John Catt had appealed against the retention of data on him by the National Domestic Extremism Database. Today his attempt at a Judicial Review failed.
It is no surprise to us that the courts have backed police attempts to counteract effective resistance to state-militarism and to corporate power.However, today’s court judgement effectively legitimises the monitoring and surveillance of anyone who takes part in protests, or raises their voice against the manufacture of weapons at EDO.Lord Justice Gross’s judgement states that Mr Catt’s involvement in the campaign, for which he has never been convicted of a crime, “belies any reasonable expectation of privacy, at least for the duration of the Smash EDO campaign.”
Gross goes on to justify the judgement by giving the example of the £300,000 worth of damage caused to the factory’s production line during Israel’s massacre in Gaza. He omits to mention that those responsible for the damage were found not-guilty by a jury on the basis that they had acted to prevent war crimes.
The campaign against EDO MBM will continue until the factory’s manufacture of weapons components in Brighton ceases.
The full text of the judgement can be found at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2012/1471.html