Judge throws out Greenpeace mahogany protest case

A judge has thrown out illegal ship-boarding charges against Greenpeace, ruling there was not enough evidence for the case to go to the jury.

US District Judge Adalberto Jordan, sitting in Miami, ended the proceedings at the close of the prosecution case yesterday in the United States’ first federal indictment targeting a pressure group for its protest tactics.

The environmental group was accused of breaking a 1872 law, not used in more than a century, when its members boarded a ship to protest about the Amazon mahogany that was part of its cargo.

Greenpeace claimed the charges were payback for its criticism of what the group said is lax Bush administration enforcement of international restrictions on the mahogany trade.

Six Greenpeace activists spent the weekend in jail after two of them boarded the cargo vessel APL Jade six miles from its dock in the Port of Miami to protest at a 70-ton shipment of Brazilian mahogany on April 12, 2002.

The organisation was indicted 15 months later under legislation that had not been used since 1890.

The law was intended to keep boarding houses from luring sailors off inbound ships with offers of women, strong drink and warm beds.

“It’s a message that the government can’t just throw any charge at an organisation to silence them,” Greenpeace general counsel Tom Wetterer said later.

The US attorney’s office, which has denied the indictment was politically motivated, is not allowed to appeal. Prosecutors said they would not be deterred in prosecuting people “who illegally attempt to board ships at the Port of Miami or otherwise threaten port security”.