4.5 years is an ABOLSUTE DISGRACE. It is a joke in the face of our legal system, it is criminal in the eyes of free speech, and it stamps on any notion of human rights in this country. While paedophiles, rapists and murderers walk free after minimal jail time, dedicated and kind-hearted people like Sean remain incarcerated in prison, and for what? Having an opinion the government didn't like? Editing a website? Holding a banner against violence and abuse?

All of this shows the desperation of a panicking and otherwise failing government.

In solidarity, friendship and rebellion always... x

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."

You assume everyone else is as wrapped up in your causes as you. Well guess what? Most of us are not. I've never heard of this person who has been banged up. Just a paragraph explaining what has led up to this situation would make all the difference. True we could spend quite some time searching for ourselves but really I can't be arsed.

...There have been plenty of posts on Indy about Sean Kirtley's sentence. I've noticed some people turn a blind eye cos its just 'you ARers'. When you hear that someone's been sent down for 4.5 years for peaceful protest don't you feel dutybound to get off your arse and investigate further? Try putting your energies into research instead of slagging off people actually doing actions.

You know, some of us lead really really busy lives campaigning on all sorts of important stuff like climate change, illegal wars, oil, depleted uranium, Palestine etc. Maybe you have the time to follow and read every single post every single day on IMC but some of us just don't and also don't have the patience or time to further research every poorly reported post that I/we happen to dip into that has little or no background explanation. You presumably do have the time for this, know the issue well and yet have chosen to take a swipe at me rather than inform me and many other readers with a single paragraph of info as I suggested because I, and all those others still don't fully know what this is about, what banner was he holding, what charge etc. Just make it as easy as possible for others to understand and support your issue that's all I am asking and it would be a win win result. If you still believe it is me being difficult, how about this simple challenge - I will give you a quid for every AR post that is well presented with good background given and you give me a quid for every post that is woefully lacking in that info. I confidently predict that I will become quite rich off of you.

The prosecution was brought under socpa sec.145. If you care to read the other posts concerning this prosecution you will therefore understand that the socpa s.145 is: To interfere with a contractual relationship so as to harm an animal research establishment. The charge against all (7) was one of conspiracy to do the above. The section of law can be used by the home secretary at any time to include other, or any section of any industry and to any protest! So if you have the ability to grasp the implication of that you will ,hopefully, understand that its not only ar.that is up against the wide ranging powers the state has conferred on itself. The trial lasted over 18 weeks,took over one and a half years to bring to trial The crown prosecution against the defendants was a disaster,a travesty,even now the realization of what occurred at Birmingham crown court under the guise of justice makes one angry ,angry that I have no alternative but to support such a system (by paying tax in any form).
Everyone who protests should be aware that the law CAN be used against the protest of ANYTHING.
You do not have the right to protest and never have done,no one has ever had the right to protest in this country,there is no legislation to protect the `right to protest`. The hotch potch system of making it up as they go along, by the incompetent hierarchy prevalent in this so called democracy, can be traced back many decades.We,in this country are being driven to even greater subservience than our forbears ever were,the shoot to kill policy being just one warning of the state control we find ourselves in. The next phase is obviously trial without jury and the abolition of legal aid.
Anyway back to the point,Sean was convicted,on his own, of conspiracy to interfere with a contractual relationship so as to harm an animal research establishment, I repeat ON HIS OWN.None of the other defendants were found guilty of the charges as brought against them. No criminal damage to any property,vehicles,persons or anything other than what the perception of `the right to protest `is in the public opinion `peaceful protest` The amazing thing is that the judiciary can be seen to wish to protect the public perception of, the impartiality of the judiciary.That, in this case is some bloody joke,everyone involved and in the public gallery at this trial were shocked at the conduct of the trial and the disregard for trials past where precedents in law have been established.So you see its time.
Time for what you may ask,it is time for you twats and scoundrels,peasants and arseholes the dirt in the gutter and the snot on my sleeve to realise `you have no fucking rights`. Well really that is not entirely true, you do have fucking rights as it provides fodder for wars and more tax payers.Plus you get child allowance.

This whole conspiracy to convict peaceful protestors is worrying enough in itself. But why has there been zero coverage in any media anywhere (except on this site)? Yesterday I found this story  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/04/organised_crime_law/ which is the first reference to the case other than in the hilariously biased netcu press release (no I'm not going to link to it). Netcu, for some reason, don't mention the complete failure of the prosecution to further cripple the lives of the vast majority of those whose doors they kicked in with great fanfare two years ago. But they do mention that the show trial was one of the longest in the history of the West Mercia police, and yet there is not a peep from any of the national press.

This case affects every protest movement that has any possibility of achieving any success. So watch out anti arms campaigners after yesterdays EDO and Raytheon news.