Defend Free Speech on Palestine! (Petition)

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

A SOAS University of London student, Sarah, has been charged, and another SOAS student has been arrested, under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act for allegedly ‘inviting support for a proscribed organisation’. Their supposed crime is to have made speeches on behalf of the SOAS Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! society supporting the Palestinian right to self-determination. This is an intensification of suppression of free speech on the issue of Palestine. We demand that the Crown Prosecution Service drops all charges against Sarah and discontinues all its investigations in relation to alleged Terrorism Act offences against the other student.

The right to express any support for the Palestinian struggle for national liberation is at stake in this case. The alleged Terrorism offence carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.

On 4 March 2025, Sarah was charged with inviting support for a proscribed organisation under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. In October 2023, online Zionists tagged the Metropolitan Police in a video allegedly of Sarah giving a speech at SOAS University the same month, expressing support for the right of Palestinians to armed resistance against occupation and ethnic cleansing by the Israeli state. Under pressure from the Zionist lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel, the Met Police arrested her in a dawn raid on 31 January 2024. The police and Crown Prosecution Service waited more than 13 months after the arrest to bring charges. On the same day Sarah was charged, another SOAS student was also arrested on suspicion of an offence under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act.

This calculated targeting of two young Palestine protesters is an attempt to intimidate and censor any expression of support for the Palestinian freedom struggle. It is an attack on the entire solidarity movement.

United Nations General Assembly resolution 37/43 of 3 December 1982 and the Geneva Conventions Protocol 1 explicitly give the Palestinians and all oppressed peoples the right to resist their oppressors by any available means including armed struggle. A conviction in this case would have devastating consequences for freedom of speech in Britain. It would mean that expressing support for the right of oppressed peoples to resist racism, colonialism and occupation equals support for a ‘proscribed organisation’.

Resistance is not terrorism! Drop the charges now!