Latest news with #Sorrell
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘At 80, to be treated like a terrorist is shocking': arrested on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action
Palestine Action's co-founder has won a bid to bring a high court challenge over the group's ban as a terrorist organisation, which has made membership of or support for the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. About 200 people have been arrested on suspicion of publicly protesting in support for PA since it was banned. They include: Retired teacher Farley was picked up by police at a silent demonstration in Leeds for holding a sign that made a joke about the government's proscription of Palestine Action taken from an issue of the fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye. He was arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which he described as a 'pretty terrifying and upsetting experience'. Farley, who had never been arrested before, told the Guardian: 'I clearly wasn't any kind of physical threat.' The Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop, said the arrest was 'mind-boggling'. Retired teacher Sorrell, from Wells, Somerset, was arrested for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally in Cardiff, and she was held by police for almost 27 hours, during which officers forced their way into her house and searched it. She said officers removed 19 items from her home, including iPads, a Palestinian flag, books on Palestine, material related to Extinction Rebellion and the climate crisis, as well as drumsticks for – and a belt that holds – her samba drum. 'At 80, to be treated like a dangerous terrorist is deeply shocking. I've been very traumatised by this. Every morning I wake up feeling sick, nauseous. [I have] had to take anti-sickness pills,' she told the Guardian. Retired teacher Also from Wells and a friend of Sorrell, Fine was held for the same period of time. The women have been bailed until October. Their bail conditions prohibit contact with each other and spending any nights away from their homes. She said that during her detention officers refused to let her have the antibiotics she was taking for a serious gum infection, and failed to call her husband, who is recovering from cancer treatment, to tell him about her arrest, despite having agreed to do so. Retired priest Parfitt, from Henbury in Bristol, was arrested on the same day the group was outlawed. She was attending a demonstration in Parliament Square in London. She was sitting in a camp chair surrounded by other protesters, holding a placard stating her support for Palestine Action. As she was led away by police, she called the ban 'total nonsense' and said it symbolised a 'loss of civil liberties in this country', according to the BBC. Hinton is a retired magistrate; Baines is a former charity director Hinton and Baines were among eight people arrested by Devon and Cornwall officers at a peaceful demonstration. 'She's a pillar of the community, so it's a very brave thing for her to have done,' Baines said of Hinton. 'Part of why we were protesting is that this mission creep of laws against protests is really frightening people. This is about freedom of speech,' he told Cornwall Live. He added: 'We're not advocating for Palestine Action. We're resisting the proscription of Palestine Action. We're resisting the politicised use of terror laws to suppress a non-violent campaign of sabotage. We're resisting the criminalisation of peaceful protest because it's already being used to intimidate and threaten people just for having Palestine flags.'
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘At 80, to be treated like a terrorist is shocking': arrested on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action
Palestine Action's co-founder has won a bid to bring a high court challenge over the group's ban as a terror organisation, which makes membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. About 200 people have been arrested on suspicion of publicly protesting support for PA since it was banned. They include: Retired teacher Farley was picked up by police at a silent demonstration in Leeds for holding a sign that made a joke about the government's proscription of the group Palestine Action taken from an issue of the fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye. He was then arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which he described as a 'pretty terrifying and upsetting experience'. Farley, who had never been arrested before, told the Guardian: 'I clearly wasn't any kind of physical threat.' The Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop, said the arrest was 'mind boggling'. Retired teacher Sorrell from Wells, Somerset, was arrested for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally in Cardiff, and she was held by police for almost 27 hours, during which officers forced their way into her house and searched it. She said officers removed 19 items from her home, including iPads, a Palestinian flag, books on Palestine, material related to Extinction Rebellion and the climate crisis, as well as drumsticks for – and a belt that holds – her samba drum. 'At 80, to be treated like a dangerous terrorist is deeply shocking. I've been very traumatised by this. Every morning I wake up feeling sick, nauseous. [I have] had to take anti-sickness pills,' she told the Guardian. Retired teacher Also from Wells and a friend of Sorrell, Fine was held for the same period of time. The women have been bailed until October. Their bail conditions prohibit contact with each other and spending any nights away from their homes. She said that during her detention officers refused to let her have the antibiotics she was taking for a serious gum infection, and failed to call her husband, who is recovering from cancer treatment, to tell him about her arrest, despite having agreed to do so. Retired priest Parfitt, from Henbury in Bristol, was arrested on the same day the group was outlawed. She was attending a demonstration in Parliament Square in London. She was sitting in a camp chair surrounded by other protesters, holding a placard stating her support for Palestine Action. As she was led away by police, she called the ban 'total nonsense', adding that it symbolised a 'loss of civil liberties in this country', according to the BBC. Hinton is a retired magistrate. Baines is a former charity director Hinton and Baines were among eight people arrested by Devon and Cornwall officers at a peaceful demonstration. 'She's a pillar of the community, so it's a very brave thing for her to have done,' Baines said of Hinton. 'Part of why we were protesting is that this mission creep of laws against protests is really frightening people. This is about freedom of speech,' he told Cornwall Live. He added: 'We're not advocating for Palestine Action. We're resisting the proscription of Palestine Action. We're resisting the politicised use of terror laws to suppress a non-violent campaign of sabotage. We're resisting the criminalisation of peaceful protest because it's already being used to intimidate and threaten people just for having Palestine flags.'
