The state has served three new charges – including one under the Terrorism Act – to a Palestine Action activist simply for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Palestine Action: state abuse of counter-terror powers
On Thursday 29 August, the UK state served Palestine Action’s co-founder Richard Barnard with three charges for two speeches. Specifically, the state is accusing Barnard of supporting a proscribed organisation under section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act. Alongside this, British authorities seek to charge him with two counts of encouraging criminal activity, namely ‘criminal damage’ against weapons manufacturers.
The state served the charges on the same day counter-terrorism police re-raided another Palestine Action activist’s home. The activist was a member of the ‘Filton10’ who dismantled the research hub of Israel’s biggest weapons firm, Elbit Systems. As the Canary’s Steve Topple previously reported:
The action caused over £1million in damage to the heavily guarded Filton-based research hub of Israel’s biggest weapons producer, which was opened in the summer of 2023.
In total, 10 activists have been charged in connection to the Filton action — all of whom were first detained without charge for nearly a week and interrogated constantly under the powers granted by the Terrorism Act.
Now, over three weeks after cops first arrested the Filton10 member, police have once again abused these powers to crack down on one of these activists.
However, the state hasn’t only targeted Barnard and the Filton10 activist with terror charges. On the same day, counter-terror cops also arrested prominent journalist and Palestine Action supporter Sarah Wilkinson for online posts.
As the Canary’s HG detailed, this authoritarian overreach of state power to silence a journalist could breach international law. Specifically, it could contravene Resolution 2222 (2015) of the UN Security Council which:
Condemns unequivocally all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers, such as torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrest and arbitrary detention, as well as intimidation and harassment in both conflict and non-conflict situations;
Therefore, HG wrote that:
Clearly, the UK government could be in breach of that by creating an arena where journalists like Sarah Wilkinson cannot report freely on the truth without fear of unfair retribution
Despite this, it hasn’t stopped British authorities from using these trumped up terror charges to silence activists speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Protecting ‘the interests of a foreign genocidal entity’
Cops first arrested Barnard for the accusations he has been charged on November 9 2023. This was four days before he was due to begin trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court as part of the ‘Elbit Eight’. During that trial, the state accused him of several offences. The court acquitted him of 3 of them, including a charge of encouraging criminal damage. Authorities previously stopped him under Schedule 7 counter-terrorism powers in November 2020 alongside fellow activist Huda Ammori. This appeared a punitive measure to intimidate the co-founders of Palestine Action.
Richard Barnard is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court, London, on September 18 for his plea hearing.
On the state’s abuse of counter-terrorism powers against pro-Palestine activists, a Palestine Action spokesperson said:
The British state is deliberately abusing counter-terrorism laws to target Palestine Action and the wider movement in order to protect the interests of a foreign genocidal entity over the freedom of its own citizens. As a movement we will only become stronger in the face of increased repression.
Featured image via Palestine Action
