Charity which holds power to account for climate breakdown and exposes the fossil fuel industry's subversion of jury trials and democracy
#DefendOurJuries
MEDICAL PROFESSION RALLIES ROUND SARAH BENN
“Doctors cannot understand how a doctor can be punished for taking action to mitigate the damage to nature and climate, the major threat to global health"
@gmcuk
@TheBMA
@TheDA_UK
@TheLancetPlanet
@bmj_latest
1. YOUNG WOMAN ARRESTED IN DAWN POLICE RAID FOR HOLDING A SIGN WITH THE LAW ON IT
At 6.15am on Wednesday 18 October, 5 policemen pulled up outside the house of
@IndigoRumbelow
in an unmarked police car 🧵
1. BREAKING: TODAY, HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE NATIONWIDE replicate the action of
#TrudiWarner
, the 68 year-old retired social worker, threatened with prison for upholding the law on a sign 🧵
1.5˚C has gone.
And with it the credibility of the COP process, our duplicitous Governments and the false assumptions they proceed from.
What do we do now?
1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF GAS IN GAZA 🧵
In 1999, the Palestinian National Authority (‘PNA’) signs a 25 year contract for gas exploration with British Gas (‘BG’)
Judge 'Silencing' Reid defeated by show of people power ✊💚 🔥
When Trudi Warner, a 68 year-old, retired social worker, signed the right of jurors to act on their conscience, Reid had her arrested.
But when 24 of us did the same thing, he backed down.
1. On Wednesday, the Government plans to stop juries acquitting the wonderful people taking necessary measures to protect life and to protect us all.
Please join us outside the *Royal Courts of Justice at 9am, 21 Feb* to stand up for trial by jury and democracy 🧵
1. BREAKING: Mass public call for the suspension of 'dangerous embarrassment' Judge Reid after he threatens jury with criminal charges
More than 1,800 sign letter to Lady Chief Justice, including Chris Packham, groups of lawyers and doctors and people from all walks of life 🧵
"I think what is more important is probably our existence in the future rather than slight disruption of sporting events or other things"
You've got a point there,
@GaryLineker
3. THE GOVERNMENT'S VIOLENCE BACKFIRES as public and civil society unite in opposition
Today, 240 people at 24 courts across England and Wales risk prison by holding the same sign as Trudi, while legal and health professionals rally round
#DefendOurJuries
9. DR JULIETTE BROWN, consultant psychiatrist and spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said:
“Handcuffs and dawn raids on peaceful campaigners are the chilling signs of a repressive state hellbent on protecting power and profit from legitimate challenge."
BREAKING: HEATHROW VERDICT
I am breaking the court embargo on Heathrow to protest against the injustice of the verdict, which is a betrayal of the younger generation and those on the frontline of the crisis in the UK and around the world:
1. BREAKING:
@Michael4MDNP
, the UK Solicitor General, will apply for the committal to prison of Trudi Warner, for holding up a simple and truthful sign outside court 🧵
@GoodLawProject
@attorneygeneral
3. HER SUPPOSED CRIMES? Holding up a sign with the law on it outside a Court in May. With the same words that are on a plaque set in marble in the Old Bailey (see last two lines in the picture below). And giving a speech about civil resistance.
UN MAKES EXTRAORDINARY INTERVENTION, ACCUSING BRITISH GOVMT OVER:
*prison sentences for environmental defenders, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, and
*"direct attack on the right to the freedom of peaceful assembly"
5. THREE GENERATIONS JOIN HANDS. Outside Bristol Crown Court, Renee Slater, grandmother, 84, Sarah MacDonald, mother, 56, and Vivi MacDonald, daughter, 19 are holding signs together
“The repression of legitimate protest must still, and always be resisted.”
4. ONE OF MANY. Since Trudi Warner was arrested in March, more than 300 people have openly held similar signs outside courts, to demonstrate against measures to undermine trial by jury. But none have been arrested or even asked to move on.
5. WHY WAS ONE WOMAN SINGLED OUT? Although holding the sign was presented as the main reason for her arrest, she was also questioned about giving a speech for Just Stop Oil (see pic below). She appears to have been targeted for this reason.
10. DR CLIVE DOLPHIN, spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, said:
"If anything this intimidation is likely to motivate more people to defend the rights of juries. I'm expecting more demonstrations not less."
BREAKING: Barrister renounces status over "courts' support for climate breakdown"
"A barrister has the professional duty to respect the authority of the courts. But I cannot respect these courts any longer."
#LawyersAreResponsible
BREAKING: Jury at Southwark Crown Court finds climate protestors NOT GUILTY of criminal damage.
