The Urewera 17 are appearing in Auckland today for bail hearings, and the good news is that another one of them has been bailed. Like Marama Mayrick (who was bailed earlier in the week), Ira Bailey is not facing the possibility of terrorism charges. The interesting question then is whether they will be facing any charges at all, given the weakness of evidence against them - and if not, what comeback they will have for their false arrest and imprisonment.
The other good news is that the government have decided to relax their insistence on secrecy and are now allowing matters to be dealt with in open court. Some of the accused still have name suppression (and they have a reasonable argument for it, given the highly prejudicial nature of the charges), but at least the media and the public can now observe the process and the evidence and ensure that everything is above board.
