Green groups to intervene in Just Stop Oil court appeal

• Scheduled for 29 & 30 January 2025 in the Court of Appeal, the case will be heard as part of a wider joint appeal hearing for a total of 16 people convicted of protest-related offences

Two of the UK’s most prominent environmental organisations 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 this year.

Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK can today reveal that they are combining their expertise to support the appellants’ cases, following the Court of Appeal’s decision to grant them permission to intervene in the proceedings through written submissions.

The court has listed the appeal to be heard as part of a wider joint hearing, which will review four separate cases involving Just Stop Oil activists, in which a total of 16 people have been sentenced for a combined 41 years over peaceful protest.

The two groups have 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. But they will write their submissions so that they can assist in the other linked appeals at the hearing as well.

The two groups believe that the custodial sentences handed down by the court are excessive. They will also argue that they breach human rights legislation, which requires that sentencing must be proportionate where fundamental rights, such as the right to protest*, are engaged.

What’s more, the outcome of the hearing could 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.

The Just Stop Oil activists named above were sentenced under a new ‘conspiracy to cause a public nuisance’ offence brought in under draconian legislation by the former government in 2022. This change in law has put in place considerable restrictions on peaceful protest and risks fuelling the incarceration of political prisoners.

The jail terms handed down by Southwark Crown Court of up to five years are the longest for any peaceful protest-related offences on record. Until recently, it was virtually unheard of for peaceful protest to result in jail time.

The use of disruptive, non-violent protest tactics as a means to effect social change is nothing new in this country, 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.

Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK believe the mounting authoritarian crackdown on peaceful environmental protesters raising the alarm over the accelerating climate and nature crises is a serious threat to our democracy and civil liberties.

The UK’s increasingly repressive attitude towards environmental activists has caught attention internationally, too. The UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, Michael Forst, said that harsh sentences “set a dangerous precedent” not just for climate campaigning in the UK, but all forms of peaceful protest to hold the government of the day accountable.

The UK has a long tradition of restraint when it comes to sentencing peaceful protest. In the words of former House of Lords Judge, Lord Hoffman, “civil disobedience on conscientious grounds has a long and honourable history in this country”. 

Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK are calling on the Labour government to repeal the raft of regressive anti-protest legislation ushered in by the former administration, to help restore the UK’s once-respected tolerance for peaceful protest. 

In the meantime, the groups are intervening in this appeal to argue for the importance of proportionate sentencing where people have been convicted of protest-related offences.

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

“To be jailed for up to five years for planning a peaceful protest over the UK’s laggard progress in preventing runaway climate and ecological breakdown, shows the chilling effect of the previous government’s anti-protest laws in stifling our democracy and allowing the government of the day to curb dissent.

"In what functioning democracy can it be right for those peacefully raising the alarm about the climate crisis to receive longer jail sentences than people who participated in racially-motivated violence this summer, and deliberately targeted migrants, refugees and Muslim communities? Peaceful protesters shouldn’t be locked up, period.”

Jack Robirosa, legal counsel for Greenpeace UK, said:

“The last government’s draconian laws have led to a situation where conscientious people are getting five years in prison for discussing a planned peaceful protest. This is not the sort of thing most people associate with an established democracy with respect for civil rights and a healthy culture of protest and free speech. Is the UK still the kind of country that remembers how important protest was in giving us our rights and freedoms? Or are we drifting towards the authoritarian police states we have traditionally distanced ourselves from? If these sentences become precedents and the laws that enabled them are allowed to stand, they will make a powerful statement about the kind of country we are becoming, and tarnish our reputation for democracy and free speech.”

Alexandria Marcou, solicitor at the criminal defence firm Lloyds PR Solicitors, who is assisting the organisations on their intervention, said:

“Lengthy prison sentences for peaceful protesters are not a sign of justice and only serve to silence the voices demanding the change that our planet desperately needs. They risk sending the message that dissent itself is to be feared and punished.”

ENDS

Notes:

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

1. Friends of the Earth is 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 of the criminal defence firm Lloyds PR Solicitors is our external solicitor. 

2. Lord Hoffman’s judgment quoted above is at para. 89 of R v Jones (Margaret) and others [2006] UKHL 16; [2007] AC 136 (Jones). https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd060329/jones-4.htm 

3. 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