Climate Activists Get Longest Sentences for Peaceful Protest in British History

Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam got five years.

by Clare Hymer

18 July 2024

Lucia Whitaker-De-Abreu, Cressida Gethin, Louise Lancaster, Daniel Shaw and Roger Hallam. Photo: Just Stop Oil

Five Just Stop Oil activists have been sentenced to what are believed to be the longest sentences for peaceful climate protest in British history after being found guilty of conspiring to block traffic on the M25.

Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam received a five year sentence, while Cressida Gethin, Louise Lancaster, Daniel Shaw and Lucia Whittaker-De-Abreu all received four. They were charged with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance after they appeared on a Zoom call to recruit activists to take part in an action that led to gridlock on the motorway in November 2022.

On passing the sentences, Judge Christopher Hehir said: “I acknowledge that at least some of the concerns are shared by many, but the plain fact is that each of you has some time ago crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic.”

Just Stop Oil called the sentences “an obscene perversion of justice”.

Thursday’s sentencing follows a two-and-half-week trial labelled “the UK’s wildest climate trial”, the lead-up to which prompted concerns about “judicial persecution” from the UN rapporteur for environmental defenders Michel Forst.

Judge Hehir ruled that the climate crisis was “irrelevant” to the trial, and that evidence about climate change could play no part in the defendants’ defence.

When defendants refused to comply with the judge’s direction to finish their evidence without explaining their reasons for taking action, claiming they were honouring their oath to tell the whole truth, they were arrested in court and dragged to the cells. 

During the trial, protesters outside the court were also arrested on charges of alleged contempt for holding signs reading: “Jurors have the right to hear the whole truth”. More were arrested on the day of the sentencing.

By the time of the trial, Shaw had already spent more than 100 days on remand. On the eve of the trial, Forst issued a statement noting his “serious concern” about Shaw’s “very lengthy remand in prison and harsh bail conditions”. 

He went on to argue that a multi-year sentence for “being on a Zoom call that discussed the organisation of a peaceful environmental protest” would be “purely punitive and repressive”.

The sentencing of the five Just Stop Oil activists marks the continuation of a state crackdown on non-violent protest. In recent years, the UK government has brought in a plethora of new police powers to tackle direct action, including new offences with stiff penalties, while judges have imposed ever-harsher sentences on those found guilty.

But recent years have also seen a number of cases in which juries have cleared activists despite there being no question of them having carried out the actions for which they were tried. Protesters acting on behalf of Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain, Palestine Action and Black Lives Matter have all been acquitted by jurors on the grounds that defendants were acting to prevent or redress greater crimes.

This pattern has been met by “deeply concerning” court restrictions on non-violent climate protesters, top lawyers told the Guardian last year. Judges have not only ordered defendants not to tell juries their motivations in climate change cases, but jailed those who have failed to comply.

Just Stop Oil claimed victory last week after reports that the new Labour government had committed to ending all new licences and consents for fossil fuel exploration and extraction.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson told Novara Media that the group’s new demand is that the government signs a fossil fuel treaty and ends the extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas by 2030.

There’s no chance of us stopping until this is met, he said. It’s a matter of life or death.

Clare Hymer is a commissioning editor at Novara Media.

We’re up against huge power and influence. Our supporters keep us entirely free to access. We don’t have any ad partnerships or sponsored content.

Donate one hour’s wage per month—or whatever you can afford—today.

We’re up against huge power and influence. Our supporters keep us entirely free to access. We don’t have any ad partnerships or sponsored content.

Donate one hour’s wage per month—or whatever you can afford—today.