Hannah Thomas has been awarded almost $22,000 in legal costs after prosecutors dropped charges against her and four others who were arrested at a pro-Palestine protest, her lawyer has confirmed.
Thomas was arrested and charged alongside four others at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney on 27 June that was attended by about 60 people at SEC Plating. The 35-year-old was taken to hospital and underwent two rounds of surgery to her right eye, with her lawyers alleging a police officer punched her in the face.
Last week, the office of the director of public prosecutions dropped the three charges against Thomas. One of the charges included a rarely used emergency power introduced after the 2005 Cronulla riots.
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Prosecutors have also dropped charges against three others who were at the protest and charged – Zack Schofield, Shane Reside and Holly Zhang. The trio were also awarded costs alongside Thomas on Friday after they appearing before Bankstown local court for a costs application.
In addition to Thomas being awarded $22,000 in legal costs, Stewart O’Connell, a solicitor at O’Brien Criminal and Civil Solicitors which is representing the protesters, said Schofield was awarded about $6,000, Reside received $5,000, and Zhang was awarded about $6,500.
O’Connell said Reside and Zhang were due to face court early next year, but their charges were then dropped this week after the lawyers wrote to prosectors requesting the charges against them also be dropped.
Brandon Eid was the only one of the five arrested to retain his charge. He pleaded guilty to having goods in his possession that was suspected of being unlawfully obtained. His other charge of larceny was withdrawn.
The June protest took place at SEC Plating, which the protesters said was manufacturing parts used in the F-35 jet program. SEC Plating has denied this.
Thomas’s lawyers announced on day the charges were dropped against Thomas that they would be filing civil proceedings against the state of NSW in the supreme court. Guardian Australia understands that is yet to be filed.
On Thursday, the Human Rights Law Centre said it had sent a formal complaint to the UN over the “violent arrest” of Hannah Thomas and the “wider erosion” of protest rights in New South Wales.
In a statement, the centre said the complaint warned that the NSW “protest permit” Form 1 system is being increasingly misused as a protest authorisation system.
The complaints called on the United Nations Special Rapporteur that focuses on rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association to request the Australian government explain how the form 1 system and NSW anti-protest laws are compatible with the nation’s human rights obligation.
