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A prominent human rights lawyer in the United Kingdom has been charged with criminal contempt for his closing speech in the trial of his client, Charlotte "Lottie" Head, one of four Palestine Action activists who were sentenced as terrorists over their involvement in a 2024 protest and raid on an Israeli weapons factory. Their sentencing marked the first time a British judge issued terrorism sentencing enhancements on people who were not actually convicted of terrorism. An additional 21 currently jailed Palestine Action protesters could face similar sentences, which carry multiyear prison terms.
The charges against Rajiv Menon are similarly unprecedented in British legal history. He is accused of encouraging a jury to acquit Head according to their conscience. Menon denies this accusation and says he was simply informing the jury of a prior legal case that is memorialized in the courthouse at which the trial took place. He adds that, along with the U.K. government's ban on Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, the case against him is intended to have a "chilling effect" against pro-Palestine protest, and carries "serious constitutional implications."
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