Hattix

In a somewhat unexpected decision, five students jailed for ‘terrorism’ have been released on appeal and their convictions quashed. In a typical hysteria-fueled conviction, these men were jailed for, get this and I am not making it up, “downloading and sharing extremist terrorism-related material”. That’s right. They did nothing and indeed they argued they had no intention to.

The prosecution summarily failed to link them to any planning or intention of acts of terrorism, yet somehow they were still convicted under a spineless anti-British law, the Terrorism Act 2000, where section 57 makes it a crime to simply posess or digest material that could be useful to terrorists. Legal representatives for the five stated that section 57 was so vaguely written that it could apply to absolutely anyone.

This verdict, handed down by the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal, effectively invalidates section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and, on behalf of the British people, I’d like to thank the court. It’s a fundamental right any Briton should enjoy that he may read, disseminate and research anything he so chooses without fear of government interference and the Court of Appeal has reinforced that right.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile, responsible for independent review of terrorism laws and legal frameworks welcomed the verdict, stating that nobody should be convicted of a crime “for mere thoughts, mere fantasies, mere wishes - even for their reading matter”. This now means that prosecutors must prove intent to carry out or support in the planning of an act of terrorism, rather than just dig dirt from a hard disk.

Maybe freedom isn’t dead after all.