Published
Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 16:00
- The "Stansted 15" have been found guilty of "endangering" the safety of the airport, which is considered a terrorist offence.
The 15 protestors, including ambient artist Klaus, who blocked a March 2017 deportation flight at London's Stansted airport have been convicted.
The group, which has come to be known as the Stansted 15, was found guilty of "endangering the safety" of the airport by Chelmsford Crown Court today. The Guardian reports that because this is a terrorism offence, the activists could face a life sentence. After the verdict was delivered, a statement by the Stansted 15 was read: "We are guilty of nothing more than intervening to prevent harm. The real crime is the government's cowardly, inhumane and barely legal deportation flights and the unprecedented use of terror law to crack down on peaceful protest."
On March 28th, 2017, the 15 End Deportations members used pipes to lock themselves around a Titan Airways Boeing 767 chartered by the UK Home Office. The 60 people on board were to be taken to Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone.
Klaus, head of London-based label Tanum, first spoke of the case on Twitter on December 5th. "There were people due to be forced onto that plane and sent to places where they knew no one and feared for their lives," he wrote. "Eleven people due to be on it are still in the country now, having their cases heard properly. One person now has leave to remain. This is why we did it."
A fundraising page has been set up to cover the group's trial-related costs.
The sentencing hearing is on February 4th, 2019.
Photo credit: Sam Walton
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