The following open letter to the Crown Prosecution Service has been signed by individuals and organisations in solidarity with the SOAS 2. It is an open document and if you want your name or organisation to be added to the signatories, please email [email protected]. A change.org petition in solidarity with the SOAS 2 can be found 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 ‘inviting support for a proscribed organisation’. Their supposed crime is to have made speeches on behalf of the SOAS Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! society in October 2023 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 anyone expressing support for the right of oppressed peoples to resist racism, colonialism and occupation could be tried under terrorism legislation.
Resistance is not terrorism! Drop the charges now!
Signed (organisations):
- 12 October Platform
- 1/200 Media
- Academics and Staff for Palestine – Concordia University
- Al Fidai Media Network
- Alkarama, Palestinian Women’s Movement
- Artists and Culture Workers LDN
- Bartolina Sisa Resistance
- BDS Belfast
- Birmingham Friends of the Earth
- Birmingham Liberated Zone
- Birmingham Queers for Palestine
- Built on Blood
- Camden Friends of Palestine
- Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign
- Communist Party (Germany)
- Communist Refoundation Aotearoa
- Communist Vanguard
- Connolly Youth Movement
- Consistent Democrats
- Ealing Friends of Palestine
- Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
- Fire This Time
- Focus E15 Campaign
- Glasgow Prisoner Solidarity
- Govanhill Apartheid Free Zone
- India Labour Solidarity (UK)
- International Bolshevik Tendency
- International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network UK
- Keele Leftist Society
- Latin Americans Stand With Palestine
- MANDIRI
- Movement For Justice
- Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol)
- Newcastle Coalition for Palestine
- Newcastle Palestine Solidarity Campaign
- Newcastle University LGBTQ+ Society
- Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
- Palestinian Communist Party
- Palestinian Communist Youth Union
- Palestinian Progressive Youth Union
- Palestinian Youth Organisation
- Partisan Defence Committee
- People’s Bridge
- Prayers4Gaza
- Progressive Student Labour Front
- QMUL Action for Palestine
- Red Spark, Australia
- Republic of Palestine
- Revolutionary Communist Group
- Revolutionary Communist Party Newcastle District
- Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century (rs21)
- Rock around the Blockade
- Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
- Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC)
- Secours Rouge Toulouse
- Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card
- SOAS Jewish Society
- SOAS Justice for Workers
- The SOAS Spirit
- Socialist Equality Party (UK)
- South Asia Solidarity Group
- Struggle for Socialism Party/Struggle-La Lucha
- Tyneside East Timor Solidarity
- UAL Students for Justice in Palestine
- Unity of Fields
- West London Palestine Solidarity Campaign
- Workers Power
- Workers World Party
- Working Students Aotearoa – Tāmaki Makaurau
- Young Communists of Belgium
- Young Struggle
- Youth Demand
- Zionism Free Leith
Signed (individuals):
- Prof Malik Abisaab, McGill University, Canada
- Dr Swee Ang, Consultant orthopaedic surgeon, co-founder Medical Aid for Palestinians
- Hamja Ahsan, artist and author
- Fahad Ansari, Director and Principal Solicitor, Riverway Law
- Fouad Baker, Palestinian Jurist
- Ramzy Baroud, Editor of Palestine Chronicle
- Lubia Begum-Rob, Director of Prisoners’ Advice Service
- Patrick Bond, Distinguished Professor, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
- Taylor Borowetz, Graduate Teaching Assistant at Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS
- Dr Louis Brehony, author and musician
- Dr Andrea Brock, Lecturer in International Relations, University of Sussex
- Dr Pratichi Chatterjee, School of Human and Health Sciences University of Huddersfield
- Ríoghnach Connolly, award-winning Irish musician
- Dr Greg Davies, Lecturer in Law, Liverpool University
- Saeed Taji Farouky, filmmaker
- Andrew Feinstein, author and former ANC MP
- Dr Alastair Fraser, Director of Postgraduate Teaching and Learning at Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS
- Alex Gordon, former President, National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (RMT)
- Tony Greenstein, author, Zionism during the Holocaust, Secretary of Unite SE 6246 branch
- Prof Tahrir Hamdi, Director of Arab Open University, Jordan
- Dr Sian Hawthorne, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Religion and Politics, SOAS
- Steve Hedley, former Senior Assistant General Secretary, RMT union
- Dr Daniel Jewesbury, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- Priya Kunjan, researcher and community broadcaster
- Ruth London, campaigner on fuel poverty and climate change
- Franck Magennis, barrister, Garden Court Chambers
- Sara Mahdi, Degrowth researcher and political ecologist
- Abby Martin, Journalist
- Mark McGowan aka The Artist Taxi Driver
- Arzu Merali, researcher, writer, editor of The Long View
- Mickey Moran, An Rúnaí Ginearálta – Éirígí for a New Republic
- Yonatan Mosquera, UNISON International Relations Officer
- Craig Murray, author, broadcaster and human rights activist
- Anna Nordstrom, Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University and SOAS alumna
- Prof Ilan Pappé, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter
- Dr Asim Qureshi, Research Director at CAGE International
- Ben Radley, Reader in International Development, University of Bath
- Dr Manjeet Ramgotra, SOAS
- Maria Rusca, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester
- Joana Sá Couto, anthropologist, University of Lisbon
- Tanroop Sandhu, Teaching Fellow at Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS
- Massoud Shadjareh, Chair of Islamic Human Rights Commission
- Dr Sara Stevano, Senior Lecturer in Economics at SOAS University
- Cllr Hau-Yu Tam 譚巧瑜, Green Party Councillor, Evelyn, Lewisham
- Dr Tom Vickers, Associate Professor, Nottingham Trent University
- Derek Wall, former Green Party of England and Wales International Coordinator
- Paweł Wargan, Political Coordinator, Progressive International
- Asa Winstanley, investigative journalist and author
