Owen Wilkes
| Owen Wilkes | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Owen Ronald Wilkes 1940 Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Died | 12 May 2005 Kawhia, New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Occupation | Peace campaigner |
Owen Ronald Wilkes (1940 – 12 May 2005) was a peace campaigner and the founder of the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and the Anti-Bases Campaign, who was given a suspended prison sentence for espionage in Norway (the Wilkes/Gleditsch trial).
The son of a grocer, Wilkes grew up in Christchurch, attending Christchurch West High School and Canterbury University. He worked as a field assistant for the Bishop Museum of Hawaii, on expeditions to Antarctica and the Kermadec Islands. He worked on archaeological digs led by ethnologist Roger Duff.
He became politicised in the anti-war movement, which led to invitations to work for the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo and the . These activities led to the 1982 Wilkes/Gleditsch trial in Norway for compiling materials from open sources into materials judged to reveal national secrets. Wilkes received a suspended prison sentence, as well as a fine. On his return to New Zealand from Norway after the trial, he found his Punakaiki house had been pulled down for being erected without a permit. After Wilkes took up beekeeping near Karamea in 1983, it was discovered that Customs was cooperating with the SIS to monitor his international mail. Nothing threatening national security was ever found.
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