PROSECUTORS have cancelled the court dates of Scottish protesters charged under terrorism laws for allegedly expressing support for Palestine Action.
Letters sent out by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and seen by The National also advise those facing charges that their bail conditions have been lifted – though a final decision on “whether criminal proceedings are appropriate has not yet been taken”.
The letters date variously from August 7 to August 12, meaning they came in the days after the Scottish Human Rights Commission warned on August 4 that Police Scotland risked infringing on people’s rights to free expression in its handling of Palestine demonstrations.
Fiona McEwan was arrested for allegedly showing support for Palestine Action – a group proscribed as terrorists by the Labour Government in July – on August 9.
She received a COPFS letter three days later saying that her court date had been cancelled and bail conditions dropped.
McEwan said: “The whole thing is just completely ridiculous. It's just a complete overreaction.”
In their letter, the Procurator Fiscal Depute said that police had “submitted a report in connection with the alleged offence”.
However, they added: “You do not have to appear in court in terms of your undertaking and any additional conditions which you accepted as part of your undertaking will no longer apply from the end of today’s date. You will be contacted in due course when any further decision has been made in relation to this case.”
A dog-walker from Ayrshire, McEwan said: “I'm not a part of Palestine Action, but I'm being charged with terrorism.
“I'm not a terrorist. I'm a pacifist. So it's just completely unjustified. It is an attack on free speech.
“The proscription of Palestinian Action should never have gotten passed in the first place. They put it through with another two organisations [the ‘Maniacs Murder Cult’ and the ‘Russian Imperialist Movement’] which were actually violent.
“It was very sneaky of them, it was a sneaky thing that they did, and I'm really hoping that it gets retracted because it's just complete nonsense. They're not a terrorist organisation.”
Another Palestine protester, Andrew Thomson, said he had been lifted from an Edinburgh street, kept in a police station for eight hours, and charged with terror offences two days after allegedly wearing a T-shirt outside Bute House on July 19.
The T-shirt read “Genocide in Palestine time to take action”. Other activists have also been charged for wearing clothes with the same or similar slogans as they were alleged to be in support of Palestine Action.
Over the weekend, Police Scotland officers were seen detaining a man in Glasgow for wearing a similar-styled T-shirt in support of “Plasticine Action”. It expressed opposition to AI-generated animation and included the Aardman character Morph.
When asked about its compliance with the right to freedom of expression, the force said no arrest had been made and it had received no complaints.
On August 14, Thomson received a letter from the COPFS, dated August 7, also informing him that his court date had been cancelled and bail conditions lifted.
A third activist, Sean Clerkin, was also told on August 7 that his court date had been cancelled and bail conditions – which included a ban from Glasgow city centre – lifted.
Asked for comment, COPFS confirmed that a "standard prosecution report has been received" for the three activists named in the story.
They further pointed to a response from Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain to the Scottish Human Rights Commission's warnings of breaching human rights, which was published on August 18.
In it, Bain said: "Cases involving 'Palestine Action' reported to the Procurator Fiscal will be considered by a specialist prosecutor, overseen by senior prosecutors. The prosecutor will carefully examine whether there is sufficient evidence and determine what action, if any, should be taken in the public interest.
"This process ensures that all cases are handled fairly, regardless of the nature or cause of the protest. The rule of law would be undermined if police and prosecutors applied the criminal law inconsistently according to the cause of the protest."
