Month: June 2024

Uyghurs win important case


World Uyghur Congress wins important Appeal Court case concerning cotton produced in Xinjiang

June 2024

The dreadful treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province in China is well established and around one million of them are kept in 380 internment camps. They are also used as forced labour in the production of cotton and 85% of China’s cotton comes from this region. This cotton finds its way into western markets and is used to produce clothing on sale in UK shops and elsewhere.

The WUC tried to get the National Crime Agency to carry out an investigation which the declined to do saying that they needed details of specific contracts. This was overturned at the Appeal Court in what is being described as a ‘watershed moment‘ ([2024] EWCA Civ 715). The court said the decision by NCA was ‘illegal’. The cotton produced using forced labour infringes the Proceeds of Crime Act. This is the first successful action in the world and is being regarded as a landmark decision. If a company knowingly uses, or which they suspect to be using, forced labour, then a prosecution can be initiated under POCA.

Needless to say the Chinese are angry and the Chinese Embassy said it was ‘an enormous lie by anti-Chinese elements to smear China’. The problem for the Chinese is that it is a closed region and journalists are not allowed in. Footage that has emerged has been shot clandestinely. There seems little doubt however that the scale of the repression, the attempted destruction of the Uyghur culture including banning the language, and the demolition of hundreds of mosques, represents a major crime taking place in the twenty first century. It is variously described as a crime against humanity and genocide.

A lawyer from the Global Legal Action Network said ‘this litigation has been critical in recognising the mass atrocities being committed against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim people by the Chinese government, and holding to account those complicit in, or profiting from, these crimes.’ Producers of clothes using Chinese cotton will now have to take extra care that it does not use forced labour. Major high street names are involved.

Sources: Binman’s, Reuters, The Guardian, Law Society Gazette

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Urgent Action: Missouri


Urgent Action for Marcellus Williams who is scheduled to be executed for a crime he did not commit

June 2024

Marcellus Williams is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 24 for a crime DNA evidence proves he did not commit. The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney in Missouri USA, reviewed these DNA results and filed a motion to vacate Mr. Williams’ conviction because he believed the DNA results proved by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Williams did not commit this crime. Although the circuit court has not yet scheduled a hearing to address this motion — and no court has ever considered the new exculpatory evidence — the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for Mr. Williams.

That same DNA evidence led Governor Eric Greitens to convene a board of inquiry and halt Williams’ scheduled execution just hours before he was slated to die. That inquiry later stalled, and Governor Mike Parson disbanded the board before it issued any findings (which led to a lawsuit by the Innocence Project, which still pending).

We have less than 100 days to stop the execution of an innocent person. Add your name to stop this injustice before it’s too late.

Innocence Project post

Sources: Innocent Project; St Louis Post-Despatch; Riverfront Times (Missouri)

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Execution of Marcellus Williams

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The State v. Trudi Warner


Interesting and troubling webinar by the Good Law Project on the case of Trudi Warner

June 2024

Readers will recall that earlier in the year, Trudi Warner stood outside the Inner London Criminal Court and held up a placard telling passers by that juries had the right to vote on their conscience. The trial was taking place of several climate activists and a key issue was that the judge in the case, Judge Silas Reid, prevented the defendants from mentioning that they were campaigning for action on the climate. The worry was that if the jury realised that this was what the defendants were doing, there was a probability that they would acquit. Many websites commenting on this case allege that the judge is against people protesting (which we cannot verify) hence his aggressive threats to defendants and others.

Trudi Warner was then arrested for contempt of court by displaying her placard which states a fact, long established in English law, that juries can indeed vote on their consciences. This was established in the Bushell (sometimes Bushel) case of 1670, where a judge locked up a jury and deprived them of food and water for disobeying his directions.

Jolyon Maugham of the Good Law Project, said that people had a ‘sweet notion’ of the law which this case cast into doubt. It was one of the factors in the Brexit debate where people often spoke of sovereignty and an aspect of that was hostility to Brussels (actually Strasbourg) telling us what to do. ‘We should have our own laws’ was a frequent refrain. This has re-emerged with the proposed Rwanda flights and a desire by some politicians to come out of the European Convention. There is a deep belief in the primacy of British Justice with its ancient traditions going back to Magna Carta. This and other cases demonstrate that this sanguine view of our justice system is misplaced.

Climate protests

The state has the power to lock people up and juries are a means of tempering this power he said. The plain fact was that the fossil fuel companies mounted well-funded campaigns to promote their activities and frustrate governments trying curb fossil fuel use. There is a close association between government, Big Oil and the media. Sections of the media refer to protestors as an ‘eco-mob’, ‘zealots’ or a ‘rabble’ among other epithets. Fossil fuel companies fund several Tufton Street think tanks with millions, yet TV companies, including the BBC and Channel 4, fail to ask interviewees from them, ‘who funds you?’

