Palestine Action trial lawyer’s prosecution criticised as ‘chilling’ for profession

Several senior legal figures have criticised the prosecution of Menon, believed to be the first of a barrister related to his closing speech. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Several senior legal figures have criticised the prosecution of Menon, believed to be the first of a barrister related to his closing speech. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images Palestine Action trial lawyer’s prosecution criticised as ‘chilling’ for profession CBA chair says contempt charge over closing speech by Rajiv Menon KC has left lawyers fearful of doing their job The prosecution of a leading human rights barrister for contempt of court over his closing speech during a trial of Palestine Action activists has left lawyers fearful of doing their job, the chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has said. Rajiv Menon KC is due to stand trial next week, accused of breaching the judge’s directions in the trial of six people for a 2024 direct action protest at an arms factory of the Israeli subsidiary Elbit Systems UK in Filton, near Bristol. On Wednesday evening, senior legal figures lined up to criticise the prosecution of Menon, believed to be the first of a barrister related to his closing speech. Riel Karmy-Jones KC, the chair of the CBA, told the online meeting: “We have heard of barristers changing their speeches or being told to change them, including in cases where no direction has been given by a judge. And that really can’t be ignored because people at the criminal bar have become uncertain and scared of what they can and can’t say, scared that somehow they might be, at the end of a trial where they have faithfully represented their client themselves, facing a charge of criminal contempt.” She added: “It is starting to feel like it’s about the politics of the subject matter of the trial, rather than the core principles of how a barrister represents his client.” Last month, the trial judge in the Palestine Action case, Mr Justice Johnson referred the question of whether Menon should face contempt of court proceedings to another judge, Mr Justice Nicklin, who subsequently ruled he should. It came after a previous attempt to refer Menon was overturned on appeal on procedural grounds . The Labour peer and former Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said criticising judges was a delicate and dangerous thing to do given the threats they can face but that in Menon’s case they had made “a terrible, capricious mistake” and acted in “a very chilling manner”. In a written message, her fellow Labour peer Helena Kennedy KC, one of the UK’s most renowned criminal lawyers, described Menon’s prosecution as “another assault upon our justice system … [which] ought to be resisted”, while the leading human rights lawyer Gareth Pierce called the prosecution “terrifying”. Support for Menon was also conveyed by families of victims of the Hillsborough disaster, whom he represented. Nicklin’s court order initiating contempt proceedings said Menon was alleged t