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Headlines : Civil LibertiesAuthor jailed for protesting too near Parliament
Justice Not Vengeance co-ordinators Milan Rai and Maya Anne Evans have been at the forefront of resisting the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act by becoming the first two prosecuted under the act for reading the names of the Iraq war dead in front of Downing Street on October 25, 2005.
Their actions and appeals to the European Court of Human Rights had gotten a promise out of Prime Minister Brown to repeal parts of the act earlier this summer. But now, Rai must spend two weeks in the slammer for refusing to pay his fine resulting from his conviction in the case.
[Posted By Beagle17]Republished from Indymedia UK
The first person to be convicted of organising an “unauthorised” demonstration within 1km of Parliament Square was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment yesterday for refusing to pay his fines. Author and editor Milan Rai (42) is currently being held at Wandsworth prison, following a court appearance at Horseferry Magistrates court on 21 August.
On 25 October 2005, Mr Rai was arrested opposite Downing Street with vegan chef Maya Evans, after the pair read out the names of Iraqis and British service personnel who had been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. Mr Rai was subsequently convicted of organising an “unauthorised” demonstration within 1km of Parliament, fined £350 and ordered to pay £150 in costs.
When I pass protestors every day at Downing Street, and believe me, you name it, they protest against it, I may not like what they call me, but I thank God they can. That’s called freedom.
Tony Blair, 7th April 2002
Times change.
Posted by Beagle17
RSS here: feed43.com/beagle17.xml Grew up in Nova Scotia. Hold BSc. in Biology and Grad. Diploma Journalism. Moved to Korea in 1997, and Taiwan in 1999. Currently teaching, writing, and doing Web design. Concerned about depleted uranium, Islamophobia,...
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Posted by TheHyperT on Saturday, December 10th 2005 - A criminal conviction for reading out names of British soldiers killed in Iraq
Posted by Judy on Monday, December 12th 2005
police state?
Author jailed for protesting too near Parliament
Beagle obviously can’t read very well. He was jailed for not paying his fine.
Aw, Christ, are we sunk so low that we actually miss Tony Blair?
“...the pair read out the names of Iraqis and British service personnel who had been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.”
On the Iraqi side of things that’s got to be a lot of names.
What if the two were just having a conversation back and forth? Rehersing for a play? How exactly do you PROVE that this is a demonstration?