In 2013, 85-year-old nun Megan Rice, 66-year-old Michael Walli, and 59-year-old Greg Boertje-Obed were convicted of sabotage for a protest that they staged at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge in Tennessee.

The group broke into the facility by cutting the fence and spent two hours spray painting the site and setting up props that called attention to the crisis of nuclear weapons.

Last week, their sentence was overturned, and a judge ordered their immediate release.

“We would expect the Bureau of Prisons to follow the order of the court and release them as soon as possible,” attorney Bill Quigley said.

During the trial, Rice expressed that she was proud of what she had done.

“We have to speak, and we’re happy to die for that. To remain in prison for the rest of my life is the greatest honor that you could give me. Please don’t be lenient with me. It would be an honor for that to happen,” she said.

Many supporters pushed for the released of these activists in the past several years, and it surprisingly had an impact.

It will be interesting to see if they return to activism now that they are on the outside.

John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.