Latest news with #massarrests
Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Iran detained 21,000 people during 12-day war with Israel
Iran detained 21,000 people during its 12-day war with Israel in June, the regime has revealed. Iran has not previously acknowledged the scale of the mass arrests, which came amid fears that Iranian society had been infiltrated by Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. Gen Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi, a spokesman for the Iranian police, said the suspects were reported via tip-offs to authorities after a near nationwide internet blackout was imposed during the war. He told state television: 'The arrest of 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war indicated high awareness and participation of people in providing security.' While he did not elaborate on what charges the suspects might face, he said more than 261 were suspected of spying and another 172 were arrested on suspicion of illegal filming. He also revealed police established more than 1,000 checkpoints and deployed 40,000 police officers for round-the-clock security during the war, which began after Israel's pre-emptive attacks on the morning of June 13. The wave of air strikes killed nearly 1,100 people in Iran, including the army's chief of staff and several high-level military commanders and top nuclear scientists. Retaliatory Iranian strikes killed 32 people in Israel. The latest arrest figures contradict those released by the country's top legal authority. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Iran's judiciary chief, recently claimed around '2,000 people' were arrested during and after the conflict, some of whom face the death penalty on charges of 'organisational collaboration with the enemy'. Speaking to state TV last month, he said: 'In our law, anyone who co-operates with a hostile state during wartime must be arrested and prosecuted.' Some have since been released, including dozens from the country's Jewish community and minorities regularly persecuted such as the Kurd and Bahai populations. The judiciary chief said some detainees remain on bail and trials are being fast-tracked. The mass detentions have sparked alarm among human rights experts who fear Iran will use the war as the chance to continue its execution spree. Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights said 21 people were executed during the June conflict, including six accused of spying for Israel. The Islamic Republic has one of the world's highest execution rates. In April, human rights group Amnesty International said Iran accounted for 64 per cent of all known global executions last year, with at least 972 people executed, branding it part of an ongoing campaign of mass suppression of dissent.
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Palestine Action co-founder accuses ministers of making defamatory claims
The co-founder of Palestine Action has accused ministers of making false and defamatory allegations about the banned group, and of contradicting their own intelligence assessments in an attempt to justify recent mass arrests. The government has come under pressure to justify the detention of 532 people arrested over the weekend under the Terrorism Act – half of whom were 60 or older – on suspicion of showing support for Palestine Action. The number of people arrested for peaceful protests, together with the images of older people being led away and the demands placed on the criminal justice system, have led many to call into question the criminalisation of so many people. On Monday, a Downing Street spokesperson responded by saying Palestine Action, which last month became the first direct action protest group to be banned, was 'a violent organisation that has committed violence, significant injury, extensive criminal damage'. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, told the BBC that Palestine Action 'is not a non-violent organisation' and claimed that court restrictions meant people 'don't know the full nature of this organisation'. But Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, said: 'Yvette Cooper and No 10's claim that Palestine Action is a violent organisation is false and defamatory and even disproven by the government's own intelligence assessment of Palestine Action's activities … 'It was revealed in court during my ongoing legal challenge to the ban that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre's (JTAC'S) assessment acknowledges that 'Palestine Action does not advocate for violence against persons' and that the 'majority' of its activities 'would not be classified as terrorism'. 'Spraying red paint on war planes is not terrorism. Disrupting Israel's largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems, by trespassing on their sites in Britain is not terrorism. It is the Israeli Defense Forces and all those who arm and enable their war crimes who are the terrorists.' JTAC, a government body based within MI5, produced a secret report on 7 March which was disclosed in the high court. While recommending banning Palestine Action, JTAC said the group 'primarily uses direct action tactics', which typically resulted in minor damage to property. 