Defend the SOAS 2!

At dawn on 31 January 2024 police raided the home of a SOAS student, Sarah, arresting her for a speech she had given on campus in October 2023. A supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Group/Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, Sarah in her speech upheld the right of Palestinians to armed resistance against the murderous Israeli state. Zionists tagged the Met Police in a video of the speech, leading to Sarah’s arrest. Thirteen months later, she was charged with inviting support for a proscribed organisation under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. In March of this year, a second SOAS student and supporter of FRFI was also arrested on suspicion of an offence under Section 12 as she took part in a rally for Sarah at the police station. Conviction on this charge can see you slammed in prison for up to 14 years. Like thousands of other protesters in Britain and worldwide, the SOAS 2 are being persecuted for the crime of speaking out against genocide in Gaza.

FRFI have mounted a lively defence campaign for the SOAS 2, promoting solidarity with a host of other cases of pro-Palestine activists and drawing in other organisations in united-front protest. The PDC has spoken at several demos outside court hearings for the two comrades. Speaking powerfully at the 17 June London protest defending French activists, Sarah said: “The question of the right to resist by whatever means available is not just an accessory matter to the Palestinian struggle, it is at the heart of it. The designation of resistance as terrorism is a racist attempt to politically delegitimise the Palestinian struggle as a whole and to justify the indiscriminate killing of the Palestinians.”

Sarah’s trial is set for February 2026. The next court date for the SOAS 2 is on 24 October; come out to the Old Bailey and protest: All out to defend the SOAS 2!