At the beginning of the month, a protest march concerning Palestine Action which was peaceful and attended by large numbers of elderly people, resulted in over 800 arrests. No police officers were reported to be injured.
On Saturday, 110,000 attended a rally in London where the police struggled to restrain the violence, where bloodthirsty, threatening and violent statements were made by Elon Musk and others and 26 police officers were injured. There were 28 arrests.
We still meet on Saturday outside the Library in the centre of Salisbury to promote the idea of peace in the Middle East. The carnage continues. The death toll stands at an estimated 64,871 of which over 19,000 are children. It is thought that 422 have died of starvation. There is no viable peace negotiation currently underway.
Israel recently attacked a building in Qatar saying it was occupied by Hamas individuals who carried out the 9 October massacre. The attack is contrary to international law and the Qataris are furious. Israel informed the US before the attack as they have a major base in that country. The attack seems to indicate a boldness by the Israelis supported as they are by the US.
One attendee at the vigil was wearing this shirt to emphasise that the conflict has its roots in 1948 Nakba where around 750,000 – 1 million Arabs and Palestinians were displaced or lost their lives in the campaign by the IDF to displace them. Current media attention is on the 7 October massacre by Hamas and not on the events in 1948.
A video of the vigil can be viewed here thanks to Peter Gloyns for producing it.
No sign of the local MP, Mr John Glen nor any mention of the vigil in his weekly Salisbury Journal column. He is reported to be a member of Conservative Friends of Israel.
We are pleased to attach our minutes and newsletter for this month which has reports by members on the death penalty, the vexed issue of immigration and our increasing concerns about the erosion of rights in the UK. There are also details of forthcoming meetings and activities (so far planned). Thanks to group member Lesley for preparing these.
Much of our coverage of human rights issues on this site features overseas countries and indeed there is a lot to write about. The latest edition of the Amnesty magazine (Autumn 2025, Issue 226) has a feature on the rise and arguably increasing number of authoritarian leaders for whom human rights are things to be suppressed by all means possible. The list includes Javier Milei of Argentina; Narendra Modi with his draconian anti-terrorism law used to target activists, journalists, students, protesters and others.
Vladimir Putin needs no introduction nor does Xi Jinping who enacts repressive laws, persecutes Uyghurs and the repression of Tibetan culture continue unabated. Others include Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi who is busy wooing anyone who’ll listen while engaged in suppression of any dissent and who has executed record numbers in 2024. Victor Orban who has increasingly targeted civil society while remaining a member of the EU. Netanyahu in Israel is well known and presiding over genocide in Gaza and intensifying violence and apartheid in the West Bank. He bans foreign journalists and the UN from entering Gaza.
‘Chilling effect’
But there are worries in the UK with more and more laws being passed to inhibit protests and empower the police to arrest or interdict such protests and those attending them. Palestine Action has been much in the news and the organisation was declared a terrorist group by the previous Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper. A high court judge has ruled that the co-founder of PA can bring an unprecedented legal challenge to the Home Secretary’s decision. Mr Justice Chamberlain said the proscription order against the group risked ‘considerable harm to the public interest’ because of the ‘chilling effect’ on legitimate political speech.
At the recent rally on 6th September in London organised by Defend our Juries, police arrested nearly 900 people many of whom were carrying Palestine Action placards. A 3 day hearing starts in November and it will be the first time an appeal is allowed against a ‘terrorist’ organisation. The court has given permission for both Amnesty and Liberty to intervene in the hearing.
Human Rights Watch: World Report
HRW’s World Report amplifies the above comments in its section on the UK. Laws criminalising protest undermine democratic rights they note. They remain on the statute book and the Labour government shows no sign of repealing them. The 2023 Public Order Act, the 2020 Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act also remain on the statute book both of which increased police powers and act to limit free speech.
There are comments about the increasing disparity in wealth in the UK. On immigration and asylum it notes the failure to provide safe routes and how politicians and some media outlets have contributed to a hostile environment towards ethnic and racial minorities.
