February 13, 2013
Kemara speaks out from cell
The Parole Board is about to consider whether convicted Urewera Four defendants Tame Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara can be allowed out of jail.
The pair is serving 30 month sentences for arms offences in relation to what the judge ruled were paramilitary training camps near Ruatoki.
A home detention sentence for Urs Signer and Emily Bailey is suspended pending an appeal against conviction and sentence.
In a new blog posted on his behalf, Kemara says his time in Springhill Prison, South of Auckland has convinced him even more of the need for Māori to develop alternatives to the current justice system.
He says as a professional musician, he believes art is critical to social change.
Kemara says Tame Iti’s performance in Ruatoki in 2005, shooting a flag on the mārae ātea as part of a welcome to the Waitangi Tribunal, sparked the illegal police spy operation that led to the eventual lock down of Ruatoki in October 2007 and the arrest of 18 people, many of whom were artists, musicians and creative dancers.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd