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A five-day trial begins at Isleworth Crown Court next week (Monday 30 September) against three Extinction Rebellion activists for a principled protest that allegedly caused £6,020 in ‘damages’. The protest involved the use of washable, fake oil and chalk spray on the offices of petro-engineering multinational firm Worley in Brentford, Middlesex. [1]

The Worley Three demanded the company sever ties with the highly controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), a project that has already been responsible for gross human rights abuses and threatens to cause irreversible climate change if completed.

The trial comes as a result of legislation that escalates criminal damage cases to the Crown Court when costs exceed £5,000, despite the fact the materials used in the protest were easily washable. In 2022 the Court of Appeal ruled that it might be  ‘disproportionate’ to prosecute or convict people taking protest action that caused minor or trivial damage such as this. [2]

Meanwhile in Uganda last month 47 student protesters were pre-emptively arrested before they were able to deliver a petition against the pipeline to parliament – just the latest incident in an ongoing, brutal and escalating crackdown against ordinary people resisting the devastating project. [3] [4]

Defendant Sarah Hart, mother of two, aged 42 of Farnborough said: “The minor damage we are alleged to have caused stands as nothing in comparison to the widespread and irreparable harm this project has already caused to local communities. Worley is complicit in these crimes. Why are the directors and shareholders of Worley not in the dock?”

“We undertook this action in solidarity with the affected communities of East Africa who have suffered intimidation, arrest and police brutality for standing up for their rights to land and clean water and a liveable climate. And also because the climate change it would cause threatens us all.” [5]

Widespread opposition to EACOP has caused repeated delays and investment uncertainties since the project was initially proposed in 2013.  [6] EACOP  was designed to transport Uganda’s oil reserves through Tanzania for export to the world market but under pressure from campaigners, many commercial banks and over 20 major insurance companies have ruled out involvement in the project. [7] As of now no building work has taken place.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline, if completed, would increase global CO2 emissions by 379 million tonnes CO2e over its lifetime [8], making our Paris Agreement targets unachievable [9] and making it likely we will pass critical tipping points in the climate system [10]. As UN General Secretary, António Guterres said in 2022: “Investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”

In 2023 Human Rights Watch reported that tens of thousands of people have already lost their lands and livelihoods in preparation for the project. If the pipeline is ever completed, that number will rise to over 100,000 people across East Africa. [5] 

The European Union voted in a special resolution that condemned EACOP for its human rights abuses in Uganda and Tanzania, abuses that included death threats, intimidation and wrongful imprisonment. [11] 

StopEACOP Coalition Campaign Coordinator, Zaki Mamdoo, said: “The escalating attacks on climate and social justice activists in the UK are absolutely shameful. We salute and applaud all the brave defenders who continue to challenge those who are driving our collective destruction and the exploitation and displacement of our communities. The criminalisation of activists fighting for the rights and freedoms of oppressed people across the globe is testament to the fact that the political elite remains married to global capital and continues to serve its interests dutifully. We extend our undying solidarity to the brave StopEACOP activists on trial in the UK and demand that the bogus charges against them be thrown out of court.”

The maximum sentence for criminal damage is ten years in prison. Judges are  increasingly intent on sending climate protectors to jail – frequently after defendants have been denied the opportunity to defend themselves, or after the judge has told the jury that the defendants have no defence in law. This year 27 climate protectors have been sent to prison for sentences of up to five years. [12] [13]

Former government lawyer Tim Crosland of Defend Our Juries said: “The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, led by Total, is devastating local communities and wildlife in Uganda, and along with other fossil fuel projects, threatens climate catastrophe for us all. Peaceful activists resisting this insanity in East Africa have met with persecution, beatings and abduction. The prosecution of peaceful people in Britain for taking such modest measures against this horror violates the most basic principles of law and morality. Meanwhile lobbyists for the arms and oil industries, such as Lord Walney, press for additional measures to prevent juries reaching not guilty verdicts, undermining democracy and the rule of law.”

Notes to editors

1. Extinction Rebellion disrupts pipeline engineers offices to demand East African Crude Oil Pipeline boycott: https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2023/03/06/extinction-rebellion-disrupts-pipeline-engineers-offices-to-demand-east-african-crude-oil-pipeline-boycott/
2. Attorney General Reference judgment (Colston Four): https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/AG-Ref-No-1-of-2022-Final-Judgment.pdf
3. EACOP Protest: Police arrest 47 University students, August 2024: https://www.independent.co.ug/eacop-protest-police-arrest-47-university-students/
4. “Working on Oil is Forbidden”Crackdown against Environmental Defenders in Uganda, Human Rights Watch, November 2023: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2023/11/uganda1123web_2.pdf
5. Human Rights Watch: Uganda: Oil Pipeline Project Impoverishes Thousands: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/10/uganda-oil-pipeline-project-impoverishes-thousands
6. Is The East African Crude Oil Pipeline Finally Going to Be Finished?, June 2024 https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Is-The-East-African-Crude-Oil-Pipeline-Finally-Going-to-Be-Finished.html
7. Who is left to fund East Africa’s controversial oil pipeline? https://dialogue.earth/en/energy/who-is-left-to-fund-east-africa-crude-oil-pipeline/
8. ‘Monstrous’ east African oil project will emit vast amounts of carbon, data shows: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/27/east-african-crude-oil-pipeline-carbon
9. New fossil fuels ‘incompatible’ with 1.5C goal, comprehensive analysis finds https://www.carbonbrief.org/new-fossil-fuels-incompatible-with-1-5c-goal-comprehensive-analysis-finds/
10. Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7950
11. JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on violations of human rights in Uganda and Tanzania linked to investments in fossil fuels projects: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/RC-9-2022-0409_EN.html
12. Protester jailed for 10 months for cracking windows at JPMorgan’s London office: https://www.ft.com/content/90327222-e040-4311-9ea8-83df7b546356
13. Five Just Stop Oil supporters handed up to three year sentences as prisons overflow and UN chief warns of ‘Red-Alert’ for humanity: https://juststopoil.org/2024/09/06/five-just-stop-oil-supporters-handed-up-to-3-year-sentences-as-prisons-overflow-and-un-chief-warns-of-red-alert-for-humanity/

About Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion (XR) is a decentralised, international and politically non-partisan movement using non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency.

• The Big One: Unite To Survive, April 21-24 2023 | Find out about our biggest protest yet and to take part!
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• What Emergency? | Read about the true scale of the climate crisis
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Time has almost entirely run out to address the climate and ecological crisis which is upon us, including the 6th mass species extinction, global pollution, and increasingly rapid climate change. If urgent and radical action isn’t taken, we’re heading towards 4˚C warming, leading to societal collapse and mass loss of life. The younger generation, racially marginalised communities and the Global South are on the front-line. No-one will escape the devastating impacts.