Lyons’ Appeal Thurs 13 October
10.30am Royal Courts of Justice,
Court 5, The Strand, London.

Michael Lyons served as a British Navy medic in the submarine service for nearly 7 years.

He became opposed to the war in Afghanistan as his awareness was raised through reading the released Wikileaks material.

Mike had joined the navy as a medic at the age of 18 with the intention of saving lives. He was, therefore, horrified when he was told he would not be permitted to treat Afghan civilians with medical urgency and when he was told by an Army trainer that treating an Afghani child would be seen as a waste of resources.

Mike had enquired as to the earliest date he could leave the navy and applied for conscientious objector status on moral grounds. 

Michael is still awaiting a decision on his application for conscientious objector status. He lodged his application in Sept 2010. A decision should be given within 7 days. He has still not received that decision.

Whilst his conscientious objector status was pending Mike was ordered to undertake rifle training in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan. Mike was told he had to undergo the training even though he was prepared to serve as a medic without being armed.

Mike refused to take part in rifle training as he did not agree with the reasons for the war in Afghanistan or the killing of civilians and was not prepared to carry a rifle or follow orders to shoot and kill.

Michael was sentenced to 7 months detention in Colchester Military Correction Centre.  He has served 4 months. Mike intends to undertake medical training and work with Medicins Sans Frontiers on his release
. 
His appeal is being heard at the Courts of Appeal, Court 5, The Strand, London  WC2A 2LL at 10.30am.

The appeal is open to the public. Please attend and show your support for Mike and your opposition to the war in Afghanistan.