Arab News
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
80-year-old pro-Palestine protester in UK ‘traumatized' after arrest
LONDON: Marianne Sorrell, an 80-year-old retired teacher from Wells, a city in southwestern England, said that her arrest earlier in July for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally has left her feeling 'traumatized' and 'sick.' Police officers detained Sorrell for nearly 27 hours on July 12 after forcibly entering her house and seizing 19 items, including iPads, a Palestinian flag, books about Palestine, and materials related to Extinction Rebellion and climate change. She was held on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action, which the UK government banned earlier this month under anti-terrorism laws. Sorrell told The Guardian newspaper: 'At 80, to be treated like a dangerous terrorist is deeply shocking. I've been very traumatised by this. Every morning I wake up feeling sick, nauseous. (I have) had to take anti-sickness pills.' She said a friend of hers, who went to feed her cats while she was in custody, saw a Geiger counter, which measures radiation, on the table while the police were searching the house. 'They've actually not taken anything that could be classed as illegal but it's very confusing that they're beginning to think anything connected to Palestine or support for Palestine is illegal in some way,' Sorrell said. She was detained at the end of a one-hour demonstration in Wells by the group Defend Our Juries in support of Palestine. Her friend Trisha Fine, 75, also from Wells and a retired teacher, was arrested and held by the police for nearly 27 hours. At the Cardiff rally, 11 others were arrested. Police questioned Sorrel and Fine about their awareness of Palestine Action's support for violence and whether they were prepared to engage in it themselves. The women have been released on bail until October and are prohibited from contacting each other or spending any nights away from their homes. Fine told The Guardian: 'Am I a 75-year-old terrorist? I don't think so. It's completely out of order. You just wonder what the hell is happening with this country and this government.' Sorrell said: 'I just feel if I'm put in prison for this, and even if I die in prison for this, I can't think of a better thing to die for really than for the justice of the people who've been persecuted now for almost my lifetime.' Palestine Action was banned in July after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton on June 20, causing an estimated £7 million ($9.38 million) of damage to military aircraft. Membership of or direct support for Palestine Action now carries a prison term of up to 14 years. Displaying the group's name on clothing could lead to a six-month jail sentence.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Red state official recounts personal experience of being 'debanked' and why it 'has to be stopped'
EXCLUSIVE: Protecting Americans from being "debanked" has been a top priority for the State Financial Officers Foundation, and Fox News Digital spoke to a member of that organization, who said he was targeted himself, about the importance of that pursuit. "When I was initially debanked, I didn't realize I was getting debanked," Alabama Republican State Auditor Andrew Sorrell told Fox News Digital at the State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Orlando, Florida. "What happened was I just get a letter one day from our credit card company, from my gun store, Gold Guns and Guitars, and we get this curious letter in the mail, and it says that in 30 days, we're closing your account. And it didn't tell us why at all." Sorrell, 39, explained that at first he thought that his company had simply forgotten to pay their bills, but when he realized he was up-to-date, he switched credit card companies and did not think anything of it until he got another letter from his credit card processor notifying him he was being dropped. Red State Treasurer Reveals Why State Financial Officers Have 'Obligation' To Combat Esg, Dei "So we're doing about 2 million dollars in revenue, about a million and a half of that is done by credit card or debit card transactions, and I was really confused this time, because why would a credit card processor drop us?" Sorrell explained. Read On The Fox News App After that, Sorrell was told by his insurance company he was being dropped with "no explanation." "I called my insurance broker, and he said, 'Oh yeah, this is happening to all gun stores,'" Sorrell said. "He said insurance companies are dropping all gun stores. And then it hit me. Oh my goodness, I'm a victim of political debanking. I didn't even realize that that's what was happening to me." Debanking is the phenomenon in which a bank customer has their accounts canceled, often with no explanation. Conservatives have long alleged that banks were unfairly targeting them in the practice, with banks specifically going after companies with conservative messaging or principles, including gun stores. Here's What Can Be Done About Debanking, The Un-american Abuse Of Power By Regulators In an interview with "Sunday Morning Futures" anchor Maria Bartiromo, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said he had seen "numerous" examples of conservatives being debanked during the Biden administration. "Especially people that were involved in different energy-type