Women dancing to SOCA
June 20th, 2006Pensioner in anti-US protest to be prosecuted
By Ian Herbert and Nigel MorrisPublished: 20 June 2006
The Government faces a test of its new anti-terror legislation after deciding to proceed with charges against a pensioner arrested while protesting at an American communications base.Seven weeks after becoming one of the first individuals arrested under a little-noticed clause in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, Helen John, 68, of Keighley, west Yorkshire, was charged yesterday with criminal trespass and bailed to appear next week before magistrates in Harrogate, north Yorkshire.Mrs John and a fellow peace campaigner, Sylvia Boyes, 62, were arrested on 2 April while crossing the sentry line at Menwith Hill, the US communications base in the Yorkshire Dales.Mrs John, who could be jailed for up to 12 months if the case goes to court, said: “I want this case to be heard in a court of law, but that is probably the last place the Government wants it go.”
Mrs Boyes, who was unable to attend a police station yesterday, expects to be charged next week. […]
- Name this ‘little-noticed clause’.
- Say who Helen John REALLY is: a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, and the vice president of CND.
Now. When you say that “The vice president of CND is the first person to be arrested under SOCA, its a little different to saying, “Helen John, 68, of Keighley, west Yorkshire”. It strips her of her prestige, makes her appear to be insignifigant, when in fact, she is a very important person indeed, and not just a ‘psnsioner wasting her time’, as this article implies.
And it took TWO of them to fail to do this. Neither one of them can use Google. This can only be deliberate.
I say that this article is bogus because it deliberately fails to mention who this person really is. A simple google search turns her name up over and over, and also in relation to this charge. There is no excuse. This is biased reporting. The independent is a bad newspaper (which one isn’t I hear you cry). It is especially bad because it wears the clothes of the champion of the people and of right, when it is no such thing. It parades huge single issue covers but does nothing to make anything change, and also does apalling pieces like this, when in fact, it should be on the cover, with ALL the details.
Shame on you!
June 20th, 2006 at 10:28 am
After months of controversial debate the Terrorism Act finally reached royal assent on 30th March 2006, giving the British government wider powers to clampdown on those allegedly involved in Terrorism. However, the first people arrested under the Terrorism Act 2006 were not members of al-Qaida, and were not even Muslim as many would have thought. They were two elderly British grandmothers, Helen John, 68 and Sylvia Boyes, 62, who were arrested last week after walking 15ft across the sentry line at the United States military base at Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire.
Their arrest was under section 12 of the Terrorism Act that widens the definition of trespassing defined in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. This new definition covers protesters who breach any one of 10 military bases across Britain treating them as potential terrorists. Mrs John and Mrs Boyes both veterans of the famous Greenham Common protests 25 years ago, deliberately breached the US base at Menwith Hill to highlight the draconian Terrorism legislation which many believe will criminalise speaking out against British Foreign Policy and further undermine the right to peaceful protest.
Hiz-ut-Tahrir Get the “little known clause”, no wonder they’re ‘dangerous’.
June 20th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Astonishing isnt it?
And when all the young dudes on the wrong side of the barber’s pole read this, and compare with the Independent, uh, what do you think will be their conclusion?
That only Hiz-ut-Tahrir tells the whole truth consistently, that only Hiz-ut-Tahrir has their interests at heart, and that the people behind The Independent are a part of the problem. They will conclude that only their own communities are the source of fairness; everyone else is the enemy.
And who can blame them? All the evidence points to that being true, and this is the stuff that comes to our attention, since we pick up our news from places other than Hiz-ut-Tahrir and the like. In fact, I saw this story in Metro on page 2 in a 2″ by 5″ box (they mentioned that she is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee btw). Imagine all the other stories that go unpublished. There must be thousands of them, since the terror laws are being routinely abused on a daily basis.
The Independent and all other newspapers who claim to have a heart, who decry the isolation of shear shunners in the UK are all guilty of the same crimes of deliberate omission. They talk about bridging gaps but do nothing, even with the things that are completely in their power, like divulging all the facts in a timely manner, and reporting consistenly on the abuses of power that are becoming the norm.
When these guys turn to Hiz-ut-Tahrir, you, having read M2s comment will know precisely why they flock to that organization.
What a bad business!