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Human rights groups have urged the Labour Government to repeal a raft of Conservative anti-protest laws, after the Court of Appeal upheld ten out of 16 lengthy prison sentences for peaceful Just Stop Oil protesters.
On Friday (7th March), the Court of Appeal reduced the cumulative sentences of the so-called ‘Whole Truth Five’ climate activists from 21 years to 15 years. The five, who included Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam, used Zoom to successfully plan disruption on the M25 in November 2022, opposing new fossil fuel licences.
The only other change was a two month reduction to the sentence of M25 gantry-climber Gaie Delap, a 78-year-old grandmother who was, campaign group Defend Our Juries says, “erroneously held in custody for 43 days over Christmas because private contractor Serco failed to provide a curfew tag that could fit a woman’s wrist.”
Ten of the 16 custodial sentences being appealed by Just Stop Oil supporters were upheld in their entirety. The cumulative total to be served by the 16 has now been reduced from 41 years to 35 years.
Others unsuccessful in their appeals included two protesters jailed for throwing soup at the glass covering of a Van Gogh painting, others jailed for scaling the gantry of the M25, and four more sentenced for digging tunnels near an oil terminal.
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A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said the sentences were “for taking entirely nonviolent actions to demand the Government stop issuing new oil and gas licenses, a demand which has now been met.”
They added that the ruling “comes in the wider context of a prison overcrowding crisis, with thousands of inmates being released early, to avoid catastrophic prison conditions.”
As the judgement was announced, around 30 members of the public gallery silently stood up, turned their backs to the judges and removed their outer garments to reveal t-shirts with the message “Corruption In Court” emblazoned upon their backs, Defend Our Juries said.
In reducing some of the sentences, Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr confirmed that Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights – the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association respectively – should be taken into account in protest cases.
But she also ruled that the trial judges were correct in disregarding both the UK’s international commitments under the UN Aarhus Convention, and the opinion of the United Nations, with Special Rapporteur Michel Forst condemning the imprisonment of climate activists here.
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A joint statement from human rights and climate groups after the ruling called on the Labour Government to loosen up the laws on protest.
A spokesperson for Amnesty International UK said: “We are in danger of having laws that only allow for protests that don’t bother anybody, and that treat peaceful protest worse than many violent offences.” They called on the UK Government to drop newly proposed anti-protest laws – which are set to clamp down on wearing masks at demonstrations – and review existing ones.
Hanna Hindstrom, Global Witness Senior Investigator said: “Labour should immediately review the draconian anti-protest laws enacted by the previous Government, laws rightly labelled a ‘major threat to democracy and human rights’ by a UN expert.”
And Greenpeace UK acknowledged the modest reductions in sentences but maintained they remain unprecedented and inappropriate in a democracy that upholds the right to protest.
Areeba Hamid, Co-Executive Director of Greenpeace UK warned of a “slide towards authoritarianism that began under the last Government but is being enthusiastically embraced by this one.”
“Even the most everyday protests, marches and rallies organised in cooperation with the police, are being demonised and blocked. If you care about anything any corporation or anyone in a position of power is doing, or should be doing, you should be incredibly concerned about your freedom to speak out. If you don’t raise your voice now, you may lose it forever,” Hamid said.
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Katie de Kauwe, senior lawyer at Friends of the Earth, said the group was “pleased” that the Court of Appeal has reduced at least some of the climate activists’ sentences.
“Ultimately however, we believe that locking up those motivated by their genuine concern for the climate crisis is neither right or makes any sense – and at a time when our prisons are so grossly overcrowded.”
She added: “We urge the Government to repeal the raft of regressive anti-protest legislation brought in by its predecessors to curb dissent and set about restoring the UK’s reputation as a tolerant country.”
Phoebe Plummer, one of the appellants from the Van Gogh ‘Sunflowers’ protest, said via a statement read on her behalf outside the court: “Our democracy is being sold off to the highest bidder. Our courts…are continuing to jail good people for telling the truth, for resisting genocide in Palestine and the continued extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal. This is justice bent to serve power instead of ordinary people.”
Renowned human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, a supporter of 16 imprisoned activists, added: “Peaceful climate protesters are getting much longer sentences than the Suffragettes got for violent protests and that many people today receive for serious racist, homophobic and sexist assaults.”
And a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion blamed “legislation written by think tanks funded by fossil fuel companies and other powerful interests.”
“Justice should not be dictated by lobbyists acting for the obscenely rich. The Government needs to stand up for our right to protest and repeal these laws, and start waking up to what’s happening with the climate and take urgent action to safeguard its citizens,” the direct action group said.
On refusing to reduce Phoebe Plummer’s sentence, the Judge said: “You clearly have deeply held convictions about climate change and other matters, and you are perfectly entitled to them of course. But you have evidently decided that your beliefs entitle you to commit crimes as and when you feel like it. They do not.”
You can read the full Court of Appeal judgement here.
Update: We have corrected a reference to the European Convention on Human Rights, where it first referred to the European Court of Human Rights. The Convention is incorporated into UK law through the Human Rights Act.
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Full breakdown of the ruling, for each of the individuals involved in the mass appeal:
The ‘Whole Truth Five’
Received record-breaking prison sentences for planning nonviolent disruption on the M25, to stop the granting of new oil and gas licences.
- Roger Hallam – 5 years reduced to 4 years
- Cressida Gethin – 4 years reduced to 30 months
- Louise Lancaster – 4 years reduced to 3 years
- Daniel Shaw – 4 years reduced to 3 years
- Lucia Whittaker De Abreu – 4 years reduced to 30 months
M25 Gantries
Participated in that same action, by climbing onto gantries over the M25.
- George Simonson – 2 years unchanged
- Theresa Higginson 2 years unchanged
- Paul Bell – 22 months unchanged
- Gaie Delap – 20 months reduced to 18 months
- Paul Sousek – 20 months unchanged
Navigator Tunnellers
Occupied tunnels dug under the road leading to the Navigator Oil Terminal in Thurrock, Essex.
- Larch Maxey – 3 years unchanged
- Chris Bennett – 18 months unchanged
- Samuel Johnson – 18 months unchanged
- Joe Howlett – 15 months unchanged
Sunflowers Protest
Threw soup on the glass protecting Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.
- Anna Holland – 20 months unchanged
- Phoebe Plummer – 2 years unchanged
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