Whyte says Britain jailed 286 activists in Political Prisoner report
A report from Queen Mary University of London and Defend Our Juries says Britain jailed 286 climate and Palestine-solidarity activists as political prisoner cases, totaling 136 years of prison time. The researchers say the average detention period in the 256 cases with available data was 28 weeks. In one of the clearest examples, the Filton 24 spent up to 18 months in jail before most were bailed.
Whyte on protest sentences
David Whyte, the report co-author and a professor of climate justice at QMUL, said: "These are exceptional sentences that are being used to apply to protests which are themselves profoundly political." The report says one in three protesters in the study was jailed for six months or more, and one in five was jailed for more than a year.
That scale is what makes the new analysis different from a routine tally of arrests. The report says custodial sentences for direct action and civil disobedience were once rare in England and Wales, but are now being imposed with increasing length and frequency.
England and Wales injunctions
The report links that shift to anti-protest legislation in England and Wales, expanded police powers, and civil law injunctions brought by corporations and public bodies. It also says judges have removed legal defences and imposed exceptionally long sentences. Whyte warned: "The real danger is that you criminalise people for breaching something which is essentially a civil injunction."
Contempt of court accounted for 40% of imprisonment cases in the report. The researchers say those contempt charges came either from conduct in the courtroom, including breach of a judge's order, or from breach of a civil injunction obtained by a private company or public authority to prevent protest. Breach of a judge's order made up 8% of the cases, while breach of a civil injunction made up 32%.
Filton 24 and the next launch
The report highlights the Filton 24, who were charged with offences connected to a Palestine Action direct action protest at a factory near Bristol run by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. The accused spent up to 18 months in jail before all but one were bailed after the first set of six defendants were cleared of aggravated burglary. Two of those six defendants were later acquitted of criminal damage, and 18 more defendants due to stand trial over the events at Filton still face other charges.
The report is due to be launched on Tuesday, with the Filton case left as the sharpest example of how long pre-trial custody can run in protest-related prosecutions. For activists caught in that system, the figure that now matters is not just the sentence after trial but the months spent inside before a verdict is reached.
