Ploughshares activists receive bail

The three Ploughshares peace activists who entered the Waihopai spy base in New Zealand have finally been released on strict bail conditions after five days of detention.
Adrian Leason, Peter Murnane and Sam Land entered the ECHELON military base last Wednesday and deflated one of the protective domes covering the espionage satellites with sickles. Today they were ordered not to contact each other, not to go to the region where they were arrested or near any other military facility and they were given strict reporting conditions.
The New Zealand government was embarrassed by the breach by the Catholic group, including a Dominican friar, which highlighted New Zealand's collaboration in the Australia-Canada-NZ-UK-US ECHELON intelligence network.
Most international satellite data, including internet, phone, and fax transmissions are collected by these satellites, filtered through a computer system and shared between the English-speaking countries for military, diplomatic and industrial intelligence as well as monitoring domestic communication.
The Ploughshares activists declared that they were taking their action to demonstrate their total opposition to war. About 60 people held a demonstration in Wellington last Saturday to support the activists.
Earlier this year a group known as the Pine Gap 6, or Christians Against All Terrorism, were cleared of all charges for breaking into an ECHELON satellite facility at Pine Gap, in Australia's Northern Territory.