unlawful

Judge rules October raid on my home was unlawful

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https://asawinstanley.substack.com/p/judge-rules-october-raid-on-my-home

I have won back my computers and phones.

Asa Winstanley

A court has ruled that the raid and resulting seizure of my devices that British “counter-terror” police carried out on my home in October were unlawful.

The most senior judge at London’s Central Criminal Court ruled on 13 May that the search warrants used in the raid were unlawfully issued and said the police must hand back all the computers, phones and other devices that they took that day.

The police have today handed back all seven seized items.

The dawn raid happened in the early hours of 17 October 2024.

As my colleague at The Electronic Intifada Ali Abunimah reported at the time: “Approximately 10 officers arrived at [Asa] Winstanley’s North London home before 6 am and served the journalist with warrants and other papers authorising them to search his house and vehicle for devices and documents.”

Police have now admitted these warrants were improperly obtained and therefore illegal.

In his ruling the Recorder of London, Mark Lucraft KC (the Old Bailey’s highest circuit judge) wrote that he was “very troubled by the way in which the search warrant was drafted, approved and granted where items were to be seized from a journalist”.

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Article continues at https://asawinstanley.substack.com/p/judge-rules-october-raid-on-my-home

Continue ReadingJudge rules October raid on my home was unlawful

Government loses legal battle over Covid ‘VIP Lane’

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https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/government-loses-legal-battle-over-vip-lane-conservative-donor

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove referred Tory donor firms to Covid ‘VIP lane’

Exclusive: Judge slams “most unsatisfactory” Cabinet Office and orders release of names of ‘VIP’ firms to Democracy for Sale reporter – after *four year* wait.

The government has lost a long-running legal battle to block the release of information on companies referred to the lucrative ‘VIP lane’ for Covid contracts.

Firms linked to Conservative donors and party figures received over a billion pounds in PPE contracts during the pandemic after referrals from Tory ministers, MPs, and officials.

Companies in the VIP lane were ten times more likely to be given contracts, yet over half of the PPE they supplied was unusable.

In February 2021, Democracy for Sale reporter Jenna Corderoy filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request seeking the names of all companies referred to the VIP lane and those who recommended them, including MPs and members of the House of Lords.

Months later, a court ruled the VIP lane was “unlawful,” and the government released the names of companies that secured contracts.

However, the identities of unsuccessful bidders and their political referrers remained secret, keeping the public in the dark about how politicians had helped politically-connected VIPs to seek public contracts.

For four years, the government resisted full disclosure, arguing it should not have to reveal how the VIP lane operated.

Corderoy took the case all the way to an information tribunal, where Judge Foss has now ruled that the government has 35 days to give Democracy for Sale the names of all unsuccessful companies.

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Article continues at https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/government-loses-legal-battle-over-vip-lane-conservative-donor

Continue ReadingGovernment loses legal battle over Covid ‘VIP Lane’

Fossil fuel industry accused of seeking special treatment over oilfield emissions

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/18/fossil-fuel-industry-accused-of-seeking-special-treatment-over-oilfield-emissions

Protests against the Rosebank oilfield in Edinburgh in 2024. Labour pledged in its manifesto to halt new North Sea licensing, but Rosebank was awaiting final approval when the party won the general election. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Lobbyists argued it was unfair for their industry to be treated the same as others as end product – oil and gas – inevitably produced emissions

Experts have accused the fossil fuel industry of seeking special treatment after lobbyists argued greenhouse gas emissions from oilfields should be treated differently to those from other industries.

The government is embroiled in a row over whether to allow a massive new oilfield, Rosebank, to go ahead, with some cabinet members arguing it could boost growth and others concerned it could make the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 impossible to reach. Labour made a manifesto commitment to halt new North Sea licensing, but Rosebank and some other projects had already been licensed and were awaiting final approval when the party won the general election.

Documents seen by the Guardian show the industry group Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) asking for Rosebank and other oilfields’ “scope three emissions” – those caused by the burning of extracted oil and gas – to be treated differently because that was the point of their business.

A court case recently found the licence granted to Rosebank by the previous government was unlawful as it failed to take these emissions into account.

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I am only able to quote a small section of this copyrighted article. See the original article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/18/fossil-fuel-industry-accused-of-seeking-special-treatment-over-oilfield-emissions

Orcas are pleased that Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields are blocked.
Orcas are pleased that Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields are blocked.

Continue ReadingFossil fuel industry accused of seeking special treatment over oilfield emissions

Israel demolishes over 1,500 Palestinian structures in occupied West Bank in 2024

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Original article republished from MEMO under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Israeli security forces demolish buildings and mosque in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, where an evacuation and demolition order has been issued for the construction of Israeli settlements, in Negev Region, Israel on November 14, 2024 [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency]

Israeli occupation forces have demolished more than 1,500 Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year, resulting in the displacement of over 3,600 Palestinians and affecting nearly 164,000 others, according to the United Nations.

Data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reveals that between 1 January and 29 November, Israeli forces destroyed 1,528 structures, including 700 inhabited homes, 118 uninhabited homes and 398 agricultural facilities.

The demolitions have primarily targeted vulnerable Palestinian communities, displacing 3,637 people and severely impacting 163,769 others. The most affected area was the Tulkarm Refugee Camp in the northern occupied West Bank where 171 structures were destroyed, followed by the Nur Shams Refugee Camp which witnessed 118 demolitions, Jenin Refugee Camp, Jericho and other parts of the West Bank.

The Israeli government justifies these demolitions by claiming the structures were built without permits, although obtaining such permits is nearly impossible for Palestinians under the occupation’s restrictive policies.


https://www.facebook.com/middleeastmonitor/photos/a.175445796925/10155239441416926/?type=3&ref=embed_post

Israeli demolition policies have escalated recently in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. They are intended to displace the Palestinians and expand illegal Jewish-only settlements amid the ongoing genocidal war against the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It comes despite a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 19 July, which declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

READ: Israel demolishes last mosque in Bedouin village in Negev desert

Original article republished from MEMO under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Continue ReadingIsrael demolishes over 1,500 Palestinian structures in occupied West Bank in 2024