Roger Hallam and Dave Durant admitted causing the damage but argued it was a proportionate response to the climate crisis.
Huge moment for justice! Huge moment for life!
BREAKING: The High Court has dismissed the case against Trudi Warner in a stinging rebuke to Judge Reid and the Solicitor General.
Say it loud and proud: "JURIES HAVE A RIGHT TO ACQUIT A DEFENDANT ON THEIR CONSCIENCE" 💚✊ 🔥
BREAKING: The High Court has this morning dismissed the application of Robert Courts MP, the Solicitor General, to imprison Trudi Warner, a 69 year-old retired social worker, for holding a sign outside Inner London Crown Court in 2023.
Full press release:
4. WE ARE ALL TRUDI WARNER! Eminent Professor of Criminal Law, Richard Vogler, publishes an article in The Barrister, “We are All Trudi Warner! Promoting the Rights of Jurors in the Twenty First Century”
@theBarrister
@thebarcouncil
@BarristerSecret
2. THEY THREATENED TO BREAK DOWN HER DOOR. After her housemate opened the door, they handcuffed her, still in her pyjamas, and arrested her. Her house was searched and papers, leaflets and banners seized. She was taken into police custody, interviewed and released 8 hours later.
Dr Gail Bradbrook found guilty after Judge
*bans her from explaining why she did what she did
*threatens to move to trial without a jury
*directs jury she has no defence
*prohibits her from telling the jury they have an absolute right to acquit
7. AND MAXING OUT ON OIL AND GAS RULED ‘LAWFUL’. On 19 Oct, the day following Ms Rumbelow’s arrest, the High Court ruled it lawful for Gov to expand the production of oil and gas, despite failing to consider the impact on climate breakdown.
The British courts have lost the plot.
Banning climate protestors from referring to "climate change" in their defence ...
then charging them with contempt of court for speaking the truth ...
@InsulateLove
@JustStop_Oil
@amnesty
Judge Reid Strikes Back.
He has referred 24 of us to the
@attorneygeneral
for contempt of court for daring to uphold the principle that jurors can make decisions on their conscience.
CENSORED: What juries will now hear about why these courageous people took action against those making vast profits from fossil fuels ...
#StateOfDenial
TODAY, THE SOLICITOR GENERAL APPLIES FOR 'PERMISSION' TO IMPRISON TRUDI WARNER FOR UPHOLDING THE LAW ON A SIGN
Hear Trudi's story in her own words
#WeAreAllTrudiWarner
#DefendOurJuries
"And today everyone is going to hear that the Gov knew Heathrow expansion would breach the Paris limit of 1.5˚C. That is the real story."
#GovernmentKnew
2. LAST WEEK, the Solicitor General
@Michael4MDNP
announced he would apply to the High Court for Trudi’s committal to prison, while
@attorneygeneral
launches a police investigation into others who held similar signs
@EditorsUK
Incredible moment! The Court of Appeal has just ruled that the the Government policy to expand Heathrow is "unlawful" because it failed to take account of the Paris Agreement.
#BellTollingOnCarbonEconomy
8. THE CLIMATE PSYCHOLOGY ALLIANCE WRITES PUBLIC LETTER TO SOLICITOR GENERAL
“In the current context, we consider that Trudi Warner’s action was both appropriate and proportionate and we would be prepared to act in a similar way.”
@UKHealthClimate
Today the jury trail begins of Dr Gail Bradbrook, co-founder of
@XRebellionUK
.
There is mounting concern that, following intense lobbying by fossil fuel industry, the right to trial by jury is under threat for those exposing it lies.
#DefendOurJuries
1. The mask slipped from the British legal system last Wednesday as court security at the Royal Courts of Justice forcefully ejected members of the public, conducting a peaceful and lawful assembly 🧵
7. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC UNITE TO DEFEND OUR JURIES
More than 80% of the British public cite trial by jury as a vital democratic safeguard
@MoJGovUK
@FIJANational
@JudiciaryUK
1. HIGH STAKES TOMORROW as high court to hear government permission application to jail
#TrudiWarner
for holding a sign
If Solicitor General
@robertcourts
is successful, who will be next? 🧵
Brutal and shocking punishment.
James Brown, the visually impaired paralympian, has just been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for his bold and brilliant climate protest at City Airport.
#JamesBrown
#RebelForLife
12. MELINDA JANKI, WINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH RULE OF LAW PRIZE, 2023 ASKS:
“Why is the British Government undermining the jury's fundamental right to curb executive abuse of power? Frightened of truth?”
2. “The Attorney General must know that to interfere in the decisions of juries, just because she doesn’t like the decisions they’re reaching, will be interpreted very badly by British citizens and the rest of the world."
