PRESS RELEASE:

Ministry of Justice: Why is Attorney General approving ‘terror’ charges for people peacefully opposing genocide?

Images of Tuesday’s local day of actions | Images of today’s Ministry Of Justice action

Police have started to make arrests of around 50 people under the UK’s internationally condemned terrorism laws from 1pm today (Thursday 20th November) for quietly sitting outside the Ministry of Justice with cardboard signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

The action, which takes place in near freezing conditions, is part of a wave of actions in November in 20 towns and cities across the UK opposing the ban on Palestine Action ahead of the Judicial Review (25-27 November).

This Ministry of Justice has been chosen because it is where the Attorney General sits.

One of the Attorney General’s key roles is to act as guarantor that prosecutions taken up by the Crown Prosecution Service serve the interest of justice and the interest of the public. Under the Terrorism Act 2000 Lord Hermer has already signed off prosecution of around 200 peaceful signholders. He is also responsible for holding 32 people in prison beyond legal limits without trial for taking action against the UK-Israel weapons pipeline. Six of these political prisoners are currently on hunger strike (see background below).

The Ministry of Justice also oversees the court system where - in the unlikely case that the judicial review is unsuccessful - thousands of people charged with terrorism offences for holding cardboard signs will have less than a half an hour each to defend themselves.

The current Attorney General, Lord Hermer, was previously a barrister specialising in the fields of human rights and international law and was a close associate of Keir Starmer, having worked with him at Doughty Street Chambers and having donated to his 2020 leadership campaign.

Earlier this year Lord Hermer gave a speech in which he spoke of the dangers of abandoning international law:

"The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by 'realist' jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law.”

He later apologised for his remarks, even though they were historically accurate. And now he is prosecuting people who are protesting our government’s active participation in genocide. How is that in the public interest?

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said:

“People who take action with The Lift The Ban campaign are acting to restore our fundamental right to protest and to end the UK government’s complicity in genocide. They are all principled and courageous. None of them pose a threat to the public.

“Why then has the attorney general approved the prosecution of nearly 200 of them under our universally criticised terror laws? And why is he allowing people to be held without trial in UK prisons beyond the six month time limit for taking action designed to save lives? And why is he ignoring those prisoners on hunger strike and denying them proper medical supervision?”

"There are six Prisoners for Palestine nearing their fourth week on a collective open-ended hunger strike, with one of their demands being to lift the ban on Palestine Action. Despite frequent requests for a meeting to discuss their demands, David Lammy has failed to respond. The prisoners’ health is declining and we urge their demands to be immediately met.

“Both within the prison system, and outside, we are collectively resisting the authoritarian policies of the British government, and its ongoing involvement in the Gaza genocide."

In an illustration of the ongoing absurdity of the ban, the police have today arrested a mannequin who was holding an offending sign.

NATIONS SPLIT, ARRESTS COORDINATED, YET BAN UNENFORCEABLE

Local police forces made arrests at all nine Lift The Ban actions in England and Wales on Tuesday, whereas Police Scotland did not arrest  the 49 people holding the same signs in Edinburgh. Under our constitution, the police are operationally independent of central government. That’s why police forces in Derry, Edinburgh, Totnes, Truro and Kendal have chosen not to arrest sign-holders at previous Lift The Ban actions - choosing instead to respect their right to protest and to freedom of expression. The apparently coordinated response on Tuesday -  which includes arrests by Devon & Cornwall police who had previously decided not to make arrests - has sparked a worrying concern about how such a coordinated response might have been effected.

237 people took action on Tuesday with 142 confirmed arrests. Local forces in Abberystwyth, Truro and Oxford seemed to be overwhelmed and after several hours confirmed they would not be returning to arrest the remaining sign-holders. This means that 95 people who took action on Tuesday were not arrested, despite the government wanting to charge them under terror laws.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said:

“The fact that 95 people who took action on Tuesday were not arrested- a full 40% -  demonstrates that the proscription of Palestine Action is unenforceable.

