Locked Up
Criminals or martyrs?
Posted on 20 Jul 24
by Mark HodgsonIn
As is by now widely known, five individuals acting under the auspices of Just Stop Oil were sentenced two days ago to sentences of imprisonment for (variously) four and five years, as a result of findings of guilt relating to charges of conspiracy intentionally to cause a public nuisance. The public nuisance in question was with regard to a plan to disrupt traffic on the M25 motorway round London by encouraging protestors to climb gantries over the motorway.
The media reportage
Views expressed in the media as to the appropriateness of the prison sentences handed down vary greatly depending on the newspaper reporting on the case. However, the usual suspects are incandescent regarding the outcome of the case, railing against what they claim is a profound injustice.
Chris Packham and Dale Vince, writing in the Guardian (naturally) tell us that we may find Just Stop Oil to be annoying, but they do not deserve to be in prison, and that a society that locks them up cannot be called democratic. “Complete madness”, they say. “It is a disgrace and a stain on our country that our courts have been co-opted to do the fossil fuel industry’s dirty work.” Apparently, they are guilty of nothing more than causing us ear ache and being annoying.
Then there’s Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders under the Aarhus Convention. He has issued a statement concerning the four year prison sentence handed down to Daniel Shaw, one of the five defendants in the case. According to Mr Forst:
https://cliscep.com/2024/07/20/locked-up/
