Peace activist Cindy Sheehan, who protested the Iraq war by camping outside President Bush's Texas ranch, went on trial with three other women Tuesday on charges of trespassing at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

The women, trying on March 6 to deliver an anti-war petition with 70,000-plus signatures to mission officials, were arrested after they sat down in front of the mission building and ignored police orders to leave, prosecutors said.

Cindy Sheehan, who became a peace activist after her son was killed in Iraq, is arrested in front the building which houses the American Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Monday, March 6, 2006 in New York. Sheehan and three other anti war activist were arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest after trying to deliver a letter to the American mission. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

But defense lawyers said the women did nothing wrong or illegal. They said the women had a right to take a petition to the mission and had a right to stay on the public plaza in front of the building where they were arrested.

The four, who were protesting as part of a group called Women Say No to War, are charged with trespass, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstructing government administration. Each faces a year in jail if convicted.

Sheehan, 49, of Berkeley, Calif., lost her 24-year-old son, Army Spec. Casey Sheehan, in Iraq on April 4, 2004. She subsequently became an energetic opponent of the war in Iraq, gaining international fame when she and others camped outside Bush's 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford, Texas, to protest the conflict.

Assistant District Attorney Caroline Han told the Manhattan Criminal Court jury in opening remarks that the group of women blocked the mission building entrance and then linked arms and legs so police would have trouble moving them.

"They were not arrested because of their message," Han told the jury. "It was their refusal to recognize the rights of others that got them arrested."

Robert Gottlieb, who represents Sheehan and one other defendant, said the incident luckily was captured on videotape, which the jury will see.

"The truth of what happened on March 6, 2006, bears no resemblance to what the prosecutor just said to you," Gottlieb said. "They did nothing wrong, absolutely nothing illegal. They did nothing at all that is not bestowed upon them and protected by the U.S. Constitution."

The lawyer also said the group of 40 to 50 women had contacted a mission liaison to say as they had in 2005 that they would bring a petition to the mission.

The previous year, Gottlieb said, someone accepted the petition and the group left. This year, he said, security staff had locked the building. He said police officers in riot gear showed up and manhandled some of the women.

© Copyright 2006 Associated Press

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