The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the military had the right to fine an anti-war protester for demonstrating near a sensitive Air Force base.

In a decision that was expected, the top court refused to engage on the question of free speech, cited by the protester, but instead focused on security and illegal-entry aspects.

In 2003 and 2007, John Apel was convicted of illegal entry and vandalism on the Vandenberg Air Force Base and barred from entering it without permission.

In 2010 he was fined for entering, on a number of occasions, an area set aside for demonstrations along famous Highway 1 on the Californian coast and which, at Santa Barbara, passes through the base.

The Supreme Court sided with the government argument that Apel was not entitled to protest in the designated demonstration area because he was deemed to pose a risk to national security.