The United Kingdom must stop using anti-terror laws to prosecute peaceful protesters as it did against the so-called Stansted 15 immigration activists, UN human rights experts said in a press release on Wednesday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2019) The United Kingdom must stop using anti-terror laws to prosecute peaceful protesters as it did against the so-called Stansted 15 immigration activists, UN human rights experts said in a press release on Wednesday.During a sentencing hearing earlier in the day, a UK judge ruled that the members of the Stansted 15 will not serve jail time for their offenses. In December, the fifteen activists were charged for preventing a deportation flight carrying undocumented migrants from leaving Stansted Airport in March 2017.
"We call on the UK Government to refrain from applying security and terrorism-related legislation to prosecute peaceful political protesters and critics of State policy who are engaged in non-violent expression, protest and political advocacy," the experts said. "It appears that such charges were brought [against the Stansted 15] to deter others from taking similar peaceful direct action to defend human rights and in particular the protection of asylum seekers."
The experts said prosecuting the fifteen protesters under the UK's Aviation and Maritime Security Act does not reflect the statutory intent of the law and fails to take into account the potential for abuse.
In a letter that the experts sent to the UK government on February 1, they also reiterated the importance of the right to peaceful protest and drew attention that the use of terrorism-related legislation to prosecute the protesters may encroach on this right.
In December, the activists were found guilty of compromising the airport's safety, something which constitutes a terrorist offense that prescribes a life sentence.
The Titan Airways Boeing 767, chartered by the UK Home Office, was expected to deliver 60 people to Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone, but the activists prevented the aircraft from taking off. On March 18, 2017, the activists cut a hole in the airport's perimeter fence, approached the aircraft as it was getting ready to take off and surrounded the plane. Prior to the arrival of the police, the activists were able to display banners protesting against forced deportation flights.
