A comrade of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! has been charged, and another has been arrested, under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act in an intensification of suppression of free speech on the issue of Palestine. The charged comrade is due to attend Westminster Magistrates’ Court at 10:00am on Monday 24 March, where we will mobilise to demand the charges are dropped, and that all ongoing investigations of our comrades are ended. 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. We therefore urge all supporters of Palestinian self-determination to join this protest and support the ‘SOAS 2 Defence Campaign’.
On 4 March 2025, a comrade of FRFI who is a student at SOAS University of London 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 the comrade 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, the Met Police arrested her in a dawn raid on 31 January 2024. (See our initial statement on her arrest here). The police and Crown Prosecution Service waited more than 13 months after the arrest to bring charges.
On 4 March 2025, a second SOAS University student and comrade of FRFI was also arrested on suspicion of an offence under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act, in a crude attempt at intimidation. We mobilised supporters outside Hammersmith Police Station to demand their release, while other supporters of FRFI continuously phoned the police station in protest. The comrade was released after 10 hours.
This deliberate, calculated targeting of two young members of our organisation 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. The prosecution will attempt to argue that supporting the right of the Palestinian people to resist racism, colonialism and occupation equates to support for a ‘proscribed organisation’. 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 means necessary including armed struggle. The Revolutionary Communist Group and its newspaper FRFI will mount a defence campaign to fight back against this blatant attack by the racist British State.
FRFI maintains its unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and will not back down against Zionist intimidation which attempts to criminalise the Palestinian solidarity movement.
Resistance is not terrorism! Drop the charges now!
Protest: Westminster Magistrates Court, 24 March 2025, 10:00am
Follow @rcgfrfi for campaign updates and contact us to support the #DefendTheSOAS2 Defence Campaign
Sign the petition to drop all charges at https://change.org/defendsoas2
