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New protective dome fitted over one of the satellites at the Waihopai spy base - Source: ONE News -
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The trial of three peace activists who launched an attack on the Waihopai spy base continues in Wellington on Tuesday.
A Dominican friar, a farmer and a teacher are on trial for breaking into the Waihopai spy base and deflating a protective dome over a satellite dish.
The Crown's case is that the trio of Peter Murnane, Adrian Leason and Sam Land were acting unlawfully by forcing their way onto the base and intentionally damaging the dome.
However, the trio say they were justified in disarming the dome as they were protecting overseas civilians from the ongoing war on terror.
More than 200 people turned up to support the trio in court including Graham Bidois Cameron, the spokesman for protest group Waihopai Ploughshares.
He says the objective of the activists was to start a public debate about the spy base and encourage debate about what is "New Zealand's dirtiest secret".
Bidois Cameron says the base is shrouded in secrecy and what little they do know about it is from leaks of information and an investigation by Nicky Hager. He says they understand the base collects intelligence signals for a network of spy bases around the world, mainly for the UK and US.
He says New Zealand is therefore working for the allies and not with them as the information sought by the spy base, mainly used for the war on terror, is not a key concern for New Zealand.
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