Flag burning appeal fails

The Court of Appeal has today issued its decision in the Anzac day (2007) flag burning case involving Valerie Morse. They have issued a majority decision (2 upholding the conviction, 1 dissenting).

Without having read the decision it is difficult to come to any conclusions about the justification for upholding the conviction. It is, however, easy to say that justice seldom comes from the NZ court system and this case is no exception.

It is the view of the lead lawyer involved in the case that only an appeal to the Supreme court will deliver final satisfactory outcome, and that all too often, ‘civil liberties’ cases require a very long journey.

Indeed the Court of Appeal judges who gave the majority decision were little interested in engaging in the fundamental legal issues being argued – that of freedom of speech and the right to protest as juxtaposed against the rights of others to exercise their rights – and instead were moved only by jingoistic appeals to the solemnity of the dawn ceremony. They have, by this decision, effectively made criticism of Anzac day off limits, and by extension, NZ's involvement in foreign wars.

The defendant in the case has yet to make a decision about pursuing an appeal to NZ’s highest court.