The Big Chill

Former Ambassador, Human Rights Activist

The three female activists arrested on Tuesday for the direct action against the Leonardo weapons factory in Edinburgh are being treated as terrorists. They have been held now for 40 hours without charge or being brought before a judge, under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act.

They are from the organisation Shut Down Leonardo, which targets the firm which makes parts for the F-35 jets that massacre children in Gaza.

I spent all yesterday trying to organise their legal defence. By 8am I had found the right solicitor and briefed them on the case including the crucial judgment by Lord Chamberlain in London’s High Court on 4 July.

Chamberlain’s judgment stated explicitly that future direct action protest, even where allegedly criminal, would not be aggravated to terrorism. It was Palestine Action, not the act of protest, which was proscribed.

But the three women are being held incommunicado in Govan police station and there is simply no way to get information to them to ask for the solicitor I had briefed. The solicitors themselves went to the police station in Edinburgh and were blanked.

The solicitors were told they would be informed once the police knew what was happening. The police never got back to them, and did not even tell them the women had been moved from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

What has almost certainly happened is that the women have been allocated the duty solicitor. This solicitor will not know of Lord Chamberlain’s judgment of 4 July or any of the background.

Equally crucially, it is extremely improbable that the duty solicitor would sit alongside the women during 48 long hours of interrogation. Frequently those arrested never see the duty solicitor at all, and just get a brief telephone consultation.

Once the duty solicitor has been assigned, another solicitor cannot get access, except at the direct request of those arrested. Who are held incommunicado.

This is crucial, because today they have to be brought before a judge – which will almost certainly be in Court 3 in Edinburgh Sheriff Court in Chambers St. They will very likely be charged with terrorism. That means they will almost certainly not get bail and could disappear into prison on remand for well over a year.

AMENDMENT – I have since been advised by lawyers that the detention has to be extended today by judicial warrant, but under the Terrorism Act this can be done by a judge in secret without the girls being brought to court. They can still be kept in the cells in Govan.

But terrorism is an incompetent charge, following Chamberlain’s High Court ruling. That was under a fortnight ago and this is the first case. It is very probable neither judge, solicitor nor procurator know that aspect of the ruling, and there is at the moment no means to put it before the court.

This should be treated as a case of criminal damage – from which many activists have been acquitted by juries, as stopping genocide is seen as ethically more important than very minor damage to a fence.

This photo of the “terrorism” in question makes abundantly plain that Starmer and Cooper are acting as fascists. Nobody could argue in good faith these women are committing “terrorism”.

It properly charged, there is no sensible reason why the women should not be granted bail.

Everything Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh and Raza Husain stated would happen following the proscription of Palestine Action – for which they were pooh-poohed by Judge Chamberlain – is happening. As given above, Chamberlain stated that:

some of the consequences feared by the claimant and others who have given evidence are overstated.

But he specifically then states that direct action will not be aggravated to terrorism, yet here we have those engaged in the very first direct action after his proscription, treated as terrorists.

Furthermore the proscription of Palestine Action is indeed causing the police to treat simple criticism of Israel as illegal, again directly contrary to Chamberlain’s judgment.

This video shows Kent police threatening to arrest a protester under the Terrorism Act – leaving them facing up to 14 years in jail – simply for waving a Palestinian flag and calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

The direction of travel under Starmer is now clear. pic.twitter.com/qKz23CCtPq

— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) July 16, 2025

Now it does not matter whether the police follow through with these threats against free speech. The very fact they are making such threats, and are widely disseminated on social media making such threats, will have a severe chilling effect on many people’s right of free expression.

There is also a great deal of “concern trolling” in progress from fake-left outfits like Novara Media, telling people to suppress protest in case they are prosecuted.

Today I am going to resume my efforts to get the Leonardo Three a proper defence.

On 21 July, Judge Chamberlain hears the case for a judicial review of the proscription of Palestine Action. We will then learn, given the now unequivocal evidence of the chilling effect on free speech, whether his denial that the proscription would chill free speech and protest, was due to a Panglossian view of our police and prosecutors, or a malevolent and disingenuous device to enforce the proscription.

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The post The Big Chill appeared first on Craig Murray.

Source: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/07/the-big-chill/