Why Did The Just Stop Oil Protestors Receive Record Prison Sentences?

Five Just Stop Oil campaigners have been handed record prison sentences of up to five years for planning disruptive protests in the UK. With new legislation like the Public Order Act 2023 imposing stricter penalties, experts warn that these sentences set a troubling precedent for non-violent climate activism, threatening democracy and human rights.

by Mediatrix Recella

In July 2024, five Just Stop Oil* campaigners received unprecedented prison sentences ranging from four to five years, after being found guilty of planning disruptive protests on the M25 in November 2022. Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, Cressida Gethin, Louise Lancaster, and Daniel Shaw were each sentenced to four years, while Roger Hallam received a five-year sentence [1].

Record sentences for nonviolent protest

The activists were found guilty of intentionally conspiring to cause a public nuisance after they met on a Zoom call to recruit potential volunteers to cause disruption to traffic by climbing onto the gantries over the highway [1]. The protest resulted in over four successive days of chaos, causing nearly 51,000 hours of driver delays and the closure of parts of the highway in neighbouring counties [2].

The sentences, considered to be the longest ever imposed in the UK for nonviolent protest, have drawn significant criticism. Under new anti-protest legislation, conspiracy to commit public nuisance carries a maximum 10-year sentence [3]. The disproportionate punishment given to the protestors has drawn significant criticism, especially when compared to sentences for other offences in the UK. For instance, the average sentence for violence against a person is 1.7 years, drug crime is 3.3 years, and robbery is 4.0 years [3]. 

The human rights community in the country views the sentences as part of a trend of disproportionate penalties for peaceful protest. In November 2023, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, also Just Stop Oil protestors, received prison sentences of three years and two years and seven months, respectively, for causing a public nuisance by scaling the Dartford Crossing in October 2022 [4]. Similarly, in December 2023, Stephen Gingell was sentenced to six months in prison for participating in a peaceful march in north London [5].

The UK’s crackdown on climate activists and environmental defenders

Recently, higher penalties for peaceful protest have obstructed environmental movements, making civil disobedience risky for activists in the UK. As of February 2024, 120 climate activists have been imprisoned in the country [6]. In 2022, the government introduced tough measures to curb protest methods. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (“Policing”) Act 2022 introduced a new definition of “disruption” by outlining specific examples of what constitutes a “serious disruption to the life of the community” [7]. This Act also imposes restrictions on protest marches, static demonstrations, one-person protests and further increases penalties for related offences [7].

In 2023, the government enforced the Public Order Act 2023, which introduced further anti-protest measures, significantly enhancing police powers to respond to protests and impose restrictions on participants [8]. This Act was specifically designed to prevent “serious disruption,”by explicitly targeting protest activities by groups such as Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain [8]. Specifically, the Public Order Act 2023 established the following new criminal offences:

• Locking-on & being equipped for locking-on
• Causing serious disruption by tunnelling / being present in a tunnel & being equipped for tunnelling
• Obstructing major transport works
• Interfering with key national infrastructure

When the Public Order Act came into force in July 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, sent a letter to the UK government stating that the Act “appears to be a direct attack on the right to the freedom of peaceful assembly” [4].

Darker days for climate activism

Faced with government inaction amidst the worsening climate crisis, activists use civil disobedience as a last resort to accelerate political decisions. They accept the risk of criminal consequences for their activism while engaging in nonviolent, disruptive actions like blocking transport and vandalising public property.

However, the consequences for civil disobedience must be proportionate to the nature and severity of the actions and tactics emploted. The UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders Michel Forst, who attended part of the trial, said the record sentences given to the British activists “set a very dangerous precedent, not just for environmental protest but any form of peaceful protest that may, at one point or another, not align with the interests of the government of the day” [1].

In 2022, while visiting several countries party to the Aarhus Convention, Special Rapporteur Forst observed a growing trend of state repression of peaceful environmental protest and noted that the penalization of these protests is often disproportionate [9]. Under Article 3(8) of the Aarhus Convention, parties are obligated to ensure that environmental defenders are not penalised, persecuted or harassed for exercising their rights under the Convention [10]. 

Over recent years, several countries have passed legislation that introduces stricter restrictions and harsher sentences for protestors; some have even categorised environmental activism as a terrorist threat [9]. For instance, in May 2024, the German government indicted Letzte Generation (Last Generation), a climate activist group known for disruptive protests such as roadblocks and other acts of civil disobedience [11]. In Spain, government reports associated environmental movements, like Extinction Rebellion and Futuro Vegetal, with “international terrorism” and “national terrorism” [9].

International Human Rights Law, through instruments like the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and regional frameworks like the European Convention on Human Rights, safeguards the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of association, among other rights. However, the recent pattern of disproportionate sentencing and increased restrictions on protestors, particularly of climate activists, can be interpreted as undermining these fundamental human rights. These new repressive laws and policies not only pose a significant threat to democracy and human rights, but also distract from the urgent need to achieve climate justice.

*Just Stop Oil has campaigned since 2022 for the UK government to stop all new fossil fuel production. It is one of the most prominent groups in the country who dominate the environmental protest movement [12].

References:

[1] Damien Gayle, Five Just Stop Oil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/18/five-just-stop-oil-supporters-jailed-over-protest-that-blocked-m25, accessed on 6th August 2024.
[2] Tom Symonds, Just Stop Oil protesters jailed after M25 blocked, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c880xjx54mpo, accessed on 6th August 2024. 
[3] Haroon Siddique, Just Stop Oil jail terms raise questions over harsh treatment of protesters, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/law/article/2024/jul/19/just-stop-oil-jail-terms-questions-harsh-treatment-protesters, accessed on 6th August 2024.
[4] Justin Rowlatt, ??UN criticises ‘severe’ Just Stop Oil sentences, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0p6ll3jjgo, accessed on 6th August 2024.
[5] Damien Gayle, Just Stop Oil activist jailed for six months for taking part in slow march, BBC, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/15/just-stop-oil-activist-is-first-to-be-jailed-under-new-uk-protest-law, accessed on 6th August 2024.
[6] Cécile Ducourtieux, For climate activists in the UK, protests are increasingly criminalized, Le Monde, https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/02/16/for-climate-activists-in-the-uk-protests-are-increasingly-criminalized_6529434_114.html, accessed on 7th August 2024.
[7] How Does the New Policing Act Affect My Protest Rights?, Liberty, https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/advice_information/pcsc-policing-act-protest-rights/#page-section-3, accessed on 6th August 2024.
[8] Public Order Bill: factsheet, Government of the United Kingdom, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-order-bill-overarching-documents/public-order-bill-factsheet, accessed on 6th August 2024.
[9] Michel Forst, State repression of environmental protest and civil disobedience: a major threat to human rights and democracy, https://www.statewatch.org/media/4190/un-unsr-environmental-protest-civil-disobedience-crackdowns-28-2-24.pdf, accessed on 7th August 2024.
[10] Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, Aarhus, 25 June 1998, United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 2161, p. 447, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=XXVII-13&chapter=27, accessed on 8th August 2024.
[11] Nina Alizadeh Marandi, Germany Prosecutes Environmental Defenders, Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/28/germany-prosecutes-environmental-defenders, accessed on 8th August 2024.[12] Dr. Paul Stott, Richard Ekins, and David Spencer, The ‘Just Stop Oil’ protests: A legal and policing quagmire, Policy Exchange UK, https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/The-%E2%80%98Just-Stop-Oil-protests.pdf, accessed on 7th August 2024.