The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers AGM will be held on Thursday 7 February 2019 at 6.30pm, at the Universtiy of Law. The AGM will also elect the Officers and Executive Committee of the Society.
There will also be an informal discussion with Executive Committee members about socialist amd the law. Refreshments will be provided, and members will be invited to a social event afterwards.
Please join us at the Turkish Embassy at 12:00pm on 24 January 2019 for the Day of the Endangered Lawyer protest.
The Day of the Endangered Lawyer is the day on which we turn the spotlight on lawyers all over the world who are being harassed, silenced, pressured, threatened, persecuted, tortured. Murders and enforced disappearances as well are not out of the ordinary. The only reason for these outrages is the fact that these lawyers are doing their job, and fulfilling their professional obligations, when they are needed the most.
The 24th of January was chosen to be the annual International Day of the Endangered Lawyer because on this day in 1977 four labour rights lawyers and a coworker were murdered at their office address at Calle Atocha 55 in Madrid. This is known as the Massacre of Atocha.
The International Day of the Endangered Lawyer aims, on the one hand, to create awareness that the practice of the legal profession in many countries involves significant risks, including that of being murdered, but it aims as well at denouncing the situation in a particular country, where lawyers are victims of serious violations of their fundamental rights because they exercise their profession.
Every year on 24 January lawyers’ organisations dedicate this day to the endangered lawyers in a particular country: 2010 Iran, 2012 Turkey, 2013 Basque Country/Spain, 2014 Colombia, 2015 Philippines, 2016 Honduras, 2017 China & Egypt. The European Democratic Lawyers (AED-EDL) established the Day of the Endangered Lawyer in 2010. Since then it has been coorganized by AED-EDL and the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy (ELDH) and the foundation “The Day of the Endangered Lawyer”. Many other lawyers’ organisations and bar associations have supported this project. In 2019 the Day of the Endangered Lawyer focuses on the endangered lawyers in Turkey.
There are around 78 separate criminal prosecutions and investigations against human rights lawyers. Hundreds of lawyers are charged within these criminal procedures. Most of them are under judicial control with a ban from travelling abroad or with the duty to give signature to the police headquarter on certain days of the week. A
In all the cases which have been chosen as examples (see the attached Report) lawyers were accused just because of practising their profession. By so doing, the Turkish State systematically violates the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and it is obvious that this violation has direct impacts on the right of defence.
The Haldane Winter Party 2018 will be on 13 December 2018, at Garden Court Chambers. Advance tickets are £12 (full price) or £8 (student/unwaged/low waged). Tickets on the door will be £15/£10; we will accept cash or PayPal.
Entertainment, drink and vegetarian food will be provided throughout the night, within your ticket price.
Early bird tickets are no longer available: tickets can be purchased on the door either below, or with cash.
On Monday 10 December 2018 a group of peaceful anti-deportation activists, the Stansted 15, were convicted of offences under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990, a piece of legislation introduced in the wake of the Lockerbie bombing aimed at combating international terrorism. The Stansted 15 prevented the departure of a chartered flight deporting 60 people from the UK to Nigeria, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, many of whom were at risk of great harm if removed.
The charge - endangering safety at an aerodrome - carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The defendants were initially charged with the lesser offence of aggravated trespass: four months after the protest action, the prosecution amended the charge to the more serious offence of endangering the safety of an aerodrome. The decision to increase the seriousness of the charge, without any change in evidence, appears to be intended to dissuade activists from taking direct action.
Of those who would have been deported on the flight, 11 remain in the UK to have their cases heard, while some have been granted leave to remain. Among those scheduled to be on the flight were recognised survivors of trafficking and slavery who had sought protection in the United Kingdom.
It is a great injustice that it is those who have acted to save lives who have been convicted, rather than those who acted to put people at risk of death and persecution. The conviction of the Stansted 15 is a damning indictment of the Home Office and the UK Government's intolerance of criticism. Instead of reflecting on the hostile environment and what motivated the activists to take direct action, the government has subjected these brave individuals to a long and expensive trial which has treated their actions as equivalent to those of terrorists.
We express our solidarity with the Stansted 15, and all those who take action against the cruel and racist immigration policies of the British government. We support the calls of the Stansted 15 for an immediate end to deportation charter flights, and for a full independent public inquiry into the government’s ‘hostile environment’.
The Executive Committee of the Haldane Society along with its president, Michael Mansfield QC make the following statement concerning the Stansted 15:
On 28 March 2017, 15 activists, known as the Stansted 15, physically prevented the departure of a chartered aircraft intended to deport individuals from the UK to Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. It is the activists’ case that some of the people on the flight were at risk of serious harm if forcibly removed to their home country.
The coming days will see the conclusion of the trial of the Stansted 15 at Chelmsford Crown Court. Originally charged with aggravated trespass, their charges were amended to endangering safety at an aerodrome under section 1 of the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990. This law was intended to address terrorist acts and carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life. The amendment of the charge risks being a politically chilling decision which dissuades activists from taking direct action; it also associates non-violent direct action with terrorist acts.
