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News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry
83-year-old nun
gets 20 year sentence for peaceful nuclear protest
“The shortcomings in security at one of the most dangerous
places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people,” the activists’
attorney, Francis Lloyd, told members of the jury according to the BBC. “You’re
looking at three scapegoats behind me.”
By Stephen C. Webster
Thursday, May 9, 2013 15:06 EDT
Thursday, May 9, 2013 15:06 EDT
An 83-year-old nun who broke into a Tennessee depleted uranium storage facility in 2012 and splashed human blood on several
surfaces, exposing a massive security hole at the nation’s only facility used
to store radioactive conventional munitions, was convicted Wednesday and
sentenced to a term of up to 20 years in prison.
The only regret Sister Megan Rice shared with
members of her jury on Wednesday was that she wished 70 years hadn’t passed
before she took direct action, according to the
BBC. She and two other peace activists, 64-year-old Michael
Walli and 56-year-old Greg Boertje-Obed, were convicted of “invasion of a
nuclear facility” in Oak Ridge ,
Tennessee
The three activists are part of a group
called “Transform Now
Plowshares,” a reference to the book of Isaiah, which says,
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares. They shall learn war no more.”
All three face individual sentences of up to 20 years, along with a litany of
fines.
As they invaded the
Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak
Ridge
“The shortcomings in security at one of the
most dangerous places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people,” the
activists’ attorney, Francis Lloyd, told members of the jury according to the
BBC. “You’re looking at three scapegoats behind me.”
Sister Rice has been arrested between 40 or
50 times committing acts of civil disobedience, according to The New
York Times, including once in Nevada
Depleted uranium munitions like the kind
stored at the facility Sister Rice targeted are blamed for some of the worst
birth defects and soaring cancer rates seen in post-war Iraq , particularly in the city of Fallujah following the siege of 2004, in which U.S.
The city has never recovered, particularly
from the use of depleted uranium munitions, and to this day residents suffer
from health effects “worse” than those seen following the nuclear detonations
at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to a study by the International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health.
“I believe we are all equally responsible to
stop a known crime,” Sister Rice said from the witness stand, according to quotes published by her group. She called herself a
“citizen of the world” and reportedly smiled as the verdict was read.
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