BREAKING: OPEN LETTER TO ALL PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE IN RESPONSE TO ACQUITTAL OF HSBC 9
"They risked their freedom to ... prevent the bank’s own crimes against humanity, £80 billion in fossil fuel investments since the Paris Climate Agreement."
@HSBC_UK
10. TRIAL BY JURY IS THE ULTIMATE SAFEGUARD AGAINST INJUSTICE AND THE ABUSE OF POWER
Juries put the moral sense of ordinary people into the justice system
@ByDonkeys
@libertyhq
@netpol
@AmnestyUK
"Whether you sympathise with Insulate Britain ... surely any defendant is entitled to explain themselves when their liberty is at stake?"
Even
@thetimes
turns on
#JudgeSilasReid
's outrageous gagging orders ...
BREAKING: Today we've served the Government with a Pre-Action Protocol letter over its disastrous bail-outs for business-as-usual.
@BorisJohnson
is following neither the science nor economics, just his corporate sponsors. We can't let this happen:
Cumbria coal-mine, Drax gas plants and Gov's £27.5bn road-building programme, all under fire in the space of a few days ....
Could we be hitting a tipping point where trashing the planet is no longer cool?
LIVE: A lawful peaceful people’s assembly has begun inside the Royal Courts of Justice.
As the corporate state threaten justice and democracy today, the people are upholding the law and life.
See court sketch here. Updates & PR to follow.
4. TOP LAWYER MELINDA JANKI SAYS
"It's unlawful to threaten a jury with criminal charges for applying their conscience to a case. The rule of law depends on accountability for judges who abuse their powers ... I’m joining the call for an investigation into Judge Reid’s conduct."
5. THE UN CONCLUDES: “IN THE WAKE OF THE OPERATION, PALESTINIAN NATURAL GAS FIELDS WERE EFFECTIVELY BROUGHT UNDER ISRAELI CONTROL WITHOUT REGARD FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW.”
We have the solemn duty to report tragic news.
Brother Elorm Dade, 23, courageous XR and Plan B activist, has been lost in action in Ghana.
Vigil, 10 November, Brixton and Glasgow.
#WeAreWitness
#ElormJustice
#LawAsResistance
Two positive notes following the Supreme Court's terrible judgement:
1) We'll take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (unaffected by Brexit)
2) Many more hurdles facing Heathrow, including the Development Consent process
Massively important ruling for civil disobedience! Court of Appeal has overturned the convictions of the Stansted 15: Time to appeal all those unjust convictions of people standing up for life 🔥💚👊🏻
3. PROFESSOR JAMES E. HANSEN, the 'godfather of climate science' and one of the signatories to the letter, says:
"The cruelty of such 'know nothing' judges is not so much to the defendant as it is to our children and grandchildren."
So many people will today read a truth that
@Michael4MDNP
and the courts are trying to keep hidden.
Jury trial gives real power to ordinary people, which is why it's so threatening to a corporate state.
Thank you Professor Vogler!
#DefendOurJuries
Another jury of 12 women and men, another XR acquittal ...
"when a jury hears the truth … with the depth and seriousness they won’t get from the government or the media, they understand the urgent need to act.”"
#RebelForLife
"I have disregarded the order ... not for want of respect for lawful authority, but in obedience to the higher law of our being, the voice of conscience"
M.K. Gandhi
*JURY RIGGED*
@PrivateEyeNews
on the Attorney General's cynical attempt to stop juries reaching not guilty verdicts in trials of those exposing government lies.
What is it about juries you don't trust
@VictoriaPrentis
?
Another jury rules against corporate lies and violence.
12 ordinary people find activist NOT GUILTY of criminal damage to
@arconic
- the company which manufactured cladding for
#GrenfellTower
and parts for the Israeli military.
#DefendOurJuries
Thank you
@ChrisGPackham
for standing up to a billionaire PM, who priorities his allies in the fossil fuel industry over ordinary people and life on earth.
Today I can share I'm challenging the PM on the legality of abandoning key Net Zero commitments
I believe the timeline for the UK to meet Net Zero cannot be changed at will by the PM – I contend that he does not have the legal right
The ball is in your court , Prime Minister
@gmcuk
It is you
@gmcuk
who are undermining public trust in the medical profession.
Your actions expose you as spineless, morally bankrupt.
How dare you waste public funds on persecuting such an honourable public servant?
So
@TheSun
is directing police investigations again?
Would this be the same Murdoch press previously implicated in police corruption and the murder of Daniel Morgan?
Ps. Rupert Murdoch sits on the Board of Genie Oil and Gas
@metpoliceuk
@JustStop_Oil