SOAS student faces 14 years in prison for supporting Palestine

A student from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is set for a court hearing in just a matter of days after she was arrested for a speech she delivered at a pro-Palestine protest. CAGE, an advocacy group, said:

Sarah was arrested for a speech she delivered at a university pro Palestine protest.

Zionist Twitter accounts doxxed her and filed complaints against her with the Police. Three months later, she was raided at dawn, arrested, and charged under Islamophobic and now pro-Genocide Terrorism Act.

Sarah is one of the SOAS 2, after she was arrested alongside another student. In a petition expressing support for Sarah, campaigners said:

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.

Specifically, Sarah is accused of inviting support for a proscribed organisation, Hamas.

SOAS blow to student Palestine politics

Sarah told CAGE:

My name is Sarah and I’m facing up to 14 years of prison time for a speech in which I supported the Palestinian people’s right to resist occupation and genocide.

The charges Sarah is facing are precisely why CAGE have applied to the home secretary to have Hamas’ proscription overturned. Whilst Hamas were proscribed under counter-terror laws, this has implications for Palestinian resistance as a whole. Whether the British government likes it or not, Hamas are the governing administration for huge parts of Palestine. And, it’s hardly the purview of the government to dictate how a besieged population suffering genocide at the hands of a belligerent Israeli government resists said genocide.

And, Sarah is evidently the victim of the Zionist lobby:

On the 9th of October at my university, SOAS, I delivered a speech Gnasher Jew on Twitter had reposted me and posted my full name and basically tagged the Met Police saying ‘you need to do something about this, she’s a terrorist, she’s dangerous to British society.’

It was also taken up by UKLFI – UK Lawyers for Israel – which is a known Zionist group here in the UK and they actually made a formal complaint to the Met Police.

That’s the same UKFLI whose chief executive Jonathan Turner, objected to the Lancet’s figure of 186,000 Palestinians dead with the following abhorrent comment:

The [Lancet] letter also ignored factors that may increase average life expectancy in Gaza, bearing in mind that one of the biggest health issues in Gaza prior to the current war was obesity.

Turner’s comments typify the callousness with which UKFLI operate. To see Palestinians being displaced multiple times over as Israel commits war crime after war crime, to see Israel’s forced starvation of people  across Gaza, and to still make a crass comment about obesity? Depraved doesn’t cover it. Turner’s objection to the death toll also speaks to classic genocide denial.

But, why stop there? In CAGE’s report, Britain’s Apartheid Apologists, the group found that, along with Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), UKFLI:

represent a threat to the very foundations of democratic debate in Britain.

The opposition Sarah faces is hardly from a good-faith interpretation of already problematic counter-terror laws. It’s an attack from the Zionist lobby that will go to any lengths to stifle defence and resistance for Palestine. Students across this country have been braver and more principled than elected officials in their support for Palestine. Clearly, the Zionist lobby is threatened by people like Sarah who speak truth to power, rather than propping up genocidaires.

Far-reaching implications of the case

When Sarah was first charged, the Canary’s Hannah Sharland reported:

Everyone who stands on the side of and in solidarity with oppressed communities, here and in Palestine, should support them.

As the breathless furore over Kneecap and Bob Vylan’s comments spirals, we need to make sure that people like Sarah – who don’t have a platform like Glastonbury – are not forgotten amongst the news cycle. Both music acts have made their support for Palestine clear, and it’s got the establishment running scared. But, both those acts are relatively more shielded than Sarah is. Counter-terror laws and the process of proscription are draconian measures that – whether it’s intended or not – stifle free speech.

Sarah has asked for people to show up at her hearing in support:

I’ll be back in court on the 4th of July for a case management hearing. I urge you all to be there to support me. We need to make sure that our voices are being heard loud and clear. That’s why I’m being public with this defence campaign. That’s why I want you to join me.

Join the protest outside the Old Bailey on Friday 4th July from 9:30. Follow the SOAS 2 for updates here.

Featured image via the Canary