Gaza Campaigner Pleads Not Guilty
Hastings Gaza campaigner Gabriel Carlyle has pleaded not guilty to an alleged terrorist offence in Parliament Square on 5 July. He was arrested for holding up a placard which read: ‘I support nonviolent resistance. I support Palestine Action. I oppose genocide’.
The 51 year-old from St Leonards was among 29 people detained at the July protest. More than 2,000 people – including a blind man in a wheelchair and an 83-year-old Anglican priest – have since been arrested for holding near-identical signs at similar protests around the UK .
The government proscribed – banned – the nonviolent direct action group Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act at the beginning of July. Section 12 of the Act makes it illegal to express an opinion or belief that supports a proscribed organisation, where the person is ‘reckless’ as to whether the expression will encourage others to support the organisation. It also makes it an offence to wear clothing or carry articles in public which arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of Palestine Action or to publish an image of an item or logo that may arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of Palestine Action.
Gabriel Carlyle said: ‘The world’s two leading human rights organisations – Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch – and Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem have all concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Yet instead of fulfilling its legal obligations under the Genocide Convention and ending all UK arms sales to Israel – whether direct or indirect – the UK government has instead chosen to misuse anti-terror powers to repress nonviolent protest and freedom of speech about these arms sales.”
Meanwhile the Court of Appeal has blocked a Home Office bid to prevent a Judicial review (JR) of the ban on Palestine Action. The organisation’s co-founder Hunda Ammori was granted permission to challenge the proscription on the grounds that it was reasonably arguable that it amounted to a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of speech and protest. The full hearing will be held on 25 November, but it is not clear whether, if successful, it would affect the case of Gabriel Carlyle and the 2000 others arrested under the Act. A Home Office spokesman said Palestine Action remains a proscribed group and those who support them will face the full force of the law. Everyone should remember that supporting Palestine and supporting a proscribed terrorist group are not the same thing,”
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