A life peer is to call for debate in the House of Lords following the conviction of a peace campaigner in Norfolk for distressing American servicemen by waving and standing on a defaced Stars and Stripes flag.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer will put down two written questions in connection with the conviction of veteran activist Lindis Percy.

Miss Percy, from Hull, was prosecuted after a one-woman protest at the deep and near space tracking centre at RAF Feltwell, near Thetford, on December 16.

She was found guilty of disorderly behaviour and obstructing a highway at Fakenham Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Lady Miller, who lives in Somerset and supported protesters at Greenham Common in the 1980s, said: “It is quite clear to me that if this had happened in the United States there would not have been a prosecution because of the importance given to freedom of expression under that country's written constitution.”

Lady Miller cited an American Supreme Court ruling that a protester who burned a flag outside Dallas city hall at a Republican national convention in 1984 was not acting illegally.

She will table two questions when Parliament re-convenes on June 20:

Does the Government believe that freedom of expression for citizens of the UK is more important than the desecration of the US flag?

Where can members of the public find Government guidance on what forms of protest are acceptable and which of them may result in prosecution?

Baroness Miller, a Liberal Democrat county councillor for Yeovil who became a life peer in 1998, said peaceful protest was a vital right at a time when President George Bush's proposed missile defence system was under debate.

Activists believe that RAF Feltwell would play a part in the system, and during her protest Miss Percy waved and stood on a flag across which she had written “Stop Star Wars”.

The baroness said: “The right to express one's beliefs in a non-violent way needs to be enshrined somewhere.

“The public must be able to debate and protest about the missile defence system and the part Britain might play as an early warning post.”

Freedom of expression, speech and assembly is protected by the European Convention on Human Rights which was incorporated into British law under the Human Rights Act in October.

District Judge Patrick Heley told Miss Percy on Friday that under the Act her right to protest was not absolute, and had to be balanced with the distress caused to the American servicemen by her use of the defaced Stars and Stripes.

He added: “There is a pressing social need in a multi-cultural society to protect from denigration objects of symbolic importance to one cultural group.”

Lady Miller said claims by the airmen that the flag protest had upset them were “pretty fatuous considering their training”.

Miss Percy, who is co-ordinator of the Campaign for the Accountability for American Bases has vowed to appeal.

(See CAAB Report)