The various protest organisations including XR and Just Stop Oil angered government ministers by highlighting the shortcomings of government actions in dealing with the climate crisis. Their activities had also angered members of the public who were sometimes inconvenienced. As ever, a totally peaceful protest is ignored but glue yourself to the pavement and you achieve some publicity.

Arrest

So Trudi Warner was arrested for contempt of court and ended up in the Old Bailey for trial 8 days later. At a permission hearing which establishes whether there is an arguable case, it was thrown out by the judge who said that the ‘government had mischaracterised the evidence‘ and that it was ‘fanciful to suggest that Ms Warner’s actions fall into the category of contempt‘. The government said it is to appeal the decision [before the election was called]. It is ironic to note that a plaque celebrating the seventeenth century Bushell case is fixed to a wall in … the Old Bailey. To remind ourselves – the placard merely pointed out the plain fact that a jury has the right to decide a matter according to its conscience and to disagree with the judge’s direction.

Conclusion

The government has introduced a range of bills which all have an effect of making protest more difficult and risky. Police have been given more powers which they have used in preventing protests from taking place including, for example, at the Coronation. There is a kind of cosy alliance between Big Oil with its range of well-funded lobbyists; a government all too keen to restrict protest, and some media organisations who eagerly demonise protestors and deny climate science. In the process, rights and justice are trampled on. If, as is being predicted, a Labour government comes into power on 5th July, it will be interesting to see if they pursue the appeal. It will a quick test on whether they will follow in the authoritarian footsteps of their predecessors or adopt a more permissive regime. Early signs are not promising as they do not have plans to annul any of the existing legislation.

During the webinar, we saw clips of film of the protests prepared by Page 75 Productions who will be hosting a showing of the full film in September. A video can be accessed here.

Sources: Good Law Project; The Guardian; The Canary; Christian Climate Actions

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Iran: death penalty overturned


Toomaj Salehi’s death penalty overturned. Rare good news from Iran

June 2024

The Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has been spared the death penalty it was reported by Reuters this morning. A number of celebrities have called for his release including Sting. He is not totally out of the woods however since he will be retried and is likely to be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. His crime was to sing songs in favour of the many protests which have taken place in the country.

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Vigil #29


Encouraging numbers attended the Vigil

June 2024

Over 40 attended the Vigil this Saturday evening (22nd June) and encouragingly, the numbers swelled with new passers by stopping and spending time with us. This is especially encouraging since a lot of reporting is now focused on the general election and news of Gaza has dropped down the running order or has disappeared altogether. Approaching 37,000 have died in Gaza during the conflict and it shows little sign of ending.

We are pleased to include a video clip of this Vigil made by Peter Gloyn.

During the week, power in the West Bank passed from the IDF to the far-right politician Bezalel Smotrich in a move likely to cause more misery. There will be few controls on settler violence and further annexations have already started. Smotrich and his supporters are now in control of the West Bank and the violence against Palestinians is certain to increase thus further increasing tensions.

Previous post: UK selling arms to Israel

Picture: Salisbury Amnesty

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Death penalty urgent actions


June 2024

We have received the following from Amnesty’s Death Penalty project. One concerns attempts by the Republicans in Texas to seek the death penalty for those offering abortions. A second rather distressing post concerns the botched execution attempt of Thomas Creech, one of 9 bungled attempts in the USA in the last 4 years.

Urgent is the case of Ramiro Gonzales who is due to be executed in 6 days on 26th of June. Finally, Toomaj Salehi in Iran, an Iranian rapper who is on death row.

If you are able to take action on at least one of them that would be appreciated. See full details of the above on the link below.

Urgent actions

https://email.amnestyuk.org.uk/c/12h86yI3jySIshFmwHiOQdFIwbXU

Video link

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Vigil – 6 months


June 2024

Group members attended the Vigil in Salisbury Market Place yesterday and the numbers were back up to well over 30 who came. There were new faces as well as the stalwarts. It’s six months since we have been going to these and the violence in Gaza and the West Bank shows no sign of abating. Peace talks don’t look as though they are going anywhere. The US and President Biden are looking increasingly powerless as time goes by.

The Salisbury group was established 50 years ago this year
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CAAT News


Summer edition of Campaign Against the Arms Trade news highlights many troubling issues around the this trade

June 2024

UPDATE: 20 June 2024. This post mentions the ‘revolving door’ where senior military personnel, civil servants and politicians go off to lucrative posts in the companies they were supposed to be controlling before retiring. Private Eye has done extensive work on this (see link below) and in the current edition No: 1624, there is an article about the Israeli arms firm Elbit who have recently taken on Sir Mark Poffley, formerly of the MoD. He had senior positions in logistics and hence would have had a lot to do with contracts. MoD have awarded Elbit with contracts worth £57m.

There is supposed to be a 2 year gap between leaving and taking up a role and lobbying previous colleagues. Private Eye questions whether this two years has indeed elapsed since although he is supposed to have left in 2018, documents show he remained as master general of logistics in 2022. ACOBA (see below) say these posts are ‘honorary’ and so do not infringe the two year rule.