“If these people posed any threat to the public’s safety, they would be arresting them all.

“It is clearly nonsense that Starmer, Mahmood, Lammy and Lermer want to see them charged under our terror laws.”

WAVE OF ACTION CONTINUES SATURDAY

The wave of action continues at 1pm on Saturday 22nd November at The Peace Garden in Tavistock Square, London. Derry at Guildhall (3pm) and Belfast at The Square (1pm) between the courts on Chichester Street.

The actions then continue next week as follows:

• The Home Office (Monday 24th)
• The Royal Courts of Justice (Wednesday 26th)

And on Saturday 29 November at 1pm in these locations:

• Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth House
• Caerdydd (Cardiff), location to be announced nearer the date
• Manchester, St Peter’s Square
• Birmingham, Chamberlain Square, B3 3DH (opposite Museum and Art Gallery)
• Cambridge, Guildhall, opposite the market: Guildhall Place, Market Hill
• Bristol, College Green, BS1 5TJ
• Sheffield, Cathedral
• Exeter, outside Central Station, Queens Street
• Lancaster, outside Lancaster Castle

All actions start at 1pm except for Derry which is at 3pm.

QUOTES FROM PEOPLE TAKING ACTION TODAY

Camilla Clayton-Jones, 55, former primary school teacher and mother of three, Alton Hampshire, who will be risking arrest for the third time today:

“Why would a middle-class woman from middle England risk an arrest, charge and even conviction under the Terrorism Act? Because I have been an eyewitness to the most shocking & appalling genocide. Thousands upon thousands of mothers have lost their babies. Thousands upon thousands of children have lost their parents. And I am unable to ignore it. I can't carry on with my lovely, normal life whilst such evil is being perpetuated. Worse, my government is complicit. Sometimes, they say the right things in Parliament, but their actions defy their words. Arms sales to Israel went up after Lammy withdrew a handful of export licenses.

“A handful of people, far braver than me, chose to take direct action to draw attention to the UK government's complicity in genocide. They were labelled terrorists so that the government could treat them more harshly -  another crime to add to the list of crimes perpetuated by my government with my tax money. I am here in solidarity with them. I am here to call for an end to the genocide which continues despite the supposed ceasefire. And I'm here to keep the light shining on our government's complicity. Behind me stands a family and community who would all do the same if they could. I may only be one person, but I represent hundreds.

Rachel Stubley, 63, retired teacher, who is taking action today explained why she is taking action:

“We are sitting in peaceful protest outside the Ministry of Justice because the Attorney General  needs to remind our current prime minister and home secretary of the meaning of justice under international and domestic law. We have responsibilities towards equality and human rights in Palestine and globally, as well as for justice in British prisons. The new tactic of keeping protesters on remand awaiting trial is another egregious instance of authoritarianism and repression that are the hallmark of this government. It’s almost as though senior politicians are so frightened of their own electorate that they need to crush all dissent.”

“I am heartbroken at what is happening to our country under a Labour government. We have continued to actively support Israel’s genocide and crimes against the Palestinian people, selling arms and providing intelligence to Israel as they slaughter children, journalists, medics, emergency workers and other civilians and destroy infrastructure in Gaza. Our military, economic and diplomatic support helps Israel continue to terrorise and displace Palestinians in the West Bank. This puts Britain on the wrong side of international law and is against the wishes of most ordinary people in the UK. Where is the moral compass? Where are the ethics?

“This Labour government is using the law to silence those who disagree with their policies – this is authoritarianism! The government (rightly) criticises oppressive regimes such as Russia, without noticing that we are now equals in locking up peaceful protestors for years and years. Repressive Tory legislation could have been rolled back, but instead the Labour government comes up with new ways to make effective protest impossible, designating direct action as terrorism and labelling peaceful protestors terrorists. Well, I do not comply, and nor do many other ordinary people.