businesses and things like that, as well as very well-spoken and outspoken conservative activists," Comer said in the interview. "So there are numerous instances, enough to open an investigation again. Is this [environmental, social and governance (ESG)] policy, which is discriminatory?" Sorrell told Fox News Digital he is "convinced this is happening to other people in Alabama," and that the problem doesn't stem from local community banks but from large national banks who were "pushed" by the Obama and Biden administrations. "I actually have some sympathy for these large banks, and I think passing debanking legislation at the state level might actually help some of these large banks, because they can go back, and they can say, I'm sorry, Alabama has now passed debanking legislation. We're just following the law, we don't wanna debank people anymore," Sorrell said. "This is un-American, and it has to be stopped." Since the Trump administration took office in January, pushing back against political debanking has become a more prevalent conversation in government, including in the form of a bill from GOP Sen. Tim Scott to address regulatory language that has prompted financial institutions to debank those involved in certain industries. "It's clear that federal regulators have abused reputational risk by carrying out a political agenda against federally legal businesses," Scott said. "This legislation, which eliminates references to reputational risk in regulatory supervision, is the first step once and for all."Original article source: Red state official recounts personal experience of being 'debanked' and why it 'has to be stopped'
1News
20-05-2025
- 1News
Data quizzed after cook's phone pinged near mushrooms
Mushroom cook Erin Patterson's legal team have grilled a phone data expert on the limitations of using cell data in connection with a person's movements. Patterson, 50, is facing the fourth week of trial in regional Victoria, where she stands accused of three murders by allegedly deliberately poisoning a beef Wellington she served to her former in-laws. Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital days after eating the meal cooked by Patterson in July 2023. The fourth lunch guest, Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, survived the meal and Patterson has been charged with his attempted murder. She has pleaded not guilty to all offences and claims the poisonings were a terrible accident. Digital forensic expert Matthew Sorrell gave evidence for a second day at the court in Morwell, Victoria's southeast, today. Yesterday, he told the jury his analysis of Patterson's phone records showed she was in the vicinity of the Gippsland towns of Outtrim and Loch on May 22, 2023. A post had been published on the iNaturalist science website on May 21, revealing that death cap mushrooms had been located on Neilson St, Outtrim, the jury was told earlier yesterday. Another post on April 18 stated the poisonous mushrooms had been spotted earlier that day at the Loch recreation reserve. Under cross-examination by Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy SC today, Sorrell admitted there were limitations to his analysis. He explained that he used two types of records to analyse Patterson's phone – call charge records and event-based monitoring data. "That data allows for the possibility of a visit?" Mandy asked. "It allows for the possibility of being in the area," Sorrell replied. "But it does not necessarily indicate there was a visit to those locations?" Mandy continued. "There's nothing to indicate there was a specific visit to an address," the expert said. Mandy probed whether it was easier to exclude that a phone was in a particular area than to confirm it was there, and Sorrell agreed. The defence barrister told the jury Patterson lived about 20 minutes' drive from Outtrim and half an hour from Loch. Mandy asked Sorrell whether a phone could switch cell towers at different locations from inside Patterson's Leongatha home, for example if she picked up her phone and walked to her door. "I accept that proposition," Sorrell said. "Even if you've only moved 20 or 30 metres?" Mandy continued. "Yes," Dr Sorrell said. Mandy listed other limitations of the analysis including that a visit to Outtrim might not be recorded if no SMS, phone calls or data had been accessed on the phone, to which Sorrell agreed. Evidence so far in the trial of Erin Patterson, the Australian woman accused of murdering three people with beef Wellingtons. (Source: 1News) One of the homicide detectives tasked with investigating the allegedly murderous lunch was called as a witness this afternoon. Detective Senior Constable Khuong Tran told the jury he obtained CCTV for the case, including from a BP petrol station in Caldermeade. In video shown to the jury, about 3.19pm on July 30 – the day after the mushroom meal – Patterson is seen getting out of a red vehicle and walking into the service station towards the bathroom. Patterson, wearing a grey top and white pants with a black crossbody shoulder bag and sandals, spends about nine seconds in the toilets and then takes an item from the fridge before paying and leaving. She said she had experienced stomach pain and diarrhoea the day after the beef Wellington and took herself to hospital on July 31, the jury was told previously. The trial before Justice Christopher Beale will continue tomorrow.
