Campaigners to fight arms show convictions at Supreme Court

“People of conscience”: the 2017 protest at ExCel
Rex Features

Four religious campaigners who were convicted after chaining themselves together in a protest against the global arms trade have vowed to fight their case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Christopher Cole, Henrietta Cullinan, Joanna Frew and Nora Ziegler formed a blockade outside the ExCel Centre in Docklands as it hosted the 2017 Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) trade fair.

The protesters, who describe themselves as “people of conscience”, were cleared of a criminal charge of obstructing a highway last February, but the High Court overturned the verdict this month, ruling that all four must be convicted.

The four, who continue to maintain their innocence, appeared in the dock last week to be sentenced but their lawyer Raj Chada told Thames magistrates’ court that efforts to take the case to the Supreme Court were already under way.

“I have no doubt these defendants will be vindicated by history”, he said, comparing his clients with the Suffragette movement.

Campaigners Christopher Cole, Joanna Frew, Henrietta Cullinan and Nora Ziegler outside court when they were originally cleared
Campaign Against Arms Trade

He alleged: “Unlawful weapons have been found at four DSEIs in a row. Regimes with a history of mass human rights violations are invited to purchase weapons at DSEI.” The protesters used specially-designed “locking boxes” to bind themselves together in the protest on September 5, 2017, lying down in an access road leading to the ExCel Centre. They were swiftly arrested but it took police around 90 minutes to break them free and clear the blockade, the court heard.

Mr Chada said all four defendants were “polite” and co-operative but were determined and committed to the anti-arms trade movement.

“They are people of conscience who had a genuine reason to be there,” he said, adding that they all assert “the importance of faith in the actions they took”.

The court heard that Frew, 39, and Ziegler, 29, both work for Catholic church-run refugee centres in North London, helping victims of war-torn countries such as Yemen.

Cullinan, 57, is a writer and activist, and Cole, 55, who has 16 convictions from protests, is a campaigner against the use of drones in war.

District Judge Alison Rose sentenced all four to a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered them each to pay £120 in court costs and fees.

The High Court has been asked to approve the protesters’ grounds for appeal so that the case can be heard in the Supreme Court.

A decision is expected in the next few weeks.

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