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Five supporters of the JSO climate campaign have just been handed the longest jail terms ever meted out in the UK for a non-violent demonstration. This has sent shock waves through the protest community and wider British public, who consider the punishment to be too harsh.
In November 2022, forty-five Just Stop Oil protestors climbed gantries on the M25, forcing police to stop traffic.
Their aim was to cause gridlock across southern England so that the UK government would meet JSO’s core demand of reconsidering its decision to issue fresh licenses for oil and gas extraction in Great Britain and ending raw material exploration in the North Sea.
‘Take the necessary first step to ensure a liveable future and halt new oil and gas,’ they said at the time.
‘The government’s failure to do so is a criminal dereliction of its fundamental duty – to protect and safeguard the lives of its citizens. The supporters of Just Stop Oil are now the people upholding law and order and protecting civil society. Under British law, people in this country have a right to cause disruption to prevent greater harm – we will not stand by.’
Almost two years later, and five of those involved in the disruption have been sentenced to unprecedented jail terms by judge Christopher Hehir who said they had ‘crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic.’
BREAKING: THE WHOLE TRUTH FIVE IMPRISONED FOR 4-5 YEARS
Lucia, Cressie, Louise and Daniel have received 4 year prison sentences today, whilst Roger has received 5 years.
Stop jailing those telling the truth. Sign the petition — https://t.co/HNoTTj4sle pic.twitter.com/S6TewxuyNv
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) July 18, 2024
The sentences are the longest ever meted out in the UK for a non-violent demonstration and were made possible by the new ‘intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance’ law that was introduced in 2022.
They mark the continuation of a state crackdown on peaceful protests, with the UK government bringing in a plethora of new police powers to tackle direct action in recent months.
Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam (58) was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment while Daniel Shaw (38), Louise Lancaster (58), Lucia Whittaker de Abreu (35), and Cressida Gethin (22) were each sentenced to four.
All were found guilty of ‘conspiracy to cause a public nuisance for coordinating direct action protests on the M25 over four days in November 2022’ after they appeared on a Zoom call to recruit potential volunteers for the ‘biggest disruption in British modern history,’ which, according to the prosecution, led to a ‘national economic loss’ of almost £750,000.
Though Judge Hehir admitted there was a scientific and social consensus that human-made climate breakdown is happening and action should be taken to avert it, he ruled that the crisis was ‘irrelevant to the trial’ – dismissing it as mere ‘political opinion and belief’ – and that evidence about climate change could play no part in the defendants’ defence.
(@LeftieStats) 
Today marks a very dark day for fundamental human rights in the UK. Daniel Shaw and his co-defendants have been sentenced to spend 4 & 5 years in a prison cell for planning a peaceful protest. This decision is beyond comprehension. Full statement here: 
