On 31 July 2026 our comrade Maya was charged with two alleged offences arising from a pro-Palestine protest on 28 February and her subsequent doxxing by local Zionist agitator Heidi Bachram.
Following Bachram’s unsuccessful attempts on the day to get local police to arrest Maya for using chants such as ‘Victory to the Intifada’ and ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!’, she and other members of Sussex Friends of Israel waged an online campaign to get the police to reverse this decision. Eventually, the Sussex Police gave in to their demands and posted the comrade’s face on Facebook, accusing her of committing a racially aggravated public order offence.
On 14 March, Maya was arrested and detained for eight hours at the Brighton Custody Centre. She was accused of committing a crime under sections 18, 23 and 27 of the Public Order Act, which relate to inciting racial hatred and possessing ‘racially inflammatory’ material. The maximum punishment for these offences is seven years’ imprisonment.
Police harassment
Our comrade was due to return to the station to answer to bail in September, but on 24 July the police knocked on her parents’ door asking for her. She is an adult, does not live at that address and had not provided it to the police. There was no reason for the police to go there beyond maliciously alerting her parents to their daughter having been arrested.
The stated purpose of the visit was to let Maya know that she would be charged and should come into the station that week. She confirmed through her solicitor that she would do this but the police did not let up on using the situation to harass her and make everyone around her aware that she was in their sights. On 27 July, the police knocked on Maya’s landlord’s door, asking for her; the following day she discovered they had entered her home without her knowledge or consent to leave a note for her, leaving the door damaged and the home insecure.
Defend freedom of speech
On 30 July, Maya attended the police station with a group of vocal supporters, and was charged under section 5 of the Public Order Act and section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act. These are much lower-level offences than those she was originally arrested for, with the maximum punishment being a fine, rather than a custodial sentence.
The use of non-imprisonable offences in lieu of the more serious charges is a victory for our campaign in solidarity with comrades in Brighton and a vindication of our right to use slogans proclaiming the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to self-defence. It comes however with the downside that such offences can only be tried in the Magistrates’ Court so will not go in front of a jury. The British state is running scared of juries which have repeatedly failed to convict pro-Palestine protesters in the recent period.
These charges are a blatant attack on our rights to free speech and to protest – a staple of the current Labour government, which has worked tirelessly to silence and smother the Palestinian movement in Britain. This is just one in a series of attacks on the pro-Palestine movement in Brighton. Another FRFI comrade was arrested on 9 May in relation to a placard with a pink and red upside-down triangle on it, although he wasn’t even actually holding the placard. . The following week another person was arrested also for chanting the word ‘Intifada’. At the beginning of July, Zionist interference prevented FRFI supporters screening the film Jenin Jenin, with local venue the Brighthelm Centre now subject to a spurious investigation by the Charity Commission.
It is the duty of all anti-imperialists to fight back against this censorship!. We will be calling out this recent ramping up in repression and working to build a campaign that can adequately fight the censorship and criminalisation faced by pro-Palestinian activists. Palestine solidarity is being targeted and attacked in Brighton, and it is crucial we stand united and fight back!
Defend the right to protest! Drop the charges now!
Join our day of action on 15 August
Rally at Brighton train station at 12 pm for an afternoon of protest, followed by a public meeting at the Community Base at 5pm.
Maya’s first court hearing will be at Brighton and Hove Magistrates ‘ Court on 27 August at 2pm. Join us there to defend the right to demonstrate!
Follow @frfibrighton for updates.