Leigh Evans, retired Emergency Nurse with extensive experience of working in the West Bank and Gaza, took part in the Global Flotilla, and who will be risking arrest today said:

“Protest and direct action are prerequisites for democracy in the face of fascism. Direct action is the only thing that has ever been proved to work against oppression and apartheid. Every right  we have has been won for us through protest and direct action from the Levellers in the 17th century to the suffragettes in the early 1900s. Direct action and protests give us our human rights.”

BACKGROUND TO LIFT THE BAN CAMPAIGN

So far over 2,200 people have been arrested under terrorism legislation for taking part in these now famous actions in which people sit silently holding handwritten cardboard signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Around 170 of these have so far been charged with section 13 offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, offences which carry a maximum six month prison sentence.

The demands of the Lift The Ban campaign are firstly to lift the ban on Palestine Action and secondly to name the ongoing Israeli assault on the Palestinian people as a genocide and comply with the resulting legal obligations, including by ending all military trade and other military cooperation with Israel.

At the Court Of Appeal ruling on 15 October, Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori won two more grounds for her Judicial Review at the same time as the government lost their attempt to block the legal challenge of the ban, making the Judicial Review twice as likely to succeed in overturning the proscription.

Last month the UN issued its draft report Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime detailing the complicity of states including the UK in the destruction of Gaza. Amongst other things, the UK continued to supply arms including components for F-35 stealth bombers, undertook daily surveillance flights over Gaza for Israel, maintained normal trade relations, and allowed Israel to undertake international crimes with impunity.

The genocide continues to unfold in Gaza. Since October 11, the first full day of the ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 245 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 627. Israel continues to attack Gaza, with at least three airstrikes on Wednesday. The UN says Israel is blocking vaccines and baby bottles. More than 1,500 buildings beyond the “yellow line” have been destroyed. And in the West Bank yesterday settlers set fire to vehicles, including dairy trucks.

CHORUS OF CRITICISM

Last week the government’s proscription of Palestine Action came under fire yet again  from expert bodies both in the UK and internationally with the release of three separate reports. On Tuesday a panel of experts including a former MI6 director said terrorism laws needed rewriting as they had become too broad to keep the country safe, hitting out at the ‘serious property damage’ clause” which has resulted in a nonviolent domestic direct action group being designated as terrorists for the first time.

Later that same day it was revealed that an advisory body had told ministers that banning Palestine Action could backfire by ⁠inadvertently raising the group’s public profile, ⁠becoming “a flashpoint for significant controversy and criticism” of the government, heightening Muslim-Jewish community tensions, and being seen as evidence of bias towards Israel.

On Wednesday morning five UN experts published their letter to the UK government saying the ban is unjustified, unnecessary and a move more associated with authoritarian states.

BACKGROUND TO PRISONERS’ HUNGER STRIKE

28 prisoners are currently being held in UK prisons without trial for allegedly taking part in actions claimed by Palestine action. They are known as the Filton 24 and the Brize Norton Five. Most will be held for two years without trial - exceeding the six month pre-trial custody limit - because the Crown Prosecution Service is claiming there is a “terrorist connection” on the basis of criminal damage. However no charges have been brought under the Terrorism Act against these prisoners and the actions took place before Palestine Action was proscribed by the government.

Six of these prisoners are now on a rolling hunger strike, some now in their third week. The hunger strike started on Saturday 2nd November - Balfour Day - with two people after the Home Secretary failed to respond to their demands including immediate bail, access to documents necessary for the right to a fair trial and the de-proscription of Palestine Action. The strike is “rolling” because more people continue to join the strike as their demands remain unmet. The conditions of their detention have been criticised by UN experts in a letter to the UK government.

In August of this year T Hoxa of the Filton 24 went on hunger strike for 28 days, eventually winning most of her demands. According to Prisoners For Palestine, most of the 33 activists are expected to join the strike in coming weeks, in what could become the largest coordinated prisoners’ hunger strike since the 1981 Irish hunger strike led by Bobby Sands. For more information on the hunger strikers see Prisoners for Palestine.

For more information: 
07413459619
defendourjuries@protonmail.com
https://defendourjuries.net/lift-the-ban/