Consortium News, June 26, 2026
Rajiv Menon, a leading British civil rights barrister, again faces contempt proceedings over his closing speech in trial of pro-Palestine activists, reports Dania Akkad.
“The Right of Juries” plaque outside of Old Bailey, UK, 2016. (Paul Clarke, Flickr, Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0)
By Dania Akkad
Declassified UK
A leading British civil rights barrister faces contempt proceedings once again after a judge decided to refer allegations against him for a second time.
The original proceedings brought against Rajiv Menon KC were thrown out last month for procedural reasons.
But on June 22, Justice Jeremy Johnson ruled that Menon’s case met the necessary “threshold conditions” to proceed and that it was in the public interest to do so.
He said the case should be referred to a judge who can “deal with the matter expeditiously.”
“I stress that nothing in this judgement decides that Mr. Menon has acted in contempt of court,” Johnson wrote.
“My findings do not bind the presiding judge. The presiding judge will only institute contempt proceedings if they consider that it is the appropriate and justified step.”
Garden Court Chambers, where Menon has practised for three decades, said on Monday that the proceedings brought against Rajiv were unprecedented and have “sent shock waves through the legal profession.”
“The impact of these proceedings is already being felt by the criminal defence community, especially juniors, with concerns that public confidence in the independence of the Bar and the integrity of our system of justice will be damaged.”
Menon has more than 30 years’ experience spanning high-profile cases such as Stephen Lawrence, Hillsborough and Grenfell.
Prior to becoming a judge, Johnson represented a range of clients including MI6 and the Ministry of Defence.
The Defend Our Juries protest against the proscription of Palestine Action in London on Sept. 6, 2025. (indigonolan /Flickr/ Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 4.0)
How We Got Here
Menon is accused of violating Johnson’s orders in his closing statement in the trial of six Palestinian Action activists who broke into an Israeli-owned arms factory near Bristol in 2024.
The judge had warned defence barristers not to tell the jury that they could reach a verdict according to their conscience, a principle known as jury equity.
In his closing speech, Menon, who represented one of the activists, told the jury about the Bushell case, a landmark ruling from 1670 which established the independence of juries.
He read from a plaque at the Old Bailey commemorating the jury in that case, saying,
“it established the right of juries to give their verdict according to their convictions.”
In February, the jury acquitted all of the activists of aggravated burglary but failed to reach a verdict on several other charges.
The Crown Prosecution Service sought a retrial while Johnson filed the original contempt of court complaint against Menon.
In May, four of the defendants – Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani – were found guilty of criminal damage. Corner was also convicted of grievous bodily harm without intent.
Two others, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin, were found not guilty of criminal damage.
It then emerged, as reporting restrictions were lifted, that the four activists faced being sentenced as terrorists even though the jury had not been informed of that possibility.
?? ?? Four Palestine Action Activists Sentenced as ‘Terrorists’ in UK Legal First
Four activists who raided an Elbit Systems arms factory near Bristol in 2024 were sentenced as “terrorists” Friday at Woolwich Crown Court, in what supporters said is the first time UK protesters… pic.twitter.com/gC4MvAXfz4
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) June 12, 2026
In a marathon court hearing on June 12, Johnson ruled first that the four would indeed be sentenced as terrorists and then handed down a combined total of more than 25 years in prison.
Meanwhile, three court of appeal judges had ruled that the contempt proceedings levelled against Menon were unlawful.
They said that Johnson could decide whether to refer the complaint to another High Court judge, the Attorney General, to the Bar Standards Board or take no further step.
Now Johnson has made his ruling, it will be up to the new judge to decide whether contempt proceedings continue.
Garden Chambers said it was awaiting the outcome of “this already protracted process” and would continue to support Menon “through this difficult time.”
Kirsty Brimelow KC, Chair of the Bar Council which represents barristers in England and Wales, has previously said the contempt proceedings against Menon “risk a chilling effect on the profession” and called it a “troubling episode.”
Dania Akkad is an investigative journalist. She has won awards for her reporting on women’s rights in the Middle East, Saudi Arabian dissidents and California’s lettuce industry. She served most recently as senior investigations editor at Middle East Eye.
This article is from Declassified UK.
Peace and Justice Post 
All aboard the atheist bus campaign
October 22, 2008It’s real, it’s happening: you can sponsor the first atheist advert on a bus – and Richard Dawkins will match your money
The godless move in mysterious ways: what the atheist bus campaign’s advert will look like.
The atheist bus campaign launches today thanks to Comment is free readers. Because of your enthusiastic response to the idea of a reassuring God-free advert being used to counter religious advertising, the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” could now become an ad campaign on London buses – and leading secularists have jumped on board to help us raise the money.
The British Humanist Association will be administering all donations to the campaign, and Professor Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The God Delusion, has generously agreed to match all contributions up to a maximum of £5,500, giving us a total of £11,000 if we raise the full amount. This will be enough to fund two sets of atheist adverts on 30 London buses for four weeks.
If the buses hit the road, this will be the UK’s first ever atheist advertising campaign. It’s an exciting development, which I never expected when I first proposed the idea on Cif in June. Back then, I was just keen to counter the religious ads running on public transport, which featured a URL to a website telling non-Christians they would spend “all eternity in torment in hell”, burning in “a lake of fire”. When I suggested the atheist counter-slogan (now shortened for readability), the response was extremely positive, and hundreds of you pledged your support after the follow-up article.
As you read this, a new advertising campaign for Alpha Courses is running on London buses. If you attend an Alpha Course, you will again be told that failing to believe in Jesus will condemn you to hell. There’s no doubt that advertising can be effective, and religious advertising works particularly well on those who are vulnerable, frightening them into believing. Religious organisations’ jobs are made easier because there’s no publicly visible counter-view to refute their threats of eternal damnation.
The atheist bus campaign aims to change this. In addition to the slogan, the adverts will feature the URLs of secular, humanist and atheist websites, so that readers can find out more about atheism as a positive and liberating alternative to religion. We’ve also set up an interactive campaign website and Facebook group, so that questions raised by the adverts can be publicly debated.
CBS Outdoor, the bus advertising company, will run the atheist adverts in January if the funds are raised – but we need your help to make this happen.
Your donations will give atheism a more visible presence in the UK, generate debate, brighten people’s day on the way to work, and hopefully encourage more people to come out as atheists. As Richard Dawkins says: “This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think – and thinking is anathema to religion.”
To donate to the atheist bus campaign, please visit here.
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