Critical Just Stop Oil mass-hearing goes to Court of Appeal

• The two-day hearing will see 16 Just Stop Oil activists seek to overturn extreme sentences for peaceful protest
• Great-granddaughter of leading Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst adds her voice to calls for fair treatment of peaceful protesters 
• Hearing to be held on 29 & 30 January at the Court of Appeal (Royal Courts of Justice) - ***spokespeople available for interviews at court from 8.30am on Weds 29***

A crucial legal test over the right to protest is due to begin at the Court of Appeal today, where a number of Just Stop Oil activists will challenge jail terms of unprecedented length related to peaceful protest. 

Mounted by 16 activists and related to four separate cases, their appeals have been combined as part of a singular two-day mass-hearing (29 & 30 January). This decision by the court demonstrates the significance of this case - it is unusual for so many different appeals to be joined together. 

The appeal is being supported by the environmental justice organisations Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK. The two organisations have teamed up to intervene in the case, given their shared belief that excessive custodial sentences for peaceful protest are a serious threat to our democracy. And because the outcome of this critical legal appeal could have far-reaching implications for the future of all peaceful protest, and not solely that related to climate and the environment. 

Last month, the two groups were granted permission to intervene specifically on the appeal brought by Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, Cressida Gethin and Roger Hallam (known as the “Whole Truth Five”), all of whom were sentenced in July 2024 at Southwark Crown Court for joining a zoom call to discuss a planned M25 protest. However, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK’s submissions have been written to assist those involved in the other linked appeals as well.

As well as arguing that the sentences - of up to five years - are excessive, the two groups say they breach human rights legislation, which requires that sentencing must be proportionate where fundamental rights, such as the right to protest*, are involved.

Katie de Kauwe, senior lawyer at Friends of the Earth, said:

“Locking up peaceful protesters has no place in a tolerant society. This country has a long and proud history of non-violent civil disobedience, which has been critical in winning many of the democratic freedoms we enjoy today – whether that’s the right to vote or the repeal of homophobic legislation like section 28, which sought to vilify and stigmatise the LGBT community. 

“Instead of further burdening our overcrowded prison system by criminalising those trying to push the climate and nature emergencies up the political agenda out of sheer desperation, the government should be accelerating efforts to deliver fair and meaningful action on the environment. Growing discontent is purely a symptom of the frustration felt at the lack of leadership and progress on one of the greatest challenges of our time. Silencing those striving for a better world will not make these escalating crises disappear – doing so only serves to stifle our democracy.” 

Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said:

“Britain used to take pride in being a tolerant, liberal democracy with a population who valued our rights and liberties. But the last government’s draconian laws have led to people being sentenced to five years in prison for discussing a planned peaceful protest. We used to understand that freedom of speech and the right to protest were defences that protected us all against the threat of an oppressive government, and that any one of us might need those protections one day. These long sentences for peaceful protest make it difficult to see modern Britain as the kind of mature, tolerant culture our parents and grandparents enjoyed. Hopefully cooler heads will realise that we could be throwing away something of great value to us all for the sake of avenging an inconvenience.”

Until recently, it was virtually unheard of for peaceful protest to result in jail time, but new draconian laws brought in by the former government in 2022 and 2023 have put in place considerable restrictions on how activists can demonstrate their discontent. The two organisations hope the Court of Appeal will recognise that the jail terms handed down are unduly harsh, and move to quash them. 

It’s Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK’s belief that those peacefully exercising their right to protest in response to political failures on tackling the climate and nature emergencies should not receive custodial sentences. Doing so not only places chilling restrictions on our basic freedoms, but also serves to create a new class of political prisoners. 

The use of disruptive, non-violent protest tactics as a means to effect social change is nothing new in the UK, and existed long before the climate and nature emergencies were understood. Such tactics have been a cornerstone of many historical struggles, from women’s suffrage to the civil rights movement.

Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter and granddaughter of leaders of the Suffragette movement, Emmeline and Sylvia Pankhurst, said:

“The Suffragettes are looked up to because they fought tooth and nail and refused to be silenced and give up on their cause - the universal suffrage now taken for granted in all democracies. Environmental activists today stand in the same tradition. I have no doubt future generations around the world will thank them for their campaigns. The heavy-handed and disproportionate custodial sentence given in the UK to peaceful environmental activists speaking truth to power is worrying in the extreme. A repeal is the only just outcome here.”

Campaigners from Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK will gather outside the court from 8.30am on Wednesday 29 January, alongside others from across the environmental and social justice movements in a show of solidarity with the 16 activists facing down record-breaking sentences. Spokespeople will be available for interview outside the court during the hearing.

Hundreds of people are expected outside the court, with Chris Packham, Mark Thomas, and Caroline Lucas among those set to join campaigners on the first day of the hearing.

ENDS

Notes:

*The right to protest is protected under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights

1. The mass appeal hearing will take place on Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 January. The exact timing of the start of the hearing is to be confirmed, but will be either 10am or 10:30am each day. The Court of Appeal is at The Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand (WC2A 2LL).

2. The four linked cases in the mass appeal, all related to actions by Just Stop Oil, include:

• 'The Whole Truth Five’ – Roger Hallam (5yrs), Cressida Gethin (4yrs), Louise Lancaster (4yrs), Daniel Shaw (4yrs) and Lucia Whittaker De Abreu (4yrs) received record breaking prison sentences for planning nonviolent disruption on the M25, to stop the granting of new oil and gas licences.
• ‘M25 Gantries’ – George Simonson (2yrs), Theresa Higginson (2yrs), Paul Bell (22 months), Gaie Delap (20 months) and Paul Sousek (20 months) participated in that same action, by climbing onto gantries over the M25.
• ‘Navigator Tunnellers’ – Larch Maxey (3yrs), Chris Bennett (18 months), Samuel Johnson (18 months) and Joe Howlett (15 months) occupied tunnels dug under the road leading to the Navigator Oil Terminal in Thurrock, Essex.
• ‘Sunflowers’ – Phoebe Plummer (2yrs) and Anna Holland (20 months) threw soup on the glass protecting Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.

3. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK are represented by Alex Goodman KC of Landmark Chambers and Jessica Jones of Matrix Chambers. The legal team within Friends of the Earths is led by Senior Lawyer Katie de Kauwe, assisted by Phil Michael Legal Scholar Gabby Antrum. Greenpeace’s in-house lawyer is Jack Robirosa. Alexandria Marcou, Manoj Rupasinghe and Nimansa Thalduwa of the criminal defence firm Lloyds PR Solicitors are the interveners’ external solicitors. 

4. Friends of the Earth has also filed proceedings to the European Court of Human Rights over the use of anti-protest injunctions in the UK. Increasingly, they are being used as a mechanism by private companies and public authorities to quash opposition to environmentally damaging projects, bypassing the criminal justice system altogether. Typically, they impose a blanket ban on a variety of protest activities and carry harsh consequences for those who breach them.

Legal challenge against anti-protest injunctions goes to human rights court | May 2024