Terror contempt charges dismissed

Terror contempt charges dismissed
Fairfax Media has been found to have not been in contempt of court for publishing articles which quoted transcripts of conversations police secretly recorded in an investigation into military-style training camps in the Ureweras. Top High Court judge Tony Randerson and senior judge Warwick Gendall today dismissed the case brought against Dominion Post editor Tim Pankhurst and the newspaper's publisher Fairfax, whose other publications include The Press and the Stuff website. Solicitor-General David Collins, QC, had alleged the fair trials of 19 people facing weapons charges could have been prejudiced, but the judges did not agree. "We do not consider that the accused are likely to be prejudiced by the publications in relation to their defences," they said.

My guess is that because Fairfax didn’t name the source of the quotes then they didn’t identify the defendants and as such haven’t risked them getting a fair trail. The evidence gathered for the arms charges will be damning enough in public perception, I predicted middle NZ won’t get why activists are dressed up running around with guns. Tama Iti and his merry militia are not terrorists, but activists and guns don’t mix and the impact of the trial coinciding with the election could still have some unforeseen impacts.