THE appeal for the “disproportionate” jail sentences of two pro-Palestine activists has been rejected by a Scottish court.
The pair of Palestine Action activists, who were imprisoned for disrupting the operations of a weapons manufacturer based in Glasgow, have been refused their appeal for immediate release from HMP Barlinnie.
At a hearing on November 5, at Edinburgh's High Court, two judges reduced the pair of activist's sentences from 12 months to 10.
Stuart Bretherton and Calum Lacy were imprisoned on August 20, 2024, and were sentenced to a year in jail for breach of the peace, due to their actions at Thales's Govan weapons factory in June 2022.
The pair were jailed alongside three others, collectively known as the Thales 5, who were each sentenced to between 12 and 14 months.
The activists aimed to disrupt the French arms giant's operations, targeting the factory due to Thales's links with Israel's largest arms firm, Elbit Systems, along with its direct supplies to the Israeli military.
Elbit Systems produces around 85% of drones used by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as well as some of the country’s land-based equipment.
The factory reportedly produces components for the Watchkeeper drone, which is used by the UK Ministry of defence and based on Elbit's Hermes 450, which has been deployed in Gaza and is believed to be the drone that carried out the strike which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in April this year.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said that “although draconian anti-protest laws have recently been implemented by Westminster, with some appalling effects, these are not applicable to Scotland, so it has been a severe shock to see the sentences passed upon these young activists”.
She added: “Not only are these disproportionate to the nonviolent nature of the actions, and inconsistent with the evidence provided by social work reports in the case, they also contradict the intent of the Scottish Sentencing Council’s guidelines on appropriate sanctions to be imposed upon young people.”
Palestine Action claimed the imprisonment superseded Scottish Sentencing Council guidelines against custodial sentences for those under 25 years of age and was issued to “deter” further actions by others against weapons companies in Scotland.
Annie Lane, the partner of Bretherton, said she had to go through her pregnancy without him and that him not being there was “really difficult” for her.
“I deeply respect all five of them for the action they took and all Palestine action prisoners and activists in the UK who are refusing to be complicit whilst we witness a genocide in real time on our screens,” she said.
“These activists really are the best of us. Stuart and I are expecting and having to go through pregnancy without him has been really difficult.
“But I think of all those pregnant or with children living in Palestine under Israeli apartheid and I know what I am experiencing will never be as painful as what they are going through.”
