Prominent UK pro-Palestine activists guilty of breaching protest conditions

Campaigners call verdict on Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham ‘grotesque’ and part of attempt to ‘undermine civil liberties’ Two prominent leaders in the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain have been found guilty of breaching protest conditions, in what campaigners called a “grotesque” and “shocking” decision. Ben Jamal, 62, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), and Chris Nineham, 63, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, were accused of failing to comply with conditions imposed on a protest on 18 January 2025. They were subsequently charged with public order offences. The 18 January protest was one of 34 national pro-Palestine demonstrations held since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023. On Wednesday, Jamal and Nineham were found guilty after a trial at Westminster magistrates court. Judge Sternberg said in his verdict that the conditions imposed were lawful and necessary, and that both defendants clearly knew them. Jamal was also convicted of two counts of inciting other protesters to breach police conditions. Sternberg said the speech Jamal made at the protest constituted incitement because it was “a suggestion, persuasion, and inducement” encoura