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Jonnie Marbles Sent to Jail: Stop the Punitive Sentencing of Protesters Now

Defend the Right to Protest | 02.08.2011 16:59 | Other Press | Policing | World

Jonnie Marbles (aka Jonnie May-Bowles), 26, who attempted to throw a foam pie at Rupert Murdoch at the House of Commons culture committee on July 19th, had pleaded guilty to common assault and was today sentenced to six weeks imprisonment of which he will serve three, and ordered to pay a fine of £250 plus £15 ‘victim surcharge’. Murdoch had not wanted to press charges, but the court proceeded anyway.

SIGN THE PETITION TO FREE JONNIE NOW.

District Judge Daphne Wickham, who sentenced Jonnie, is the same person who let Sgt Delroy Smellie off the hook for assaulting Nicola Fisher at the G20 protest in 2009, despite YouTube footage of the officer striking at Fisher with his hand and a baton.

Jonnie Marbles
Jonnie Marbles


Jonnie’s excessive sentence for a prank that hurt no one, committed by someone with no criminal record, against a man whose media empire has ruined lives, is yet more evidence of government crackdown on dissent. The decision to proceed with the case and to punish Jonnie for essentially embarrassing Parliament’s security arrangements, and for rightly pointing out what a mockery the Murdoch hearing was, is on a continuum with recent incredibly punitive sentences handed down to protesters on student protests, union demos and other actions, as well as with the Met’s attempt to get people to turn anarchists into the police (now vaguely retracted

).

It is clear the police, the courts and the government are severely rattled by individuals and groups expressing their opposition to government policy and to corruption at the highest levels, as recently and spectacularly revealed in the case of News International’s ties to police, press and government in the hacking scandal. The information gathering explicitly carried out by police on protesters, students, members of UK Uncut and squatters is further evidence that the government are increasingly using the category of ‘domestic extremist’ to tarnish anyone voicing their opposition to government policies (for more information on the ongoing attempt to criminalise squatting see the SQUASH campaign website).

DTRTP extends their solidarity to Jonnie Marbles and with all other protesters recently charged and sentenced: end political policing and sentencing NOW – as @copwatcher puts it: ‘Six weeks in prison for breach of the peace and common assault is vengeance, not justice’.

Defend the Right to Protest
- Homepage: http://defendtherighttoprotest.org/jonnie-marbles-sent-to-jail/458/

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'protesting' is not a get-out-of-jail-card

02.08.2011 18:49

If someone assaults someone, then they can expect to get punished.
Doing it to 'protest' is not a valid excuse to avoid punishment

What next? Protestor allowed to murder people because it is valid dissent?

Oh, btw..... he pleaded guilty

anon


scam alert

02.08.2011 19:30

Dont sign the petition - it is just a way of getting money out of people

You cannot sign it unless you pay a fee via paypal. This is anywhere between $2-$500!
They call it a 'donation', but it is NOT optional

This is a scam. Just set up petitions for newsworthy causes and get suckers to sign it.
avoid

scam alert


justice for all prisoners

02.08.2011 19:35

Protest does not elevate you above others. Imprisonment is a fundamentally political tool, NO jailing is non-political. I do find it really seriously irritating the way people who are supposed to care about social justice make claims to deserve special treatment above the status quo. I'm not one of those to criticise everything to the point where we never achieve anything, and I do believe in practical self-preservation over pointless philosophical gestures, but this really does actively assist our vitriolic national view of 'criminality'. Knock it off.

Yes a cream pie to the face would not usually earn you weeks of bird, but the key reason the guy's got his term is NOT that his action was in protest at something or other - he clearly wouldn't have got off lighter if he'd claimed that he'd thrown the pie for fun instead of for political reasons. The reason for this sentence is that it was targeted at one of the most prominent members of the ruling class in his moment of weakness. If he'd taken a cream pie to a random member of public there's very little chance he'd have ever heard of it again. But because it was Rupert Murdoch, because it was at a moment of intense public outrage about the actions of the ruling classes, and most of all because just for a second a member of public was involved in the retribution, this was (whether intended or not) a moment of class war. That's why he's inside.

An anarchist


You don't have to pay

02.08.2011 19:37

My name went down on the petition and then they asked for a donation. I have paid no money and to the best of my knowledge my signature is on the form.

sgl


scam half true - you can sign for free

02.08.2011 19:49

you can sign the petition, but it asks you for money afterwards...not compulsory though!

frenchside


Hidden Comment

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

@ anon

02.08.2011 20:50

"Oh, btw..... he pleaded guilty"

Correct. For which he should have received a reduction in his sentence, coupled with the fact that he was "of previous good character"

*sigh*


Hidden Comment

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Justice Done

02.08.2011 23:49

You will always get people moaning about their punishment - its only natural
No one wants to get sent to prison, but that is the whole point of prison

This "political sentencing" is bollox. No one expects to be able to walk into parliment and assault someone and not expect the sentence to be severe.

These people seem to set themselves up deliberately and then act all innocent and aloof the consequences and complain about the punishment. They knew beforehand it was going to be a harse punishment but they do it anyway - so i have no sympathy as they know exactly what they are letting themselves in for.

Prosecution rests.

Anonymous


Probably get deleted

05.08.2011 07:01

Yet another obviously upper class twat with a double barreled name playing at class war. Scum.

workingclassguy


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