Just Stop Oil sentences slammed as 'severe' in damning letter from UN chief

The United Nations has condemned jail sentences handed to two Just Stop Oil protesters as "severe" in a letter to the Government.

Two activists who caused traffic gridlock at Dartford Crossing when they scaled the bridge and unfurled a banner must serve a total of five years after judges ruled their stunt had caused a public nuisance.

Morgan Trowland, 40, was sentenced to three years behind bars, and fellow activist Marcus Decker, 34, was sentenced to two after they used wires to climb the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in October 2022.

While the Supreme Court has defended the sentences, a UN Special Rapporteur has personally written to the Government protesting their severity.

The official has warned the lengthy sentences could severely impact people's protected rights of freedom of expression and assembly.

Ian Fry, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, sent the Government a letter in August outlining his fears stemming from the sentences.

In the letter, seen by the BBC, Mr Fry states the sentences handed to the activists were "significantly more severe than previous sentences imposed for this type of offending".

He added that he feared how people could "exercise their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association”.

Judges handed down the sentence last year while acknowledging it was particularly strict.

Sentencing Judge Collery KC said he wanted to deter copycat actions, stating: “You have to be punished for the chaos you caused and to deter others from copying you.”

The judge ruled that the 40-hour closure the pair had caused affected “many tens of thousands" of people, some "very significantly”.

Mr Fry also more broadly critiqued the Government's New Public Order Act in his letter.

He said the act, which was passed in July, appeared to be a "direct attack on the right to the freedom of peaceful assembly" in the UK.

But Mr Fry received little by way of a reply from ministers after raising his concerns.

He told the BBC he is used to having his letter taken seriously and that recipients generally respond, but despite requesting a reply within 60 days from the UK Government, he has yet to receive one.

The lack of a response, he said, signifies a "general disregard for human rights concerns by the current Government".

The Home Office claimed it had "responded" to the special rapporteur's letter, and that peaceful protest is a "vital part of a democratic society" and "long-standing tradition in the UK", providing it is "done within the law".