My understanding is that I am unable to mention many issues contained in this article due to secret court orders: UK judge Gags Palestine Action Defendants to Secure ‘Terror’ Stitch-Up so I won’t do that. What I will say is that the UK government and state has gone to considerable lengths to restrict the rights of Palestine Action defendants and supporters of Palestine Action persecuted for holding signs.
At Woolwich Crown Court, there has been a shocking development in the Filton case, five of the six defence barristers have left the trial following judicial rulings which cannot be reported until the end of the trial.
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said today:
“In recent years we have seen judicial rulings that banned climate campaigners from saying the words ‘fuel poverty’ and ‘climate change’ in their trials.
Today we understand a judicial ruling has been given that goes even further, and as a response the legal professionals representing five of the six defendants on trial in the Filton case have no choice but to leave the trial because they have been left with literally nothing they can say in closing arguments.
We should all be alarmed to hear that the legal process has been so corrupted that, today we have lawyers in the UK walking away from a trial because it is impossible for them to do their job of defending their clients.”
The trial of the first six defendants from the group known as the ‘Filton24’ has reached the stage of closing arguments. Five of the six defendants will now be giving their own closing speeches as they have no legal representation.
This is a retrial on charges of criminal damage, after the 6 Filton defendants were acquitted in February 2026 by a jury for the charges of aggravated burglary and violent disorder. The case relates to an action against Elbit’s weapons ‘research and development’ hub in Filton, Bristol, in which they are accused of destroying Israeli quadcopter drones.
Zarah Sultana Exposes ‘Attack on Civil Liberties’ That British Media Can’t Report
Protesters celebrate outside the High Court, central London, where Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn have ruled in favour of Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori’s challenge over the ban of the organisation as a terror groupTHOUSANDS of people are expected to demonstrate against the ban on Palestine Action in central London on Saturday despite police lifting their pause on arresting the sit-down sign-holders.
Protest group Defend Our Juries said the demonstration is to show resistance to the ban, which was ruled unlawful by the High Court in February, “is stronger than ever.”
The 60-minute action will see protesters sit silently holding banners reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” in Trafalgar Square from 1pm.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police announced officers would resume arresting suspected Palestine Action supporters, after the High Court ruled the ban unlawful by allowing it to continue pending the outcome of an appeal by the Home Office.
A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: “The protest against the proscription of Palestine Action has grown beyond a question of the right to protest.
“The actions of the UK government and police following the High Court’s ruling expose what many have long known: democracy in the UK is on its knees.
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They added: “This campaign now extends far beyond Palestine Action, beyond Gaza, and beyond the principles of protest and free speech.
“It speaks to a fundamental erosion of the right to dissent and to hold power to account. This is no longer a marginal issue – it concerns everyone who values democratic freedoms.”
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City of London Police officers during a raid at a property in London used by a suspected member of a phone snatching gang, February 26, 2026HUMAN rights organisations are raising the alarm over the government’s plans for policing, warning that forces will not be held to account.
Inquest, Amnesty International, Runnymede and the Centre for Women’s Justice published an open letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood today, calling for her to reconsider plans that will “weaken the public’s ability to scrutinise” police actions.
The plans would legislate to overturn a landmark judgment following the fatal shooting of unarmed Jermaine Baker in 2015, which sets a test for police officers to justify their use of force.
The government now intends to raise the threshold for challenging a police officer’s defence, a move campaigners warn would dramatically reduce the number of cases progressing to misconduct hearings.
The plans also aim to change the law relating to the Maughan case, which concerns the standard of proof required for an unlawful killing conclusion at an inquest.
If the government pushes ahead, it will become even harder for bereaved families and victims to attain accountability, campaigners say.
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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/human-rights-organisations-raise-alarm-over-governments-plans-policing
RENEGADE: Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy on a visit to Downing Street briefing on Monday February 9 2026AS ONE of the first black MPs elected in post war Britain, Bernie Grant was in the thick of the fight for justice and for his defence of the rights of people, especially young black people, he was extensively traduced and misquoted.
Every year tribute is paid on the anniversary of his election as MP for Tottenham. One tribute described him as an all-round Tottenham legend and pioneering campaigner for social justice and equality.
These words were written by his successor as MP for Tottenham David Lammy — presently justice secretary in Keir Starmer’s Cabinet — who went on to say: “His legacy will never be forgotten.”
It would have been impossible for Lammy to have been selected as Bernie Grant’s successor if the electorate had even the faintest sense that Lammy’s professed admiration for his predecessor hid a rank opportunism that today distinguishes him as perhaps the minister most servile to the imperatives of the Establishment.
We can measure Lammy’s abandonment of such principles as he once espoused by taking a look at his proposals to end jury trials for a huge number of defendants in Britain’s chaotic and underfunded justice system.
The ostensible reason for this drastic diminution of our human right to be judged by our peers is the backlog of cases in the courts system with many cases scheduled for years ahead.
Successive governments have diminished funding for the justice system so that — from the probation service to prisons, from reduced court staffing numbers to cuts in legal aid — the class bias of the legal system, which puts those with limited financial means under pressure to abandon their right to due process, is ever more intense.
But, opinion is hardening that introducing judge-only trials for many criminal cases would further increase the risk of miscarriages of justice.
Lammy proposes limiting jury trials to accusations of rape, murder and certain “public interest” cases. His plan is for most defendants to be tried by a single judge able to pass sentences up to five years in prison.
This is a direct repudiation of the point made just last year by the minister for courts and legal services, Sarah Sackman, who told Parliament: “Let me be clear: jury trials will always be a cornerstone of British justice. This government will do whatever it takes to protect the fundamental right to a fair trial.”
She went on to argue that: “The vast majority of cases in our courts are already heard without juries. Around 90 per cent of all criminal cases are dealt with robustly and fairly by magistrates, with no jury.”
This rather begs the question, what is the necessity to further reduce the role of juries in delivering justice if restoring proper funding could restore the timely delivery of justice?
The answer lies in the recent tendency of juries to take a common sense and principled approach and acquit in cases where citizen action against war and enterprises servicing genocide falls victim to overweening state power.
“Jury trials are fundamental to the justice system … fundamental to our democracy. We must protect them.” These words of Lammy were quoted against him in a parliamentary debate just before Christmas by the then shadow justice secretary who told MPs that Lammy was “plotting to discard centuries of jury trials without so much as a by-your-leave.”
It is a measure of this government’s political disarray that a valid, if cynically hypocritical, criticism of Lammy’s illiberal measure — designed to strengthen the power of the state against its citizens — can be so easily gifted to a right-wing Tory defector who now sits among Boris Johnson’s Cabinet as a Reform UK MP.
[Hoping that Morning Star will excuse me republishing this article without permission.]