LONDON
\nA British court on Friday cut some of the heaviest jail terms imposed on climate activists for their high-profile protests, but threw out appeals from 10 others to have their prison sentences overturned.
\nThe groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have in recent years carried out spectacular, often disruptive protests, including stopping London\u2019s busy traffic and targeting famous places and paintings, as part of their campaign to highlight climate change.
\nBut last July, five activists were stunned after being sentenced to between four and five years in prison for planning in an online call to block the M25 motorway around London, a key transport link for the capital.
\nThey were among 16 activists who appealed their jail terms before the Court of Appeal in London in January.
\nIn her ruling on Friday, Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr cut the heaviest jail term of five years imposed on Roger Hallam, 58, a co-founder of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, for the conspiracy case to four years.
\nTwo other co-accused in that case had their sentences shortened from four years to three, with two others seeing their four-year terms reduced to 30 months.
\nOne of the oldest activists, Gaie Delap, 78, also saw her sentence shortened from 20 to 18 months, for scaling one of the gantries on the M25.
\nIn the January appeal, defense lawyers had called the sentences imposed against all 16 activists involved in four separate protests \u201cmanifestly excessive.\u201d
\nThe group also included two women who threw tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh\u2019s \u201cSunflowers\u201d painting at London\u2019s National Gallery. Their sentences of 20 months and two years were upheld in Friday\u2019s ruling.
\nLawyer Danny Friedman said in January that the collective prison terms of between 15 months to five years were \u201cthe highest of their kind in modern British history.\u201d
\nThe activists \u201cdid what they did out of sacrifice\u201d and were acting in the \u201cbest interests of the public, the planet and future generations,\u201d he said, asking for the jail terms to be reduced or quashed.
\nBut prosecutors argued the sentences had been merited as \u201call of these applicants went so far beyond what was reasonable.\u201d
\nTheir actions also presented an \u201cextreme danger\u201d to the public and to themselves, they said.
\nThe hearing has been closely watched amid fears that peaceful protest risks being stifled in Britain.
\nAnd NGOs and activists have warned the case could have far-reaching implications for future protests.
\n\u201cDespite some modest reductions, these sentences are still unprecedented and they still have no place in a democracy that upholds the right to protest,\u201d said Greenpeace co-executive director Areeba Hamid.
\nFriends of the Earth lawyer Katie de Kauwe said in a statement the group was \u201cpleased\u201d that some of the sentences had been reduced.
\nBut she added \u201cultimately however, we believe that locking up those motivated by their genuine concern for the climate crisis is neither right or makes any sense.\u201d
\nJust Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion launched their protests to fight the use of fossil fuels, which scientists say are causing global warming and climate change.
\nBut the groups, which are urging the government to ban fossil fuel use by 2030, have attracted criticism over their eye-catching methods.
\nGreenpeace and Friends of the Earth had backed what they called \u201ca critically important legal appeal over the right to protest.\u201d
\nOther cases are still before the courts, including charges brought against two Just Stop Oil members accused of throwing orange paint powder over the stone megaliths of Stonehenge, as well as two activists charged with spray-painting the tomb of naturalist Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey.
\nThe country\u2019s previous Conservative government took a hostile stance toward disruptive direct action, and passed laws toughening punishments for such offenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON A British court on Friday cut some of the heaviest jail terms imposed on climate activists for their high-profile protests, but threw out appeals from 10 others to have their prison sentences overturned. The groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have in recent years carried out spectacular, often disruptive protests, including stopping London\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-465848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n