On 19 January, US peace activist Mary Anne Grady Flores began a six-month sentence for stepping into the road next to a US drones base in New York state in 2013.
Mary Anne had been served with an ‘order of protection’ to ‘stay away’ from Hancock Fields base, at 6001 East Mally Road, (to ‘protect’ the base commander) as the result of an earlier action. She decided not to risk arrest on Ash Wednesday, 13 February 2013, but to take photographs of the action.
The court found that Mary Anne stepped onto a surrounding road that was base property (it’s not clear that this violated the ‘stay away’ order). Mary Anne was sentenced to one year in prison (reduced to six months on appeal) for contempt of court.
The eight activists who took part in the Ash Wednesday action were all acquitted on 24 October 2013.
Write to: Mary Anne Grady Flores #12001966, Jamesville Correctional Facility, PO Box 143, Jamesville NY 13078, USA