Elbit, make the drones which are a feature of the Gaza campaign. Elbit say the drones used over Gaza are not made in Bristol.

The arms trade has a severe impact on human rights in countries around the world. We have already highlighted the fact that the UK government is continuing to issue licences to the Israeli government despite the horrific death toll in Gaza.

A troubling development is the increase in the number of universities engaged in research programmes funded by, or in partnership with, arms companies. CAAT, in conjunction with Demilitarise Education has published a new report Weaponising Universities. The report describes the nature of the research projects and makes a number of recommendations for universities, faculties and students (p56ff). Protests by students have taken place at Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield, Liverpool. Newcastle and Glasgow as awareness grows of what is happening.

Campaigners blocked access to the Bristol Arms Fair for a time. Among the exhibitors was Elbit, an Israeli arms company, which supplies weapons used in the Gaza conflict. The protest aimed to show that such firms were not welcome in the City.

There are two issues important in the arms industry: one is the lax control on what and to whom weapons are sold and two, the immense support offered by the UK government to the arms companies. The government claims it has robust controls in place yet weapons are sold to Turkey, Israel, Saudi, Qatar and other nations where abuses are taking place. There is a whole government department in place CAAT reports, called the UK Defence & Security Exports which uses public money to support the sale of arms around the world. The department’s title has a certain Orwellian feel to it with the use of ‘defence’ and ‘security’ to describe itself. Who could be opposed to defence or security? Unfortunately, what is sold is far from either of these things and are used to kill, or oppress.

Companies have almost limitless access to ministers and civil servants via extensive lobbying and countless meetings. Then there is the ‘revolving door’ which has been reported on in depth by Private Eye. This is the scandalous and cosy relationship between government and business, including the arms firms, whereby retiring military people, senior civil servants and ministers are offered lucrative positions or consultancies once they retire. It is an invitation for corruption. The Aerospace, Defence & Security Group (note those words again) hold lavish dinners for politicians and industry figureheads. Altogether, a multi-layered system of contacts enabling arms firms to exert considerable influence over politicians and civil servants. If any progress is ever to be made to put a stop to this deeply entrenched system of influence then at the very least, contacts should be reported on and there should be a considerably greater level of transparency. ACOBA, the toothless department which notionally controls the revolving door has to be radically strengthened. Essentially, instead of policing this system, the UK government is a willing participant and appears to have lost all objectivity. And remember, these are companies which sell weapons which kill.

CAAT News has much more on countries such as Saudi, Australia, Russia, China and more. There is also a piece on the Twickenham Arms Fair and is also a report on Barclays who are heavily involved in financing Elbit and BAE Systems with over £4bn in loans and financial services.

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June minutes


June 2024

We are pleased to attach the minutes of our June meeting thanks to group member Lesley for producing them. We have noted before that they are rather longer than normal minutes but as we do not produce a newsletter they act as a kind of replacement for that.

As we are the only group in Wiltshire now, any ex-members of the Marlborough or Devizes groups who might just pick up on this are welcome to get in touch. Also north Dorset. You would be welcome to come to our summer party.

June minutes (Word)Download
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Refugee report – June


June 2024

As the General Election approaches, immigration continues to be on the agenda, although different interests claim different levels of concern.  Immigration is the top concern for 27% of the population (54% among Conservative voters in 2019 to 15% among Labour voters.)  The latest YouGov poll places it behind the cost of living, health and the economy. 

The Migration Observatory has a comparison between Conservative and Labour policies.  Notably, with regard to small boats, the Labour Party has said it wants to spend money currently earmarked for the Rwanda scheme on enforcement activity instead.  It would establish a new ‘Border Security Command’ to prosecute gangs operating small boat routes and enhance security cooperation with the EU, and negotiate a deal with the EU to return asylum seekers to EU countries.

The Election has placed some ongoing legislation in difficulty, particularly the Illegal Migration Act (2023), some of which is already law, but some parts not yet enacted have been described by practitioners as ‘messy’.

The Government is still pushing the Rwanda plan (interesting to note that the Australian Government, which came up with a similar idea, has recently had 5 Rwandans on their shores).  ‘Operation Vector’, to give it its title, remains in the Conservative manifesto; the cost of the project so far is believed to be about £240 million, though the Parliamentary Public Affairs Committee, quoting National Audit research, record it would cost £500 million by 2033 if implemented.

The small boat numbers continue to be high at over 10,000 arrivals this year so far.  Ironically, 316 migrants arrived in 5 boats on 6th June.  The main countries of origin continue to be Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, now joined by Turkey.

There has been a drop in the grant rate for asylum seekers in the last year (down from 74% accepted to 62%).  This may be exacerbated by the ongoing backlog clearance, where the hardest cases will be left to last.  In Q1 only 43% were allowed, which will no doubt add to the number of appeals.

Refugee Week starts on 17th June.  The theme is Our Home.  The organisers have a list of events, plus things you can do at home (some quite simple).  

Andrew Hemming

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