Flag burner awaits appeal result

A woman fined for burning a New Zealand flag at an Anzac Day service is now awaiting a Court of Appeal decision on her appeal against the conviction.

Valerie Morse was fined $500 for offensive behaviour for burning the flag during a dawn service in Wellington in 2007.

She said she was protesting government policies over New Zealand's involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

After taking her appeal through the court system to the Court of Appeal, Morse's lawyer, Antony Shaw, maintained in Wellington yesterday the conviction cut across her right to freedom of expression.

He said flag burning was a symbolic political expression that had been used before in New Zealand, the Dominion Post reported.

Court of Appeal justices suggested Morse's actions could surely be considered offensive or inappropriate under the solemn circumstances of the occasion.

They reserved their decision.

- NZPA