Sixteen environmental activists jailed for nonviolent protests are appealing their sentences in a landmark hearing in the Court of Appeal. The appellants, including high-profile figures from climate activist group Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, argue that their prison terms, ranging from 15 months to five years, are disproportionate and politically motivated, with Just Stop Oil asserting that the 16 protesters are ‘political prisoners.’
The Justice Gap has previously reported on the impact of legislation criminalising various forms of protest. Activists were convicted under laws introduced by the previous Conservative government, including the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023. These laws expanded police powers and increased penalties for disruptive demonstrations, leading to a significant rise in the number of protesters facing imprisonment.
A 2023 study from Bristol University found that environmental protesters in the UK were arrested at three times the global average, with 17% of such protests leading to arrests compared to 6.3% internationally. The activists say that their prison sentences do not accurately reflect the principled motivation behind their direct-action protests.
The government maintains that stringent measures are necessary to ‘protect the public and businesses from [the] unacceptable actions of a small minority of protestors.’ Former Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland said, ‘the right to protest must be balanced against the rights of others to go about their daily lives without undue disruption.’ However, Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy group, warns that these measures risk undermining democracy, with senior lawyer Katie de Kauwe commenting to the Guardian, ‘locking up peaceful protesters has no place in a tolerant society.’
The court’s ruling, expected in the coming weeks, could have wide-ranging implications for climate activism and the general right to protest.