COURTS are “degrading the right to protest” with 256 Palestine and climate protesters jailed for 136 years since 2019, an expert report revealed today.

Palestine solidarity activists are among the most oppressed with three in five held longer than the six-month custody time limit before sentencing, researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Defend Our Juries campaign group found.

The findings sparked sparked condemnation of the Labour government for “taking a page from the Tory playbook by using repressive measures to target protesters.”

Launching the report, Professor David Whyte of Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice at Queen Mary said: “This report documents a remarkable shift in how protest is being policed and punished in Britain. 

“Our findings show the routine use of remand exceeding statutory time limits. 

“Exceptionally high levels of contempt proceedings and custodial sentencing in response to acts of civil disobedience and direct action show that the courts are progressively degrading the right to protest.”

Researchers documented 286 cases involving climate and Palestine solidarity protesters imprisoned since 2019 in what they say is the first analysis of the jailing of “Britain’s new political prisoners.”

They found that the average detention period was 28 weeks, equivalent to more than six months.

One in three protesters were jailed for six months or more, 21 per cent for more than a year and in 60 per cent of cases, final sentences were more lenient than the time already spent in custody on remand.

The most common category of offence leading to imprisonment was contempt of court — accounting for 40 per cent of cases recorded — while conspiracy offences made up 17 per cent of the cases analysed.

The report, Britain’s Political Prisoners, highlights the “Filton 24,” who were charged with offences connected to a Palestine Action direct action protest at a factory near Bristol run by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.

The accused spent up to 18 months in jail — the standard pre-trial limit is six months — before all but one were bailed after the first set of six defendants were cleared of aggravated burglary. Two out of those six were subsequently acquitted of criminal damage. Eighteen more defendants due to stand trial over the events at Filton still face other charges.

More than 3,200 people have been arrested in peaceful protests since the ban on direct action group Palestine Action came into effect in July last year, according to Defend Our Juries.

The Court of Appeal is due to rule on a Home Office appeal against a High Court ruling that found in February the ban against Palestine Action as a terror group to be “disproportionate.”

Yesterday Tim Crosland, of Defend Our Juries, said: “This report strips away the illusion that Britain remains committed to democratic principles. 

“It reveals that peaceful protesters are being jailed in ever increasing numbers, under pressure from the oil and arms industries, the Israeli government and their lobbyists.

“Most shocking of all is the finding concerning the use of remand. In the majority of cases, final sentences are more lenient than time already spent in custody before people have been convicted of anything. 

“It would be dishonest to present this as anything other than punishment without trial.”

A Momentum spokesperson said: “This Labour government is taking a page from the Tory playbook by using repressive measures to target protesters. This must be condemned by all those who believe in basic civil liberties. We must defend the use of civil disobedience to oppose issues such as climate change and the genocide in Gaza.” 

A judicial spokesperson said: “Judicial independence and impartiality are fundamental to the rule of law.”