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Urewera 4 lose appeal
(Stuff.co.nz) Tame Iti and three other people convicted of firearms offences from the 2007 Urewera raids case have lost appeals against their convictions and sentence.
The Court of Appeal released its decision this afternoon.
Tuhoe activist Tame Wairere Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara were sentenced to two years’ jail in May.
They were convicted for the use and possession of firearms during military-style training camps that led to a series of controversial police raids in October 2007.
Emily Bailey and Urs Signer were also found guilty but had a lesser role than the other two.
They were living in Wellington when the raids took place but now live at Parihaka, Taranaki.
They served about a month of their nine-month home detention sentence there before their appeals suspended the sentence.
The home detention sentence should now resume.
The Court of Appeal was told at the appeal hearing in August that Signer, a Swiss with New Zealand residency, could face deportation if his convictions were not overturned.
Bailey, with whom he has a son, may not be allowed into Switzerland because of her firearms convictions.
At the end of the trial at the High Court at Auckland the trial judge had said the groups actions were directed to the objective, in a general sense, of redressing Tuhoe grievances and, more specifically, to achieving mana motuhake or a form of self government for Tuhoe.
