Open Letter on Police Surveillance
/We the undersigned are a mixture of individuals, organisations and lawyers affected by undercover police operations or representing people who believe that they have been the targets of undercover policing
In June this year the public reacted with shock and outrage to revelations that undercover police surveillance was used against members of Stephen Lawrence's family, to find “dirt” that could discredit them.
This is yet another revelation about the nature and extent of secret policing in Britain, showing decades long spying on and interference with political movements and campaigns. In addition to efforts to spy upon or smear people such as the Lawrence family who have lost loved ones, particular disgust has been expressed at the gross intrusion of undercover officers forming intimate sexual relationships with some of those upon whom they were spying; at the use of the identities of dead children to obtain cover; and at police links with the blacklisting of trade union members. It has also become apparent that many criminal convictions have been rendered unsafe as a result of misconduct by the police and prosecutors.
We have no faith in Operation Herne nor any of the up to 16 often secret, internal police or prosecutor reviews. They are not sufficiently transparent, robust or independent to satisfy public concern and they do not come close to addressing all of the issues raised.
The public is entitled to know what has been going on in their name and paid for by their taxes. We therefore call for an independent public inquiry into all the revelations that undercover policing has been used against political protest and campaigns. This inquiry must have full powers to compel police officers to give evidence. Such political policing has no place in a democratic society and a mechanism must be found to ensure that such unjustified conduct does not continue into the future.
Tamsin Allen, Mike Schwarz, Bindmans Solicitors
Lois Austin
Raju Bhatt, Bhatt Murphy Solicitors
Blacklist Support Group
Ruth Bundey, Harrison Bundey Solicitors
Jules Carey, Marian Ellingworth, Tuckers Solicitors
Louise Christian, Christian Khan Solicitors
Deborah Coles and Helen Shaw, Co-Directors INQUEST
Liz Davies, Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Claire Dissington, Anti Nazi League
Estelle du Boulay, Director, Newham Monitoring Project
Suresh Grover, The Monitoring Group
Imran Khan, Imran Khan & Partners Solicitors
Anna Mazzola, Consultant Solicitor, Bindmans Solicitors
Frank Smith, blacklisted trade unionist
The Socialist Party
Michelle Stanistreet, General Secretary, National Union of Journalists
Harriet Wistrich, Birnberg Peirce Solicitors, Belinda Harvey, Helen Steel & 6 others in legal action against undercover relationships
Youth Against Racism in Europe
Congratulations to Raji Sourani
/The Haldane Society sends its congratulations to our comrade Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, on the Right Livelihood Award, the alternative Nobel Prizes. This is a major recognition of Raji's and PCHR's tenacity in resisting the crimes of the Israeli state in Palestine.
Lecture Series Update
/14 November 2013
Annual General Meeting and Lecture:
Phil Shiner, solicitor, Public Interest Lawyers, doughty litigator against human rights abuses by British troops, will be speaking on “UK human rights violations in Iraq and Afghanistan – the present picture”.
10 December 2013
How to be a Feminist Lawyer.
Speakers TBC.
All lectures at 6.30pm, University of Law, 14 Store Street, London WC1E 7DE http://www.law.ac.uk/our-centres/london-bloomsbury/getting-there/.
Attendance is free. We hope that CPD points will be available (for £10), but please check in advance.
Legal Aid Consultation: Meeting for South London Criminal Defence Lawyers
/A meeting has been called for criminal practitioners in south London to discuss the current MoJ consultation on legal aid cuts. The meeting, held under the auspices of the LCCSA, will be held at the offices of Baxter Brown McArthur, 150A Falcon Road SW11 2LW on Thursday 10 October at 18.00.
Human Rights Lectures 2013-14 Announced
/Click here to download the poster as a printable A4 PDF.
[The image in this article sets out the dates of Haldane's upcoming lecture series. Lectures are to be held on 8 October (police surveillance), 14 November (Michael Mansfield and Haldane AGM) and 10 December (details TBC). All at University of Law, Store Street, 6.30pm. All lectures are free or £10 for CPD.]
Report on Tuesday's Mass Meeting
/The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers welcomes the determination, shown at a 500-strong meeting of criminal solicitors and barristers, to escalate the campaign against Grayling’s proposals to decimate legal aid, and to withdraw their labour as part of that campaign.
The meeting, called by the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association, the Criminal Bar Association and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, was attended by around 500 barristers, solicitors, and legal executives. It unanimously voted to oppose all the different cuts to legal aid and declared that the Ministry of Justice is not fit for purpose.
Speakers from the platform and the floor repeatedly called for barristers and solicitors to stand united and withdraw their labour from the Courts. There was widespread dismay expressed from both the platform and the floor at the position of the Law Society not to stand in solidarity with their criminal members and colleagues by taking a firm stance to oppose the cuts and support direct action.
There remain discussions to be had as to when and in what form the withdrawal of labour will take place. The Haldane Society would encourage the various professional organisations to agree now that the legal profession will start by boycotting the courts – both civil and criminal – on a specified date and will consider escalating action.
Haldane at Manchester Anti-Cuts Demo: The Fight Continues
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On Saturday 28 October 2013 members of the Haldane Society attended the demonstration in Manchester at the Tory Party Conference. The Haldane Society joined our comrades in The Northern Save Justice Campaign feeder march to the main demonstration, protesting against the vicious cuts to legal aid which this government is attempting to implement.
The campaign against the attacks on legal aid continues. Come to the Justice Closing Down Sale: Everyone Must Go event on Tuesday 1 October at 6.15pm at the Camden Centre. Tickets available here.
[The image in this article is of a demonstration in a street in Manchester. Demonstrators line the street, and the Haldane Society banner is being carried in the middle.]
