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To widespread delight, Ian Burnet, lord chief justice, handed down judgement in the Court of Appeal, quashing the convictions of direct action protesters known as the Stansted 15. Following the release from prison of three anti-fracking activists in October 2018, this is the second major victory in the court for non-violent direct action protesters in recent years. But the terms of this victory should be considered carefully: it has two stings in the tail. In March 2017, the 15 protesters cut through the perimeter fence of Stansted airport, “locked on” to one another around the nose wheel of a Home Office chartered deportation flight to west Africa, and built a tripod behind the wing to stop it moving. ....
The Court of Appeals at the Royal Courts of Justice in London ruled Friday that convictions against 15 protesters for a deportation flight protest in 2017 must be set aside. The protesters, known as t. ....
“If he kills me,” she wrote, “who will look after my children? They rely on me. They should give me and my children a life. They should spare my life because of my children. I am begging.” Almost 18 months later, the 15 of us sat in the dock at Chelmsford crown court. The attorney general at the time, Conservative MP Jeremy Wright QC, had decided to charge us under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990 – terror legislation that was first introduced in the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing. After a gruelling 10-week trial, the jury reached a guilty verdict. As they read it out, it felt as though the air left the room. I could barely process what was happening, and tried to grapple with the fact we could be imprisoned for years. I thought once more about that bus ride to the airport. Those words “I am begging” came flooding into my head. No matter what happened, what we did was right. ....
‘Stansted 15’ have convictions overturned Top Story January 30, 2021 LONDON: Protesters taken to court after preventing a deportation flight from taking off from Stansted Airport have had their convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal. The so-called “Stansted 15” cut through the Essex airport’s perimeter fence in March 2017 and locked themselves together around a Boeing 767 jet chartered by the Home Office to transport people from UK detention centres for repatriation to Africa. They were convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court in December 2018 of the intentional disruption of services at an aerodrome under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990 (Amsa) – and the following February three were given suspended jail sentences and the others handed community orders. ....