Free Political Prisoners
Defend Our Juries has launched a new civil disobedience campaign, with nonviolent actions in Central London on 27 September and 24 October which will see roads outside Southwark Crown Court and the Attorney General’s Office transformed into exhibitions of political prisoners past and present.
On Friday 20 September, campaigners delivered a petition of over 60,000 people to the Attorney General’s Office, in a final pre-action attempt to secure the meeting, followed by an online press conference. This followed over 1,200 of the country’s leading cultural figures having already written to him in support of the same.
The main demand of the campaign is that the Attorney General agrees to a public meeting, to discuss ending the silencing and jailing of those taking peaceful action to prevent mass loss of life and to uphold international law.
Further demands include freeing the 40 peaceful protesters currently held in UK prisons and removing paid lobbyist Lord Walney as Independent Government Advisor.
Actions
The first action, on Friday 27 September, saw the road outside Southwark Crown Court occupied for 90 minutes, from 12.30–2pm. During this time, it was transformed into a free public exhibition of political prisoners from throughout history. Members of the public, including office workers, along with court staff and attendees on their lunch breaks, were invited to view the exhibition and to learn about the vital role that peaceful acts of resistance have played in shaping our democratic freedoms.
The next showing of this exhibition will be on 24 October, United Nations Day at the Attorney General’s office and Ministry of Justice, Petty France, London.
In a display of the same transparency organisers are calling for from the Government, full details and briefing documents for these action have been made public.
- Join our Zoom briefing calls – every Wednesday and Sunday at 6:30pm – for more info. Our next call is Sunday 9th October at 6:30pm.
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Southwark Crown Court is the scene of the now notorious sentencing of the Whole Truth Five by Judge Christopher Hehir, following a trial in which they were banned from explaining to the jury the reasons for their actions. The road outside the court is a barely-used cul-de-sac, so there will be minimal disruption and occupying the road will be largely symbolic. On 27 September, the same Judge Hehir has promised to also sentence Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland to prison, again for nonviolent acts of civil resistance to ecocide.
A further free public exhibition, along similar lines, is then planned for late October 24th, outside the Attorney General’s Office on Petty France. While this is a through road, it is not a main route. Alternatives are easily available and any disruption to traffic should be relatively minor. This therefore represents a very gentle and gradual escalation.
Both actions have been carefully designed to ensure that they are reasonable and proportionate. They will cause only minimal disruption and for a short amount of time. They conform to the legal principles established by the Supreme Court in the case of Ziegler. As such, the organisers sincerely believe that they are lawful. They intend to present the state with a dilemma: Does it meet a peaceful and lawful exhibition about repression with more of the same?
Campaign demands
1 – Attorney General Richard Hermer KC agrees to Chris Packham’s and Dale Vince’s request for a fully open and transparent public meeting 2 – The freeing of the 40 peaceful protesters currently being held in UK prisons, on sentence or remand 3 – The removal of paid lobbyist John Woodcock (Lord Walney) from the role of Government Independent Advisor on Political Violence and Disruption
The central demand of the campaign is that Attorney General Richard Hermer KC agrees to Chris Packham’s and Dale Vince’s request for a fully open and transparent public meeting. The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss the measures necessary to restore the fundamental rights to protest and fair trial essential to a functioning democracy, as called for by the United Nations. A further key demand is freeing the 40 peaceful protesters currently being held in UK prisons, on sentence or remand.
Until recently, it was almost unheard of for peaceful protesters to serve time in prison. In the last four years the lengths of custodial sentences being imposed has risen dramatically. And in the last few months, imprisonment, often for multiple years, appears to be becoming normalised as the rule, rather than the exception.
Since July, with the prisons overflowing, more than 40 peaceful people have been jailed for taking action to protect life. On 6 September, Dr Larch Maxey was sentenced to three years for taking part in a peaceful tunnel protest at the Navigator oil terminal in Essex. A key figure in the environmental protest movement since the 1990s and an immensely popular veteran of countless print and broadcast interviews, it is astonishing that his lengthy imprisonment has gone all but unnoticed.
The third key demand of the campaign is the removal of paid lobbyist John Woodcock (Lord Walney) from the role of Government Independent Advisor on Political Violence and Disruption.
Woodcock advocates for the abuse of terrorism powers to deal with nonviolent protesters. Shockingly, this has now started to happen, with the Filton 6 held for a week without charge for damaging weapons intended for use against civilians in Gaza.
Woodcock and other oil and arms industry lobbyists, notably Policy Exchange, which infamously drafted anti-protest legislation for the last Government, are largely responsible for the current sustained attack upon civil liberties in the UK. This has left the country woefully unprepared for the racist riots that terrorised communities over the summer.
Recent research by Demos shows that the public overwhelmingly support the right to protest and want to see repressive anti-protest measures reversed.
A recent report by Climate Rights International sets out many of the worst abuses and makes sensible suggestions for how to correct these. In a clear sign of public opinion on this issue, and in spite of the legal crackdown, juries continue to defy judges’ explicit instructions that they must find protesters guilty. The new Government would do well to value public opinion over that of paid lobbyists.
Additional information
Additional info for Aligned Campaigns and NGOs
Mobilisation Zoom call outline
The Free Political Prisoners exhibition will also exist online, expanding upon the gallery of prisoners already to be found upon the Rebels In Prison Support (RIPS) website https://rebelsinprison.uk/rebels/all/ and discussions are underway for a longer-term physical installation at a prestigious Central London location.
In 2018, the Court of Appeal expedited hearing the case of the Frack Free Three in order to overturn this rare instance of a custodial sentence being imposed, ruling it ‘manifestly excessive’ for peaceful protest.
In 2021, James Brown received a twelve month sentence for his action at London City Airport, setting a new record at the time. This was reduced to four months at appeal.
In 2023, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker were sentenced to three years and two years seven months respectively, for their QEII Bridge action. These sentences, then by far the longest for non-violent protest, were upheld by the Supreme Court.
In 2024, the record was broken again by the four and five year sentences imposed upon the Whole Truth Five.
Since then, several sentences of multiple years have been imposed. Even a year ago, these would have provoked headlines and outrage. Instead, they have passed by with barely a murmur in the mainstream media. https://juststopoil.org/2024