Policing
Since 2002, the police have had an increasing presence in schools under the SaferSchools Partnership programme. Liberty has found no evidence that this police presence has made them safer and that there is no reliable evidence that such presence reduces crime or violence. One problem is that police are mandated to report crime in schools even it may be inappropriate in the circumstances. Lack of funding for mental health leads police to step into roles unrelated to policing it notes One of their recommendations is that police a more supportive roles in PSHE activities. See the report for more details.
It cannot be argued that the UK is anywhere near the situation in some of the countries briefly mentioned above. Journalists are not murdered as in Russia, opposition politicians are not imprisoned for no reason which happens in Saudi, there are no second class citizens as in Israel. However, the slow drip of legislation and increasing police powers, widening use of facial recognition even in peaceful protests, a legal system largely the preserve of the very rich and elements of our media all too happy to laud clampdowns and arrests of those they don’t like are matters of increasing concern. We shall continue to highlight these issues in our posts.
This is a short list of things we have planned for the coming months. If you were thinking of joining us, one of these would be a good opportunity to come and make yourself known. Joining the group is free.
World Day Against the Death Penalty is on 10 October. The group has focused on Oklahoma this year as part of Amnesty’s campaign of asking groups to focus on a particular state in the Union. There will be a separate post about this shortly. For anyone who wants to be involved with stopping the use of this penalty which is the ultimate cruel punishment and where mistakes cannot be rectified, let us know.
Our annual carol singing takes place on 23 December.
The next group meeting is on 9th October at 2pm in Victoria Road.
We have a coffee morning booked for February next year in St Thomas’s church, Salisbury. Details nearer the time.
Members of the group attend the weekly vigil for peace in the Middle East outside the Library each Saturday starting at 5pm for half an hour.
Keep an eye out here or on Facebook or Bluesky for updates @salisburyai.
This month has been overshadowed by arguments around flags. Leaving aside the question of accommodation for asylum seekers, I wanted to provide a summary of the worldwide situation.
123 million refugees worldwide
At the end of 2024 there were estimated to be 123.2 million “refugees”, of whom 42.7 million have refugee status, 73.5 million are internally displaced within their own country and 8.4 million are seeking asylum. (4.4 million are officially stateless). That amounts to 1 in 67 of the world’s population in flight. The largest numbers by country were from Syria (see more below) 13 million, Sudan 12 million, and Ukraine 10 million. Interestingly, the numbers returning home during the year were 20,000 Syrians, 73,000 Ukrainians but only 3,700 Sudanese (hardly surprising). Of 8 million Congolese in exile, only 122 returned home during the year.
On the return question, the UK’s deal to return one for one asylum seekers to France has started and the UK government is seeking a similar arrangement with Germany. Since the aim is to reduce the backlog of pending applications, it is worth noting that the appeals backlog is currently around 70,000 (90,000 last year). The main reason for the failure to reduce the numbers dramatically is the decline in the acceptance rate. Whereas in 2023/4, 58% of applications were accepted in 2024/5 this was down to 48%, resulting in more appeals and more processing time. Also the quality of the assessments has been criticised as leading to more overturning of decisions. Among Afghan asylum seekers 96% were granted leave last year and only 40% this year (though only 8 families were actually returned in 2024/5). This pattern is general – of 96,910 refusals between 2020 and 2024, only 24,508 people were actually returned.
New Home Secretary
With a new Home Secretary we must expect more legislation on small boats. The number of people crossing this year is, of course, up on last year’s figure by 27%, mostly due to prolonged fine weather.
The reshuffle has meant that Home Office ministers Angela Eagle and Seema Malhotra have been moved to other departments, signalling probable change in policy under the new minister.
Section 80B of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 has been amended to take account of Brexit and the lapse of the old Dublin rules about seeking asylum in the first safe country arrived at. The rules on “inadmissibility” have been tightened to make it possible for any perceived connection to a third county grounds for deporting applicants to that (“safe”) country.
