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Rally Supports Activists Convicted of Blocking 'Deportation Plane'

Scores of people rallied outside the UK Home Office on Tuesday, December 11, in support of the Stansted 15, activists found guilty of terrorism-related charges for blockading a charter plane at Stansted Airport that was to take deportees to Africa.

Speakers at the rally included Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and Labour MP Clive Lewis.

The 15 activists were convicted on Monday after a nine-week trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Human rights organizations decried the conviction, particularly after the judge in the case, Christopher Morgan, ordered the jury to ignore the defendants’ arguments that they had broken the law to prevent greater harm.

The incident took place on March 28, 2017, when the defendants chained themselves to the nose of a plane chartered by the Home Office to take 60 people to Nigeria, Ghana, and Sierra Leone. Credit: Matthew Mulligan via Storyful