Jury members are to be selected this week for a trial in which the United States Government will seek to use an 1872 law to prosecute Greenpeace for a protest two years ago when its members boarded a ship carrying illegal wood imports.
The Government is using the 132-year-old law, which was originally intended to stop prostitutes boarding ships as they approached port, to prosecute Greenpeace and charges the group with unlawfully boarding a cargo vessel.
Greenpeace USA says the US Government is prosecuting it simply for freedom of expression.
The case hinges upon two Greenpeace activists who boarded the Jade, a ship heading for the Port of Miami on April 12, 2002, which was carrying Brazilian mahogany that Greenpeace said was being imported illegally into the United States.
Two Greenpeace activists boarded the vessel and unfurled a banner which read "President Bush, stop illegal logging" before they were briefly arrested.
Greenpeace says the Jade was carrying 70 tonnes of illegally logged mahogany from the Brazilian Amazon.
If convicted, Greenpeace faces a maximum penalty of five years probation which it says would seriously affect its work in the United States, as well as a fine of $US10,000.
"They are intending to silence us," Greenpeace USA's general counsel Tom Wetterer said.
Jury selection is due to begin on Thursday.
Greenpeace said it has received support from former US Vice President Al Gore and the Sierra Club, another environmental advocacy group.
AFP
The Government is using the 132-year-old law, which was originally intended to stop prostitutes boarding ships as they approached port, to prosecute Greenpeace and charges the group with unlawfully boarding a cargo vessel.
Greenpeace USA says the US Government is prosecuting it simply for freedom of expression.
The case hinges upon two Greenpeace activists who boarded the Jade, a ship heading for the Port of Miami on April 12, 2002, which was carrying Brazilian mahogany that Greenpeace said was being imported illegally into the United States.
Two Greenpeace activists boarded the vessel and unfurled a banner which read "President Bush, stop illegal logging" before they were briefly arrested.
Greenpeace says the Jade was carrying 70 tonnes of illegally logged mahogany from the Brazilian Amazon.
If convicted, Greenpeace faces a maximum penalty of five years probation which it says would seriously affect its work in the United States, as well as a fine of $US10,000.
"They are intending to silence us," Greenpeace USA's general counsel Tom Wetterer said.
Jury selection is due to begin on Thursday.
Greenpeace said it has received support from former US Vice President Al Gore and the Sierra Club, another environmental advocacy group.
AFP
