22nd January 2007


Oxford Man Jailed for Anti-War Protest


A Christian peace activist from Oxford was today jailed for 28 days by Magistrates at Horseferry Road Court , London for refusing to pay a fine of £661 in connection with an anti-Iraq war protest in December 2004.

Chris Cole (43), a father of three, from Wilkins Road, Cowley, Oxford, was part of a small group of Christian anti-war protestors who dug symbolic graves in the lawn of the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall and sprayed ‘Remember the Innocent – Stop the War’ on December 28th 2004 (the Christian feast of Holy Innocents).

Cole told Magistrates at Horseferry Road Court that he refused to pay the fine as it had been right for the group to protest the war. Cole said “Thousands of innocent people have lost their lives in the illegal invasion and on-going war in Iraq. Ordinary people have a duty to resist war-making on innocent civilians by their government.”

In July 2006, court appointed bailiffs seized the Cole family car in connection with the fine and sold it at auction for a mere £52.