Freedom On Trial
London features | 19.03.2006 19:08 | Anti-militarism | Iraq | Repression | London
Thursday 16th March 2006: Milan Rai of the peace group Justice not Vengeance was on trial in Bow Street Magistrates Court for organising the two-person remembrance ceremony at which Maya Evans was arrested in October 2005. See rikki’s video of Milan & Maya’s arrest & a report of Thursday’s trial, as well as a video interview with Maya from Thursday.
The Crime: Milan was on trial for ‘organising an unauthorised demonstration in the vicinity of Parliament’. He notified the police of the demonstration over a week in advance, but he refused to ‘seek permission’ from them as required under a new law, the ‘Serious Organised Crime and Police Act’ , [SOCPA.pdf] Milan and Maya’s lawyer’s are fighting the case by suggesting that SOCPA is incompatible with the European Convention of Human Rights' Article’s 10 & 11, which gives every person freedom to speech, and freedom to peacefully assemble with others.
In October 2005, there was a mass protest against the SOCPA Exclusion Zone by Critical Mass, and many people feel that free speech in Britain is being seriously undermined, [IMC report].
Milan Rai and Maya Evans outside court
"(Judge) Nicholas Evans pointed out that he had tried three previous SOCPA cases, and although these had been for participants rather than organisers of demos, this would have no bearing on the human rights aspect of the case. he told us that he had in all three cases found that he was powerless to interpret the law in any way other than to find the defendants guilty, but then in quite a flirty moment, he told barrister Maya Sikand that he had found her skeleton rather "interesting and attractive". she smiled and thanked him." (Extract from rikki’s report)
It is not the first time Milan has been arrested for taking direct action against the war in Iraq, On November 16th, Milan was sentenced to 28 days in Lewes Prison, for stencilling anti-war messages onto the Foreign and Commonwealth Office buildings in Whitehall, to protest the impending attack on Fallujah.
Fallujah will be remembered as a crime of sickening proportions, and one which even today, thanks to the collusion of the corporate media, is still not widely known about. Watch the film, Fallujah: April 2004.
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