In a rare but extremely welcome turn of events, a young protester was found not guilty of violent disorder by a jury at Kingston Crown Court on Monday 7th November.
The charges related to the protest at Millbank last November, but the jury were quick to find the police evidence severely lacking.
This result gives hope to the many protesters awaiting trial. But please don’t forget to write letters and support the families of those not so fortunate. See here for contact details of prisoners, including Omar Ibrahim and Ben Sunderland who were both convicted last Friday.
You can write to Ben here:
Benjamin Sunderland
A6968CH
HMYOI Feltham
Bedfont Road
Feltham
TW13 4ND
And Omar here:
London ABC
c/o Freedom Bookshop
Angel Alley
84b Whitechapel High Street
London
E1 7QX
Omar Ibrahim wrote a piece for the Guardian before his sentence was handed down last Friday. In it he writes:
‘Following the student protests, the massive trade union marches, the alleged pre-arrests before the royal wedding and this summer’s civil unrest, we are seeing a rapid and massive expansion of the category of those people the state deems fit to incarcerate. I am being sent to jail on the most spurious of charges, just as many others are too. I am not asking you to feel sorry for me – I am asking you to think seriously about the kind of government and legal system that believes the only way to deal with dissent is to put it behind bars.’