The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers recognises that there is a long and proud history of direct action in the UK which has preceded significant changes in the law and government policies. It is an apt time, on the 100 year anniversary of women winning the right to vote, to remember that the suffragette movement employed direct action.
In April 2018, Amber Rudd, then Home Security admitted that the Home Office used deportation targets.[1] Corporate Watch updated its report on Charter Flights and referred to evidence indicating that immigration officials target certain nationalities for removal in the lead up to a Charter Flight.[2] In June 2018, the Independent Monitoring Boards’ Charter Flight Monitoring Team expressed concern about the use of excessive restraint in Charter Flights.[3] The Independent Monitoring Board also noted that there had been no official response to their report of 2016.[4] In addition, recent government policies have been deemed to unlawfully remove people with a right to be in the UK (for example the Windrush controversy[5] and the High Court decision finding that the removal of European nationals for rough sleeping was unlawful[6]).
In this context, we express our concern that such serious charges have been laid against the Stansted 15. We express our solidarity with the Stansted 15, and with activists everywhere who put their bodies and freedoms on the line to save others.
[1] 27 April 2018, The Guardian, Amber Rudd was sent targets for migrant removal. Leak reveals, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/27/amber-rudd-was-told-about-migrant-removal-targets-leak-reveals
[2] 2 July 2018,Corporate Watch, Deportation Charter Flights: Updated Report 2018, https://corporatewatch.org/deportation-charter-flights-updated-report-2018/
[3] 12 June 2018, Independent Monitoring Boards, Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Boards’ Charter Flight Monitoring Team for reporting year 2017, https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/imb-prod-storage-1ocod6bqky0vo/uploads/2018/06/IMB-Charter-Flights-2017-annual-report.pdf
[4] Ibid para 2.1
[5] 18 July 2018, The Guardian, Revealed: depth of Home Office Failures on Windrush, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/18/revealed-depth-of-home-office-failures-on-windrush ; BBC News, Home Office ‘was told about Windrush Problems in 2016’, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43900697
[6] 14 December 2017, BBC News, Deporting EU Rough sleepers from UK unlawful, High Court rules, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42354864; R (On the Application of Gureckis) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 3298 (Admin)
The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers invites you to join us at the next lecture in our human rights series on 6 December 2018 at 6.30pm. Our speaker, Patrick O’Connor QC of Doughty Street Chambers will be speaking on Neoliberalism and human rights.
The lecture will be followed by our Annual General Meeting. The lecture is open to all, although the AGM is open only to members.
Motions for discussion at the AGM, and candidatures for election, can be submitted up to 72 hours in advance of the AGM, or at the AGM itself.
The lecture will take place at:
Room S101
University of Law
14 Store Street
London
WC1E 7DE
Latecomers are welcome to enter quietly.
The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers is proud to host this meeting with speakers Richard Brigden and Anna Morris (barristers) and Ewa Barker (anti-fracking activist). The meeting will discuss the defence of protest, injunctions, and campaigning in light of the quashing of the convictions for the anti-fracking protesters - the Preston Road Three - and the resumption of fracking by Cuadrilla.
The meeting will take place from 6pm to 8pm at Garden Court North Chambers, 3rd Floor, Blackfriars House Parsonage, Machester, M3 2JA.
Latecomers are welcome to enter quietly.
The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers invites you to our free public lecture, Mental Health, Austerity, and Capitalism. The lecture will take place on Thursday 29 November 2018 at 6.30pm to 8.30pm, at Room S101, University of Law, 14 Store Street, London, WC1E 7DE.
Speakers:
Rheian Davies: mental health lawyer
Daniel Carelli: mental health service user
Sophie Talbot: Disability Labour national executive member.
Latecomers are welcome to enter quietly.
Members, comrades, and friends from across the movement are once again invited to the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers' Winter Party.
Save the date of 13 December 2018 from 6.30pm till late. The party will take place at Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincolns Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LS (nearest tube Holborn).
Food, drink, and entertainment will be included in the ticket price, which is usually between £10-£20. Discounted student and low-waged tickets will be available. Cheaper early bird tickets will go on sale soon at www.haldane.org, but tickets will be on sale on the door as well.
Please share far and wide.
The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers is proud to present the debut episode of our new Socialist Lawyer Podcast.
Episode 1: Deported for Sleeping Rough considers the Home Office’s unlawful policy of arresting rough sleeping EEA nationals, stealing their identity papers, and then either detaining and deporting them, or releasing them back onto the streets without papers so that they cannot obtain housing or employment.
The policy itself was declared unlawful in the case of R (on the application of Gureckis, Cielecki, and Perlinski) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, a case brought by Haldane Society members, and led by the Public Interest Law Unit. Its repercussions are still being felt, with homeless charities - St Mungo’s, Thamesreach, and Change Grow Live - who helped the Home Office implement their unlawful policies, now under investigation for data protection breaches. In addition, dozens of cases are being brought against the Home Office in order to pursue compensation for those who were detained and deported.
The podcast is available from Soundcloud (below), and will shortly be available on iTunes.
