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Hundreds of people locked up under protest laws brought in under the last Conservative Government, may have grounds to appeal their convictions if an upcoming court case against the Home Secretary is successful, according to the director of human rights group Liberty.
Keir Starmer’s Labour Government, which took office in July 2024, has so far failed to roll back anti-protest measures introduced by the previous Conservative administration – and is continuing to appeal a court ruling that would roll back some of the restrictions.
The court case was brought against backdoor legislation brought in by former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
The former Government had used so-called Henry VIII powers – secondary legislation – in 2022 to criminalise protests that were deemed to cause “more than minor” disruption. Previously the bar for criminalising protest was set at “serious” disruption
Liberty went to court to argue it was unconstitutional, as Braverman had effectively changed the threshold using her ministerial powers – despite the House of Lords ripping the change out of previous legislation on the issue.
Human rights groups said the change was in breach of people’s right to peacefully protest.
Now Byline Times has heard that if the ruling in an ongoing appeal comes in Liberty’s favour, a development which could come as soon as March, hundreds of protesters locked up under anti-protest laws could appeal their sentences and be freed.
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Akiko Hart, director of Liberty, told Byline Times: “We’re seeing what appears to be hundreds of people being charged under these new laws, and because of changed sentencing guidelines, more people than before are receiving custodial sentences…
“We have a case against the Home Secretary currently in court awaiting judgment.
“If the judgment is in our favour, as it was in the first judgment…we believe hundreds of people who have been charged would have grounds to appeal.” It could amount to over a thousand, she suggested.
At the same time, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are intervening in the courts in an appeal over ‘excessive’ Just Stop Oil custodial sentences.
Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have teamed up to intervene in a “critically important” legal appeal over the right to protest, after five peaceful climate activists were handed record-length prison sentences in July 2024.
The two groups believe that the custodial sentences handed down by the court to the activists, dubbed the ‘Whole Truth Five’, are excessive.
They also argue that the sentences breach human rights legislation, which requires that sentencing must be proportionate, where fundamental rights, such as the right to protest, are involved.
The outcome of that case could also have far-reaching implications for the future of peaceful protest and the sentences that could result for those convicted of protest-related offences in the future.
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The sentences being appealed in that case include the five-year prison sentence imposed on Roger Hallam (58), the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, for taking part in a Zoom call to organise direct action on the M25 against new oil and gas licences. and the two-year sentence passed on Phoebe Plummer (23) after she threw soup at the glass covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in 2022.
Campaign group Defend Our Juries says all 16 involved were jailed in the months after John Woodcock – AKA Lord Walney, the Government’s (then) political violence adviser and an arms industry lobbyist – called for tougher criminal action against groups like Just Stop Oil.
On Friday last week, Byline Times revealed that the Government was getting rid of Woodcock and his post, with his role absorbed by the Commissioner for Counter Extremism. As part of that move, the current Conservative-appointed holder of that role Robin Simcox is expected to leave, with his position being advertised for open competition.
Prior to Lord Walney’s anti-protest report for Rishi Sunak’s Government in May 2024, jail sentences for peaceful protest in Britain remained “extremely unusual”, Defend Our Juries says.
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A recent report by Human Rights Watch found that several UK laws passed in recent years have significantly expanded police authority while raising major concerns about civil liberties.
The 2023 Public Order Act and 2022 Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act have drawn particular criticism from campaigners for limiting rights to protest and assembly. Peaceful protesters are still being imprisoned under these laws.
Climate campaigners and pro-Gaza activists were particularly hard hit by these restrictions in 2024, with the Public Order Act’s provisions giving police broader powers to limit demonstrations. Many also fell foul of Braverman’s law – continued under Labour – which criminalises ‘more than minor’ disruption by protesters.
The laws have prompted an international response, with the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders expressing grave concerns in January 2024 about the UK’s treatment of environmental protesters.
Yasmine Ahmed, UK director at Human Rights Watch said earlier this month: “Many of us had hoped that an incoming Labour Government would have repealed the undemocratic anti-protest legislation introduced under the previous administration, especially given Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s background as a human rights lawyer.
“That they have chosen not to, and are instead defending these measures in court, beggars belief. Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of a healthy and functioning democracy.”
The interview came as part of research for an upcoming book by Peter Oborne on the UK’s response to the war on Gaza, titled: “Complicit.” Josiah is working on a chapter concerning the policing of the protests against the war – and the political climate surrounding them.
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Josiah Mortimer also writes the On the Ground column, exclusive to the print edition of Byline Times.
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