Concerned
citizens in Derry came together to form the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign
and have been campaigning against this player in the international arms trade,
to end the “exchange of peace at home for war abroad.”

With the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, Raytheon’s weapons have been used to
destroy the lives of thousands of innocent civilians in the Middle East. Despite
all the marketing hype about how accurate their weapons are, their missiles
still aren’t ‘smart’ enough to tell the difference between an ordinary working
person’s home and a military facility.

The Middle East is littered with the remains of vicious cluster bombs, many of
which remain unexploded and present a deadly threat to civilians trying to carry
on their lives. Unexploded cluster bombs are as lethal and as indiscriminate as
conventional anti-personnel landmines which have been banned by the Ottawa
Treaty in 1999 - even though some imperialist states such as the US and China
refuse to sign the Treaty.

On Wednesday August 9th 2006, nine members of the Derry Anti War Coalition
(DAWC) non-violently occupied and temporarily closed down the offices of
Raytheon at Springtown in Derry. While computer systems were ‘decommissioned’, a
larger group of protesters remained outside the premises to show support and
explain the action.

The action was part of a wider campaign against the use of Raytheon’s
destructive weapons in Lebanon. It took place at the same time that Israel’s
bombing of southern Lebanon resulted in the death of more than a thousand
civilians. Many more were injured or saw their homes destroyed. 100,000 cluster
bombs were dropped in the last three days of the 2006 conflict and it was
weapons manufactured by Raytheon which were used in the infamous attack on Qana.

The original charges were of unlawful assembly and aggravated burglary. These
are scheduled offences under ‘anti-terrorist’ legislation, meaning that the
cases are heard by the infamous jury-less Diplock Courts*. In April 2007, the
charges were later reduced to two counts of ‘criminal damage’ and ‘affray’,
which means they will be tried in a regular jury court.

The original bail conditions set by the courts were extremely oppressive: The
defendants were prevented from meeting with each other, holding meetings in
groups of more than three, or from attending anti-war functions.

These conditions - in breach of our supposed basic human right to freedom of
assembly - were later dropped However a gagging order was placed on the media by
the Judge, Corinna Philpot, forbidding reporting of anything to do with the
action or Raytheon in Ireland. Part of the aim of the action was to educate
local Derry people about the role Raytheon play in the destruction of peoples’
lives around the world but the gagging order made it very difficult for people
to find out what is happening. Eventually, this bizarre and indefensible gag was
lifted in February following an application for judicial review of the gag by
Shane O’Curry, a member of both the WSM and the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign.
After almost two years of being dragged out, the trial of the Raytheon 9, is due
to take place on Monday May 19th. The trial will be in Belfast after the
Prosecution Service applied to have it moved with the argument that a jury from
Derry may be too sympathetic to the action or 'intimidated' by the level of
support for the Raytheon 9 due to all the protests held outside at court
hearings that took place since the action.

The Raytheon Nine would appreciate messages of support from anti-war campaigners
and can be contacted at resistderry@aol.com. Journalist and socialist Eammon
McCann has written a pamphlet titled Resisting War Crimes Is Not a Crime: The
Raytheon 9 which can be obtained for £2 / €3 from the Derry Anti War Coalition
at the above address or from Anti War Ireland (antiwarireland@gmail.com). You
can also buy it via Paypal on www.raytheon9.org

*Diplock Courts are jury-less courts set up in the 1970s to deal with political
prisoners in Northern Ireland