Two UK Greenpeace volunteers - Bill Nandris and John Wills, along with UK freelance photographer Steve Morgan, are among 10 non US nationals who on the 15th October were finally given permission to return home by a US court. They were restricted to central California from July onwards, when they were among 17 charged with "conspiracy to violate a safety zone" at Vandenburg airbase following a peaceful protest against Star Wars.
After a court hearing on the 5th November the Judge in the case granted the defence team request for a delay in the trial, which will now begin on the 8th January 2002.
So far, Bill, Steve and John have spent over a week in a maximum security federal jail and a total of 3 months restricted to central California. They now face an anxious period of waiting before their trial date in the new year.
Fifteen Greenpeace volunteers and two freelance journalists will go on trial in Los Angeles in just over a months' time. All seventeen are facing charges of conspiracy which could lead to jail terms of up to six years, after the delay in the Star wars missile test launch at Vandenberg Air Forcer Base in California. 
