Academics and intellectuals sign letter in support of Palestine Action prisoners
Dozens of renowned academics and intellectuals have signed a letter in support of alleged Palestine Action members imprisoned by the UK.
Leftist intellectual Tariq Ali, philosopher Judith Butler and writer Naomi Klein are just some of the figures who have already signed the letter, which was published on Monday.
The UK has proscribed the direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, making it a crime to express support for its activities.
Eight alleged members of the group are currently imprisoned awaiting trial, with two of those on hunger strike. The detainees are facing a period of at least 18 months in prison before going to court.
Hundreds of others, mainly pensioners, have been charged with supporting Palestine Action for challenging the designation.
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They include the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was arrested in December for holding a placard that read, "I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide".
Monday's letter echoed that wording and simply read: "We oppose genocide, we support the Palestine Action prisoners."
In December, the British government closed the final day of the judicial review into Palestine Action by presenting secret evidence, hidden from both the group’s lawyers and the public, to justify its ban on the group.
Ostensibly, the group was banned after two activists broke into the UK's largest airbase on electric scooters and damaged two Royal Air Force (RAF) planes in June last year.
Former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, now Britain's foreign minister, announced the ban under the Terrorist Act of 2000.
Officials including UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk have criticised the ban for using terrorism legislation to combat activities that constitute "legitimate exercise of fundamental freedom".
"The decision appears disproportionate and unnecessary," Turk said last July.
"[The proscription] limits the rights of many people involved with and supportive of Palestine Action who have not themselves engaged in any underlying criminal activity but rather exercised their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
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