UK: Amnesty asserts "completely disproportionate to punish criminal damage as terrorism"

In response to reports that five Palestine Action activists face being sentenced as terrorists for damage to a branch of Barclays Bank in Lancashire, Tom Southerden, Amnesty International UK's Law and Human Rights Director, said:

“It would be completely disproportionate to punish someone for criminal damage as if they were terrorists. A terrorism sentence stays with you for life, why should anyone be punished more severely for an offence because they did it as part of a demonstration against genocide or any other issue?

"The misuse of counter-terrorism powers in this country is getting completely out of hand. It is the latest escalation in an ongoing crackdown on our right to protest, one of the most effective tools we have to hold our leaders to account. Resorting to sweeping counter terror powers against direct action protestors has to stop, and the proscription of Palestine Action should be lifted.”