Still in the UK, the previous Home Secretary temporarily suspended applications for family reunion. It remains to be seen if the right will be restored.
The Council of Europe has issued a report warning member countries against outsourcing application processing to third countries.
The MOD has admitted 49 data breaches in the handling of Afghan applications; this will have a very damaging effect on giving information about Afghans who served the pro-Western government to the current leadership. Following the leak, the then government set up the Afghanistan Response Route secretly to aid 7,000 Afghans to come here. It was ended in June without any detail of its success or otherwise.
Outside of Europe the USA has now done deals to deport “illegal” immigrants to Rwanda, South Sudan, Eswatini and Uganda. The latter country has 2 million refugees from the DRC within its borders. President Trump has suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program – President Biden set it up with a cap on the number of arrivals of 125,000. Trump has decided on allowing 40,000 immigrants, of whom he wants 30,000 to be Afrikaners from South Africa.
…But finally, some good news. Following the overthrow of Assad, the UNHCR report that 2 million Syrians have returned home, 600,000 of them from abroad.
We are pleased to attach the latest death penalty report for the above period thanks for the work put in by group member Lesley in compiling it. Contains extensive information from the US where the appetite for executions seems to be increasing in some states. Florida for example is the leading state at the moment. We have to caution as ever that China executes more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined but information is a state secret.
Sharifa Mohamadi sentenced to death in Iran for her human rights work.
The situation in Gaza gets ever worse with 63,000 now dead many of whom women and children. Around 330 have now died as a result of starvation and this number is set to grow. Peace looks a long way off and from the Israeli perspective, with American and Trump’s unqualified support, they are able to continue without let or hindrance. American support has even extended to banning members of the PLO from attending the UN.
The president of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials have had their visas revoked. The reason is because the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed them for undermining peace efforts and for ‘seeking the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state’. We seem to have entered a looking glass world as far as the Americans are concerned. The Palestinians are far from being as white as snow but they are far, far weaker than Israel who have all the weapons and materiel needed for the campaign of destruction in Gaza.
On the subject of weapons, the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition to be held in London starting shortly will not feature a stand by the Israeli government. Their arms firms will still be there however. The UK government has decided not to allow a delegation to attend. “The Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” a UK government spokesperson said. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.“
The BBC coyly refers to the exhibition using the word ‘defence’ and there will no doubt be defence firms there. But it is much more about our arms industry, heavily promoted and subsidised by our government, and which sells arms to many of the world’s troubled countries thus aiding in the carnage. The government claims it has ‘robust controls’ but with the big rise in open licences, this is a dubious claim. The fact that they were happy to allow Israel to attend until yesterday, only days before opening, speaks volumes. We should never forget the victims in these conflicts are women, children and the vulnerable. British firms profit, millions suffer. The extent of UK support for Israel is hard to quantify. RAF flights over Gaza continue the purpose of which is unclear.
There is still no sign of the local MP Mr John Glen and he did not mention the vigils in his weekly Salisbury Journal column which focused on his work getting to know people in his constituency. He is a member of the Friends of Israel lobby group in the Commons.
A video of the vigil, attended by around 40, is available here courtesy of Peter Gloyns.
Local MP takes aim at ‘gesture politics’ concerning Palestine and Gaza
August 2025
In a previous post we analysed the Commons statements by our three local MPs, Mr John Glen, Mr Danny Kruger and Sir Desmond Swayne. We concluded that the latter was the only one who spoke up about the war in Gaza. Mr Glen is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel so any comments or speeches critical of Israel were unlikely. Mr Kruger appeared to have accepted the claims from Israel that Hamas fighters were embedded in the various buildings they are bombing.
