Filton Four Finale
The trial of the Filton Four came to a dramatic end on Friday when the defendants were sentenced to a total of more than 26 years.
Shortly after the sentences were handed down, the police issued a dispersal order in respect of protesters outside the court building. Some did leave, but many others remained, lay in the road to block the prisoner escort and even tried to break into the van. It was a messy end to what has been a dark period of criminal justice in this country.
The whole affair is something that has been covered in detail within the pages of this newsletter including a remarkable closing speech by one of the defence barristers, the subsequent questionable decision to refer that barrister for contempt of court and the recent revelation that the defendants could be sentenced as terrorists even though they had not been convicted as such by a jury and Palestine Action were not proscribed as a terrorist group when the criminal activity took place.
With the deck stacked so thoroughly in the prosecution’s favour, it is no surprise that people who committed criminal damage in an effort to stop a genocide were sentenced as terrorists. The British state has nailed its colours to Israel's mast and only history will be powerful enough to judge the actions of this government and lame duck judiciary.
In the meantime the right to protest and engage in civil disobedience remains in a perilous place, especially given the Court of Appeal's ruling earlier on today that confirmed the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation (a decision that will be covered in greater detail for subscribers to this newsletter later on this week).
There is only so far that a legal system can be pushed before it reaches a breaking point in the face of such bare-faced injustices. More than 3,000 people, including legal professionals and former magistrates and police officers, signed a petition calling on Judge Johnson to recuse himself from the sentencing hearing because his conduct betrayed a “personal animosity towards the defendants and the Palestinian cause, incompatible with the role of a judge”. In an era where openness barely remains intact, it is plain to see when the facade of justice presented by the establishment is nothing but a ruse.
The same can be said about the decision to uphold the proscription of Palestine Action. The efforts by politicians and judges to portray them as a terrorist organisation comparable with violent neo-Nazis falls short when it is so abundantly clear that this is a civil disobedience group seeking to use property damage as a way to forestall a genocide.
These Draconian sentences will do nothing to stop other people taking action against British collaboration with Israeli warmongering in the same way that proscribing Palestine Action will not stop thousands of people taking to the streets holding placards declaring their support for the direct action group.
The legal system may be trending towards propping up an autocracy, but that will not stop people fighting for justice.
No edition of the podcast this week but check back next week when we will be discussing a brand-new case.
Make a difference today,
Marcus