BYM upholds JSO activists
Britain Yearly Meeting has upheld Just Stop Oil protestors who have been sentenced to years in prison
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has said that it holds in the Light the five Just Stop Oil (JSO) protestors who were sentenced to four and five years in prison last week.
The climate activists were sentenced last month over their 2022 action which disrupted the M25 for four days.
Paul Parker, BYM’s recording clerk, said: ‘We are called by our faith to stand up against injustice and for our world.
‘Harsh laws against peaceful protest limit our ability to speak truth to power.
‘We hold the Whole Truth Five and others who protest as a matter of conscience in the Light as they work for an equitable and ecological future for us all.’
The comments came as BYM joined more than 1,100 others in calling for an urgent meeting with the attorney general to discuss the ‘injustice’ of lengthy sentences for peaceful protest.
‘With prisons at breaking point… how can these sentences be seen as anything other than insanity?’ said the letter, signed by leading lawyers, scientists, political and cultural figures.
‘The sentences, ranging from 4 to 5 years, are higher than those given to many who commit serious sexual assault,’ it added.
The letter said that the new government should address recent legislation which conflicts with international human rights law, and risks the right to peaceful protest. It also pointed out that the defendants were ‘denied the right to explain to a jury why they took the action they did, making a mockery of the right to a fair trial’.
Quakers were among more than eighty protesters who took part in Defend our Juries’ witness last month outside Southwark Crown Court defending the right of juries to ‘hear the whole truth’.