In a piece in this week’s Salisbury Journal, Sir Desmond Swayne (Conservative, New Forest West) writes about Palestine under a piece entitled Britain’s gesture politics are a disgrace (28 August). He refers to the government’s intention, along with France, to recognise a Palestine state. He acknowledged this was ‘gesture’ politics but accepts that sometimes such gestures are called for.
‘For years the objective of [British government policy] has been the implementation of a Palestine state base on the occupied West Bank. Throughout this time however, Israel’s actions have been designed to thwart any such prospect’ he writes. He mentions the growing policy of apartheid in the country.
The recent announcement by the Israeli government to build a further illegal settlement which will cut the West Bank in two thus making the prospect of a functioning Palestine state almost impossible. ‘The intention is clear’ he notes quoting Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, who said “they’ll keep talking about a Palestinian dream, and we’ll keep on building a Jewish reality … a reality that buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there’s nothing to recognise.”
David Lammy ‘at a complete loss’
How are we to respond? he asks to the man-made famine in Gaza, as well as the continuing devastation of civilian life. Every time ministers come to the Commons to face the anger of what is being done in Palestine they reiterate that they are ‘very cross about it’. Ministers point to the modest actions they have taken but when MPs point out that these actions have had no impact, the Secretary of State, David Lammy refers to ‘further actions’ that they will consider. Sir Desmond reports that when he asked the SoS ‘what further actions?’ he was directed to the Oxford English Dictionary to look up the meanings of the two words. Very drole.
Sir Desmond concludes that David Lammy is no doubt appalled by what is happening but is ‘at a complete loss’. We are in thrall to the Trump administration and we know that they will not allow any effective sanctions against Israel. It is refreshing to hear a politician spell out the plain fact that Britain is largely powerless. To quote Sir Desmond “it is time to call a spade a bloody shovel”.
“So we stand and watch as Gaza burns and the West Bank is swallowed. We will be judged accordingly”. (Sir Desmond Swayne, Salisbury Journal).
The leader of the Reform party sets out his policy for handling immigrants and asylum seekers
August 2025
Nigel Farage made a speech yesterday (26th) setting out his ideas for handling the rising numbers of immigrants and asylum seekers many of whom arrived in boats across the Channel. Often termed ‘illegal’ immigrants although it is not illegal to come via this method if asylum is claimed. The whole issue of asylum seekers, boat crossings and hotels has become headline news in recent months and there have been protests outside some of them most notably in Epping. A case started today (26 August) concerning an Ethiopian man alleged to have sexually assaulted a 14 year old girl and this has added to the widespread sense of outrage.
Mr Farage in his speech promised to fix the problem in quick order if he became prime minister. His speech has made headlines because of his poll lead which if maintained, could conceivably mean he will be a prime minister after the next election. Some polls show a 15 point lead over Labour. He promised to launch ‘Operation Restoring Justice‘ which would involve leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (joining Russia and Belarus), repealing the Human Rights Act and disapplying the Refugee Convention. This is to enable the UK to detain every migrant arriving illegally. Countries will be persuaded by a mixture of ‘carrot and stick’ to take them back. These will include countries with poor human rights records such as Iran, Afghanistan and Sudan where the risk of torture or death is extremely likely. The detentions will include women and children he made clear. They ‘will never be allowed to stay’ he said.
Critical issues arose in the press conference and included the cost and where they will be housed while deportations are arranged. He was not able to answer these questions. By amending or abolishing the legislations and coming out of the ECHR etc, it will frustrate the ability of lawyers to prevent deportations largely because the majority do have asylum claims which are legitimate. Over the coming days, other criticisms will appear. For example, existing English law, upon which the ECHR was largely founded after the war, provides protections despite membership of the Convention. Will foreign countries be willing to accept the large numbers involved?
