Today Thursday 24 October 2024, the Free Political Prisoners exhibition occupied Petty France, the road outside the Ministry of Justice, blocking the road in both directions, calling for an end to the role of oil and arms industry lobbyists in silencing and jailing those who take action to hold those industries to account.

The occupation took place without arrests, in what was hailed by campaigners as a reclamation of democratic freedoms.

Trudi Warner a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, one of the groups behind the campaign, said:

“Today, United Nations Day, people have come together in their hundreds to face down the repression and reclaim the path to authentic democracy.

Over the last couple of years, the rapid loss of democratic freedoms in Britain has been shocking. People have been jailed just for using the words ‘climate change’ and ‘fuel poverty’ in court. Others  have been jailed for years for peaceful protest. Journalists have been raided under the Terrorism Act for reporting on the genocide in Gaza.

The absence of arrests today was not down to any softening of the stance of the police under the Labour government. It was purely down to the weight of our numbers.

In a functioning democracy, whistleblowers against oil and arms companies would not be silenced and jailed by lobbyists from those same industries. We will escalate our actions until we put a stop to this corruption of democracy and the rule of law.”

Hundreds of people took part in the action which blocked the road to traffic in both directions for 90 minutes. The action was carefully designed to be a lawful expression of democratic rights, in accordance with the Supreme Court judgement in Ziegler and others [1]. In recent times however, people have been arrested for far less, so all those participating were prepared to be unlawfully arrested.

The exhibition, directly outside Hermer’s office in the MoJ, was a carbon copy of that which took place in the cul-de-sac outside Southwark Crown Court on 27th September, in which 320 people took part.[2] Protesters held up images of political prisoners, past and present, to the windows of his office, defying him to turn a blind eye. They called for an end to the role of oil and arms industry lobbyists, such as Lord Walney [3] and Policy Exchange [4], in silencing and jailing their political opponents.

The action, falling fittingly upon United Nations Day, intensifies the pressure upon the Attorney General to bring the UK back into compliance with international law, as called for by the United Nations.[5] It comes amidst intense scrutiny of his role in securing a police escort for Taylor Swift, which grotesquely overshadowed the revelations concerning the office of his predecessor meeting secretly with Israel’s largest arms company [6]. Protesters called upon him to live up to the words of his recent Bingham Lecture, in which he stressed the vital importance of the rule of law generally and international law in particular [7].

Since the publication of Lord Walney’s report in May [8], calling for members of groups such as Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action to be treated as organised crime groups, more than 50 members of those groups have been jailed, some for as long as four or five years [9], following trials in which they have been banned from explaining to the jury why they have done what they have done [10]. In the midst of Britain’s prisons crisis.

The Free Political Prisoners campaign has written to the Attorney General calling for a meeting to discuss this interference in the criminal justice process by industry lobbyists [11], which the Attorney General has refused in a letter dated 4 October [12]. Defend Our Juries has received no reply to a letter clarifying an apparent confusion on the Attorney General’s part concerning the proposed scope of the meeting [13].

ENDS

Press contact: Howard 07459055152; Tim 07795316164; Paddy 07958275270

Email: defendourjuries@protonmail.com

Images and video available

Notes for editors

[1] “Supreme Court upholds right to disruptive protest on highway”   

[2] “Movements Demand: ‘Free Political Prisoners’ as More Peaceful People Jailed”

[3] “Revealed: Conflicts Of Interest Of ‘adviser’ Proposing Activist Ban” 

[4] “Rishi Sunak Boasts That Oil Funded Think Tank ‘Helped Us Draft’ Crackdown on Climate Protests”

[5] https://youtu.be/XI390ye1JHM?si=UrbOS9HqAGze51qX

[6] “Activists say they have proof ministers tried to influence police over Israeli arms firm protests” 

[7] https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/attorney-generals-2024-bingham-lecture-on-the-rule-of-law 

[8] “’Extreme’ protest groups face ban under proposal”

[9] 18 July Statement from UN Special Rapporteur, Michel Forst

[10] “Activists jailed for seven weeks for defying ban on mentioning climate crisis”

[11] Defend Our Juries ultimatum to Attorney General

[12] Attorney General letter to Defend Our Juries, 4 October

[13] Defend Our Juries reply to Attorney General, 7 October

The demands of the Free Political Prisoners campaign are

1. To put a stop to the role of arms and oil industry lobbyists, such as Lord Walney, in drafting laws that criminalise those who expose the violence and lies of those industries.
2. To ensure that everyone who has taken reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent mass loss of life has the opportunity to properly present that as a defence to criminal charges.
3. To end the jailing of people for taking peaceful action to protect life and to uphold international law.

About Defend our Juries:

Defend Our Juries has the following aims:

1. to bring to public attention the programme to undermine trial by jury in the context of those taking action to expose government dishonesty and corporate greed
2. to raise awareness of the vital constitutional safeguard that juries can acquit a defendant as a matter of conscience, irrespective of a judge’s direction that there is no available defence (a principle also known as ‘jury equity’ or ‘jury nullification‘)
3. to ensure that all defendants have the opportunity to explain their actions when their liberty is at stake, including by explaining their motivations and beliefs.