'Common tactics include graffiti, petty vandalism, occupation and lock-ons,' it added. Defend Our Juries, which has organised multiple demonstrations, including Saturday's, in support of Palestine Action, also highlighted Whitehall officials' description – again in documents revealed in court – of a ban as 'relatively novel' as 'there was no known precedent of an organisation being proscribed on the basis that it was concerned in terrorism mainly due to its use or threat of action involving serious damage to property'. A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: 'It is despicable that under political pressure, Yvette Cooper is now actively misleading the British public about the nature of Palestine Action, knowing that if people come to their defence to counter her disinformation, she can have them jailed for 14 years [because they could be deemed to supporting a proscribed group].' The group said many hundreds of people had already committed to the next protest, which is likely to take place in early September and to be on an even larger scale. Uncertainty remains over the status of charges and prosecutions. Tom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates' Association, said: 'Based on the information that we currently have, and the statement put out by the Metropolitan Police yesterday [Sunday], it could take days and possibly weeks for decisions to be made on whether or not to charge any of those arrested over the weekend. Many of these cases may also be heard in the crown courts, rather than magistrates courts.' Magistrates courts hear less serious cases, although some charges under section 12 of the Terrorism Act are 'either way', meaning the defendant can choose whether to be tried before magistrates or a jury in the crown court. The Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: 'Personally I would go to the crown court because I know where the British public is, both on the genocide in Gaza and secondly on the British government's support for it, and thirdly on people not being allowed to express their opinions.' However, they added that they expected most charges to be laid under section 13, which are all heard in the magistrates courts, as the criminal justice system would not be able to cope with so many jury trials. This article was amended on 12 August 2025 to clarify that offences under section 13 of the Terrorism Act are dealt with by magistrates; offences under section 12 are dealt with 'either way'.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Anyone showing support for Palestine Action ‘will feel full force of the law', justice minister says
Update: Date: 2025-08-11T09:05:22.000Z Title: Content: Government defends decision to proscribe protest group after mass arrests at a demonstration in Westminster over the weekend Yohannes Lowe Mon 11 Aug 2025 11.05 CEST First published on Mon 11 Aug 2025 10.42 CEST 11.01am CEST 11:01 My colleagues Henry Dyer and Rob Evans exclusively revealed last week that Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British army and a member of the House of Lords, urged ministers to crack down on Palestine Action at the request of a US defence company that employs him as an adviser. Here is an extract from their story: Richard Dannatt wrote privately to two separate Home Office ministers asking them to address the 'threat' posed by the group after its activists targeted a factory in 2022. The activists caused extensive damage to the factory which is run by Teledyne, a US multinational that sells technology for military, aerospace and other applications. Lord Dannatt has been a paid adviser to the company since 2022. Dannatt's involvement after the attack on the factory in Wales led to allegations heard later in court that the peer was 'seeking to influence' the criminal investigation into the Palestine Action activists. 10.54am CEST 10:54 As we mentioned in the opening post, the Metropolitan police, a force under huge budgetary and resource pressure, arrested a total of 532 people on Saturday at the largest demonstration relating to Palestine Action since the group was proscribed last month. Detained protesters were taken to prisoner processing points in the Westminster area. Those whose details could be confirmed were released on bail to appear at a police station at a future date. The Met said 522 people were held for displaying an item in support of a proscribed organisation, and there were a further 10 arrests, six for assaults on officers, two for breaching Public Order Act conditions, one arrest for obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty, and one for a racially aggravated public order offence. Updated at 11.05am CEST 10.42am CEST 10:42 Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. The government has defended its controversial proscription of protest group Palestine Action, with the justice minister, Alex Davies-Jones, saying supporters of a 'terrorist organisation will feel the full force of the law'. The comments come after a huge demonstration against the proscription took place in London over the weekend in which 532 people were arrested. The majority of those arrested, 348, were aged 50 or over, according to official figures. Responding to questions about the protest this morning on BBC Breakfast, Davies-Jones said: I want to thank the police for their bravery and their courage in carrying out their diligent duties in the line of public protection, and I want to state that the right to peacefully protest in this country is a cornerstone of our democracy, and of course, we respect that. But with regards to Palestine Action, they are a proscribed terrorist organisation and their actions have not been peaceful. They have violently carried out criminal damage to RAF aircraft. We have credible reports of them targeting Jewish-owned businesses here in the United Kingdom, and there are other reasons which we can't disclose because of national security. But they are a proscribed terrorist organisation and anyone showing support for that terrorist organisation will feel the full force of the law. