U.K. environmental activists appeal against prison sentences they say are unduly harsh

Climate activisits wear scold's bridles to highlight the silencing of those fighting for climate justice, outside The Royal Courts of Justice in London, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LONDON, United Kingdom — Sixteen environmental activists who were jailed for actions including stopping traffic, blocking an oil facility and splashing a van Gogh painting with soup went to a London court Wednesday to challenge their sentences.

The Just Stop Oil protesters say they received unduly harsh prison terms –- between 15 months and five years –- for disruptive but peaceful actions.

The group argues that the jailed protesters are “political prisoners” who were “acting in self-defense and to protect our families and communities.”

Environmental organizations Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace U.K. are backing the appeals of five of the protesters, who were jailed for planning November 2022 demonstrations that saw protesters climb gantries above a busy highway.

Other appellants were jailed for digging and occupying tunnels under the road leading to an oil terminal in southeast England and throwing soup onto the protective glass over van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery.

The Conservative government that lost power in July 2024 toughened anti-protest laws in response to eco-activists who blocked roads and bridges, glued themselves to trains, splattered artworks with paint, sprayed buildings with fake blood and doused athletes in orange powder to draw attention to climate change.

The government said the laws prevented extremist activists from hurting the economy and disrupting daily life.

Friends of the Earth said the sentences posed a “serious threat to our democracy.”

“Silencing those striving for a better world will not make these escalating crises disappear – doing so only serves to stifle our democracy,” the group’s senior lawyer Katie de Kauwe said.

The Court of Appeal hearing is scheduled to last two days, with the three judges likely to hand down their ruling several days or weeks later.

The Associated Press