{"id":346964,"date":"2025-08-15T16:24:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T16:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/346964\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T16:24:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T16:24:19","slug":"palestine-action-prosecutions-should-be-suspended-say-uk-rights-groups-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/346964\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestine Action prosecutions should be suspended, say UK rights groups | Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Protesters arrested for supporting Palestine Action should not be prosecuted until a legal challenge to a ban on the group has been heard, organisations including Greenpeace<\/a> and Human Rights Watch have told the attorney general for England and Wales.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Richard Hermer KC, also signed by Friends of the Earth<\/a>, Global Witness and the Quakers, they say proceeding with charges or trials before the judicial review, which is expected to be heard in November, would raise significant legal and moral questions.<\/p>\n

Last weekend 522 people \u2013 half of whom were over 60<\/a> \u2013 were arrested under section 13 of the Terrorism Act at a demonstration in Parliament Square for carrying placards that stated: \u201cI oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The detentions took the total number of people arrested under the act in relation to the banned group since it was proscribed last month<\/a> to more than 700.<\/p>\n

The letter says the attorney general, rather than the Crown Prosecution Service<\/a>, makes the decision on how cases should proceed under the Terrorism Act, and urges him to act \u201cin the public interest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Areeba Hamid, a co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: \u201cHundreds of people are facing potential prison sentences for sitting quietly holding placards. It isn\u2019t difficult to see why this could be a disproportionate restriction on people\u2019s freedom of expression, and why so many legal experts<\/a> have expressed their concern at the government\u2019s decision to extend their definition of terrorism in this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge the attorney general to approach the matter with care and some caution, and not prejudge the outcome of a judicial review which could fundamentally change the legal position of these protesters.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the reasons Mr Justice Chamberlain gave for granting permission at the high court for a judicial review<\/a> of the proscription was that those charged with criminal offences under the act might seek to challenge the legality of the proscription order individually when tried. Criminal courts might reach different decisions, creating \u201ca recipe for chaos\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Most of those arrested have been bailed but at least 10 have been charged. The five organisations say no one else should be charged, and those who already have been should not be prosecuted before the judicial review, which could lead to the ban being quashed.<\/p>\n

\u201cProsecuting individuals for offences connected to that proscription before the court has determined its legality raises significant legal and moral questions,\u201d the letter states. \u201cIn particular, one of the grounds which the judge held had merit was that the proscription of Palestine Action was a disproportionate interference with human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe therefore respectfully request that you exercise your constitutional role in the public interest by delaying any decisions to prosecute individuals arrested under terrorism legislation in connection with Palestine Action until the conclusion of the judicial review process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Separately, the Liberal Democrats have written to the government\u2019s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, asking that he urgently examine the \u201ctroubling precedent\u201d of using the Terrorism Act to arrest large numbers of people expressing support for Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Jonathan Hall KC, Lisa Smart, the party\u2019s home affairs spokesperson, said: \u201cWhile we recognise the serious nature of this group\u2019s activities, including criminal offences, such as vandalism of military equipment and RAF aircraft, aggravated burglary and violent disorder, and some cases awaiting the conclusion of trials, we are deeply concerned about the use of terrorism powers against peaceful protesters in this context.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s office has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

On Friday, it emerged that a woman awaiting trial for an alleged Palestine Action break-in at an Israeli arms factory has been on hunger strike since Monday.<\/p>\n

Teuta Hoxha, 29, says that since the direct action group was proscribed last month, prison officers have blocked her post and restricted her activities.<\/p>\n

Hoxha, who was arrested in November last year but is not due to stand trial until April 2026, has made demands including for her job at the prison library to be reinstated, to be allowed recreational activities and to receive her post.<\/p>\n

Hoxha is charged with criminal damage, aggravated burglary and violent disorder in relation to an action at Elbit Systems \u200bin Filton, n\u200bear Bristol, last year\u200b.<\/p>\n

Also on Friday, to mark a year since the first Filton suspects were imprisoned awaiting trial, a network called Prisoners for Palestine was launched for inmates being held on charges relating to pro-Palestinian activism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protesters arrested for supporting Palestine Action should not be prosecuted until a legal challenge to a ban on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-346964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115033713644162223","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}