Human rights
The concern here though is the desire to rid us of the ECHR and to repeal the Human Rights Act. This has popped up as a policy in several Conservative manifestos but has never actually come to pass. Local MP Danny Kruger is an advocate of this policy. Mr Farage’s ideas gained favourable coverage in some of the newspapers with the Daily Mail saying in a headline ‘Finally a politician who gets it’ [26 August, accessed 27 August]. His indifference to those he proposes returning to countries where torture is routine was particularly noteworthy. It is interesting however, looking at the comments from readers many of which were not supportive of his comments despite the uncritical nature of the article. The extent to which Mr Farage and Reform are making the waves was clear from the responses from the two main parties. Kemi Badenoch complaining that Reform had stolen their policies and a No 10 statement merely saying that Labour could not rule out leaving the ECHR. There was strong condemnation from the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Farage couched his speech in terms of a public mood of ‘total despair and rising anger’. It is disappointing to note the feeble and pusillanimous nature of the responses in particular from No 10. Britain was in the lead in promoting a new world order after the war following the Atlantic Conference. The ECHR was based a lot on British principles of justice. We would join only Russia and Belarus if we left – neither country a ringing endorsement of rights and human dignity. It is also disappointing to see newspapers like the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph (How Farage would kick 600,000 migrants out of Britain) seemingly to endorse Mr Farage with little sign of critical analysis. The Telegraph even had a story headed ‘We’re ready to work with Farage on migration says Taliban‘. The human rights situation in Afghanistan is abysmal.
How have we come to a situation where prejudice and a lack of critical reporting about the almost unworkable and hugely expensive proposals put forward by Reform are treated in this way? Instead of a robust response and clear statements of how to tackle problems, the two main parties seem to be falling over themselves to ape Reform policies. Partly it is because they confuse some newspaper reporting as reflective of the wider public’s feelings about immigration which are a lot less black and white. It may also be a reflection of years of negative articles by some newspapers about human rights – and by extension the Human Rights Act – claiming it is a criminal’s charter. It is perhaps not surprising that part of Mr Farage’s speech was about the HRA and he spoke of ‘removing the tools from our judiciary’ to prevent successful asylum claims.
A point he referred to several times was around ‘whose side are you on?’ This was in answer to a question from the BBC concerning the risk of returnees being tortured. His answer was ‘are you on the side of the safety of our women and children on our streets, or on the side of outdated treaties backed up by dubious courts’. Another quote was defending our borders and keeping our people safe. There is no evidence of women and children rendered unsafe on our streets disproportionately by immigrants (illegal or otherwise). The torture question was asked more than once.
The tone of the presentation was that immigrants are a threat to our society. That women and girls are unsafe despite the fact that many asylum seekers and others are in secured accommodation. By extension, many of our problems would be removed in short order if he became prime minister. The HRA and other laws and treaties are part of the problem he claims.
Reflections
Mr Farage, despite being a member of a party with only 4 MPs, is able to command a big audience from a speech and to be the lead item on many news channels.
He enjoys wide and largely uncritical support in chunks of the media.
Mr Farage himself (!) noted an interesting point, namely most of the press questions were about process. There was little of a moral or principled point of view.
A large part of his speech was based on dubious claims and unsubstantiated facts. There are problems surrounding immigration and he is correct that both parties have been ham-fisted in trying to deal with them and failing. But solutions are complex and the nation cannot simply step away from international treaties and agreements.
He does not discuss the reactions from other nations from his set of unilateral proposals to deport all illegal migrants. The question is – what if all countries decided to do the same? He spoke of return agreements and an expert from the Migration Observatory said in an interview that such agreements had a mixed history.
He speaks as though the UK is uniquely affected by these problems. The reality is that the scale of displaced people around the world is massive. There are 36.8m refugees worldwide and 123m displaced people according to UNHCR. The UK’s problems in comparison are miniscule. We are also a rich country better able than most to tackle the problem with capable leadership. Many of the millions are in, or adjacent to, countries which are among the world’s poorest. No part of his speech discussed what could be done to tackle the worldwide problem.
So whose side are we on to pose Mr Farage’s question? Not his.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 