Leading actors and musicians including Bob Geldof, Olivia Colman and Emma Thompson are calling on the Home Office to reconsider the “harsh deportation” of a climate activist who is serving one of the longest prison sentences in modern British history for peaceful protest.
Along with the musicians Brian Eno and Jacob Collier, they are among about 600 artists who are urging James Cleverly to withdraw the deportation order issued to Marcus Decker.
Decker is serving a jail sentence of two years and seven months for a protest in which he climbed the Queen Elizabeth Bridge over the Dartford Crossing and unveiled a Just Stop Oil banner in October 2022.
Decker, who is German, was served a deportation order by the Home Office while in prison.
The actors spoke out as the British government was criticised this week by the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders. Michel Forst said the severe crackdown on environmental protest was having a chilling effect on fundamental freedoms.
In their letter, the actors say: “We believe that punishing him [Decker] with deportation in addition to the 14 months he has already spent in prison is out of proportion to the crime committed and unconducive to the public good.”
They say the protest Decker created was peaceful, adding “no one was harmed” and that it lasted less than two days.
“Consider that just in January of this year police closed both the Dartford Crossing and the Dartford Tunnel due to dangerous weather conditions, causing substantial disruption. Such extreme weather will only become increasingly frequent with escalating climate change.
“It was to prevent horrific disruption and suffering that Marcus took part in this action.”
Their words echoed those of Forst, who said this week that climate activists were acting for the “benefit of us all” and must be protected.
More than 150,000 people have signed a petition against Decker’s deportation.
The letter says: “We urge you to consider what it would look like to the rest of the world if the UK, which prides itself in leading on climate action, were to start deporting human rights defenders like Marcus.”
Decker’s partner, Holly Cullen-Davies, a musician, said he planned to fight his deportation through the courts once he had been released from prison. His release is expected soon.
Decker’s fellow protester Morgan Trowland, who was given a three-year jail term, was released in December.
“Deporting Marcus is the ultimate punishment not just for Marcus but for us his family. It comes on top of one of the longest jail sentences for a climate protester and is a double punishment,” said Cullen-Davies. “Marcus is staying really calm as he waits for his release; it is torture for all of us. He find the prospect of deportation impossible to bear or imagine. I don’t know what we will do if that happens.
“What I would say to the government, though, is you cannot deport dissent and you cannot deport the climate crisis.”
Cullen-Davies said she had had to give up most of her work to campaign against the deportation of her partner and was relying on donations from environmental campaigners to keep herself afloat financially.
Decker is unlikely to be deported immediately on his release as he has filed a legal challenge to the order.
The letter follows a similar appeal to the home secretary from hundreds of scientists including James Dyke, associate professor in Earth system science and the assistant director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, and Julia K Steinberger, professor of ecological economics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Forst, the UN rapporteur under the Aarhus convention, is gathering evidence of what he said was the worrying clampdown on climate protesters and considering what further action to take. The UK government is a signatory to the legally binding treaty and could be found to be acting illegally once his investigations are completed.
