Please note that this article has been updated by the author to reflect one key aspect of the events of 6 August 2024.
We need to discuss, as a Party, how we are going to put ourselves forward in defence of civil liberties.
In March 2024, I, along with my girlfriend, helped a friend move from Wales to London, because we had access to a van and were looking for an excuse to meet up and hang out. On the long drive along the M4, we had several long discussions about my friend’s unique experiences, notably in refugee volunteering and work in the charity sector. These conversations have shaped my identity as a Radical Social Liberal. Suffice to say, that car journey had a profound impact on me.
Right now, as I write this, that same friend is on her way to incarceration, having been sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. She has been sentenced and jailed as a terrorist, which will have far reaching consequences for her life. She, along with her actionist comrades, broke into Elbit Systems’ site in Filton in August 2024 with the stated and public aim of dismantling weapons of war, which were being manufactured to further enable the Israeli Armed Forces to commit genocide in Gaza. These people did not set out to hurt anyone. The conviction is already precarious due to what been alleged to be an unsafe conviction. I do also wish to state, for the record, that I am only writing this now as sentencing has been carried out and reporting restrictions have now been lifted. Almost everything I have said here is echoing what has already been said by various press and public outlets.
The real kicker for me has been that despite the offence was ruled to be not terrorism, the defendants were not being tried for a terrorism offence, and the jury had no knowledge where their vote to convict would lead. Regardless of your feelings on the actions of the Filton actionists, the way their trial has been handled is highly suspect and it could be said that the CPS were seeking to make an example of them to prevent further direction against Israeli arms manufacturing in the UK.
I think it should not be controversial to call this a major abuse of power by the Government and a misuse of terrorism legislation.
Legislation written for good reason to enable the Government to take unusual and extraordinary measures in a time of national crisis has been misused to brand a group of brave young people acting to save lives (there is a fair argument that they succeeded) as a danger to the public and an enemy of the British State. To say they are, when a jury has not been given an opportunity to pass judgement on that fact, is to undermine the rule of law in this Country. Hasn’t Ed Davey been extremely vocal recently about how the Rule of Law is a core British value and must be protected?
All this it to say: If the Liberal Democrats were to stand up for civil liberties, as they have so powerfully in years gone by, every Liberal Democrat MP would be up in arms about this. It is a travesty and a miscarriage of justice. The only MP who has meaningfully spoken out about this is Zarah Sultana.
I’m getting sick of this Party sitting by and refusing to have an opinion on serious matters of state which are against its founding principles. This authoritarian Labour Government is pressing ahead with digital surveillance and reducing the sacrosanct role of juries in our justice system, and our Party leadership won’t touch it. Our Party leadership is too worried about losing the votes of pearl-clutching Surrey Tories to stand up for what’s right. Refusal to have an opinion about anything remotely controversial is, in my view, a major reason for our underperformance in the recent local elections.
It needs to change.
Correction: I must also acknowledge the harm that was caused to Sgt. Kate Evans by defendant Sam Corner. It would be dishonest of me not to acknowledge the injuries she sustained in the course of doing her duty, and Corner’s conviction as a result.
* Tara Foster is a LibDem campaigner from Southampton. She sits on the LGBT+ LibDems Executive as an Ordinary Member and is a prominent member of the Radical Association.
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8 Comments
The terroism issue is in the Court of Appeal today.
A woman police officer had her back broken.
@ Tara,
You’re absolutely right.
“The real kicker for me has been that despite the offence was ruled to be not terrorism, the defendants were not being tried for a terrorism offence …. ”
moreover they weren’t convicted of terrorism by the court itself but they were by the judge and sentenced accordingly. They should have been sentenced for what they were charged with.
This case reminds me of two activists who used a “greater good” charge to secure an acquittal some nine years ago. This Labour government doesn’t want this kind of defence to become the norm. So, one tactic will be is try activists on a lesser charge and then sentence them for something more serious. This is bad law if nothing else. In future, any defence brief who’s worth his salt, will raise the possibility that there is a hidden charge of terrorism lurking even when there may not be and hope to secure an acquittal that way.
The Labour party has form for the erosion of legal principles. The removal of the double jeopardy being one. At one time the police might use strong arm methods to extract false confessions. Now any not guilty verdict can be overturned by the simple method of “finding” a DNA sample in the evidence store that somehow had been “missed” previously.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-41763568
I think it’s a real shame that so many people have attached themselves to this one group and their violent actions.
Quite simply we cannot have a situation in this country where we accept political violence if we happen to agree with the perpetrators. Putting vital defence equipment (needed to defend against Russia) out of use, assaulting police with sledgehammers and destroying resources for Ukraine.
That prohibition has got to be universal- it can’t be a case of we happen to agree with this particular group’s ideology so they can do as they please.
We would absolutely not accept a situation where Yaxley-Lennon and his cronies organised and then smashed up hotels and Border Force facilities. They would argue the same as Palestine Action have that their actions are justified by the ‘greater good’.
They would rightly be charged and convicted.
The Judges ruling undermines the whole basis of Jury Trial, the Keystone of our Rights. The defendants were charged with one crime & Sentenced for another. It’s like being Tried for Burglary & then being Sentenced for Murder. It’s just the sort of thing we expect in Dictatorships.
If our Parliamentarians are not prepared to challenge this perhaps We need to change The Party Name – drop the Liberal & Democrat bits anyway.
There is also a lot of misinformation being spread by the far-left about the ‘terrorist connection’ point.
Juries convict an accused person (or don’t). The judge then determines an appropriate sentence- including a range of factors like previous offending, age, level of remorse. Indeed, a discount was applied in this case as it was deemed a crime of conscience.
One of those as set out in legislation is where an action aims to intimidate people or change government policy to advance a political view. That is quite clearly the case here.
I agree with Tara (without necessarily supporting what the PA activists did). It was wrong to proscribe PA as terrorists, and in any case that happened *after* the Elbit break-in. And the judicial goal-post moving by the Judge is a very worrying development, in which the jury played no part.
When you look at the recent tally of arrests, does this look right to you?
Southampton Riots – 11
“Unite the Kingdom” demo – 43
Belfast Riots – 19
Palestine Action Demo – 500
Only the latter is “terrorism related”….
And yet millions of people have managed to protest against Israel’s actions without getting arrested.
It’s almost like expressing support for a group that impedes our ability to defend against Russia, attacks police with sledgehammers and destroys equipment required by Ukraine has very foreseeable consequences.
Palastine is one of those – as a labour MP put it – middle class hobby horse subject. If a mother of one gets gets 31 months for an awful tweet that was deleted after a few hours. Let’s not be surprised if perpetrators carry out £1.2 millions worth of damage including ploughing a 7.5 ton truck through a set of gates, smashing up private property , intimidating security guards, fracturing a policewomans spine. Get a substantial custodial sentence.