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, proscribed Palestine Action last month under the Terrorism Act after activists caused an estimated £7m of damage to jets at the RAF Brize Norton military base in Oxfordshire. It made membership of or support for it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The government justifies the ban by saying it narrowly targets a group that has been organising serious criminality. But critics say the ban is a draconian clampdown on freedom of expression and is the latest erosion of civil liberties that have been brought in under successive governments. Palestine Action is appealing against the ban after a High Court ruling on 30 July gave it permission to do so. We will have more on Palestine Action shortly. Here is what else is on the agenda for the rest of the day: 11am: Reform UK press conference. 11.30am: Lobby briefing with the prime minister's spokesperson, who will likely be asked about the extent of the UK's involvement in the Trump-Putin Ukraine summit in Alaska on Friday. Late morning: Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition, visits East Anglia to highlight local concerns about the use of asylum hotels.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Palestine Action supporters attempt to overwhelm police
More than 500 Palestine Action supporters are set to stage a protest in London with the intention of provoking mass arrests and overwhelming police. Campaigners have planned for Left-wing activists and members of the Muslim community to deliberately flout terrorism laws by declaring their support for the banned group in Parliament Square on Saturday. To do so would be an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 and would be punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In a warning to organisers, the Metropolitan Police charged three supporters of the group on Thursday, who became the first to face such charges. More than 200 protesters have been arrested during marches by Defend Our Juries, who organise the gatherings, since the Palestine Action ban came into force last month. The group was outlawed by the Home Secretary following an alleged attack on aircraft at RAF Brize Norton and its supporters have described the ban as a 'gross abuse of power' designed to hinder expressions of support for the Palestinian cause. Dept Asst Commissioner Ade Adelekan, of Scotland Yard, warned: 'The Met is very experienced at dealing with large-scale protests, including where the protest activity crosses into criminality, requiring arrests. 'While we will not go into the specific details of our plan, the public can be assured that we will have the resources and processes in place to respond to any eventuality. 'Anyone showing support for Palestine Action can expect to be arrested. I would once again urge people to consider the seriousness of that outcome. 'An arrest under the Terrorism Act can have very real long-term implications – from travel, to employment, to finances. Also, as we have seen this week, it is very likely an arrest in these circumstances will lead to a charge.' A spokesman for Defend Our Juries said: 'Whoever thought these things would be happening in this country? These attacks on the right to protest just show how Yvette Cooper's conflation of direct action with terrorism would put us on a dangerously slippery authoritarian slope, if it is allowed to stand.'
New York Times
27-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
El Salvador Police Say Quotas and Rumors Fueled Bukele's Mass Arrests
The police arrested men based on neighborhood gossip or innocent tattoos, the families of those swept up in El Salvador's mass arrests have long claimed. Now, some police officers who were part of President Nayib Bukele's sweeping crackdown on gangs are saying the same thing. Nearly a dozen officers from El Salvador's national police described facing intense pressure to meet arrest quotas, according to a Human Rights Watch report released this week, as well as three officers from that group who spoke directly to The New York Times, and the leader of the country's main group advocating for police officers. The quotas were imposed after Mr. Bukele declared a state of emergency in 2022, which remains in effect today, and oversaw a campaign of mass arrests, the officers and report said. Mr. Bukele's plan resulted in an astounding turnaround for the tiny Central American country, which for decades had been racked by gang violence. El Salvador quickly became one of the safest countries in the region, a feat Mr. Bukele touted at the White House after he imprisoned some of President Trump's deportees. But the officers and police group leader said arbitrary arrests helped drive that turnaround — as did a fear among the police that they, too, could be dragged to jail as gang collaborators if they defied orders. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
