discuss

Arrested at 9.30am, tried in secret court, imprisoned by 6.30pm
And we’re not talking historically about Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. Or even presently about Communist China, North Korea or the Mullah regime of Iran. Believe it or not, this summary dispensation of ‘justice’ occurred yesterday in the Wirral, Merseyside, and the prisoner is a British subject by the name of Roger Hayes, Chairman of something called the British Constitution Group.



Now, you might think this man to be eccentric, weird or a nutter. He sounds as though he votes UKIP, so you might agree with the Prime Minister that he is a ‘fruitcake’, ‘loony’ or ‘closet racist’. Some will put him in the David Icke category of world-domination conspiracy theorist (minus the lizards). Others will hear the word ‘Bilderberg’, and thereafter dismiss the man’s entire gamut of grievances and concerns.

But he actually talks a great deal of constitutional sense. Yet whatever you think of the man’s message, it transpires that he has been withholding his council tax on account of the fact that ‘a proportion of the tax revenue gathered is being sent to the European Union, used to fund unlawful wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, and promote terrorism right around the world’. He believes that ‘to pay tax under these circumstances is, at the very least, unlawful under Section 15(3) of the Terrorism Act 2000’.

Fair enough.

His Grace demurs on the rendering of that which belongs to Caesar, but (as far as he is aware) the belief that the British Government is complicit in terrorism or war crimes is not against the law, and the non-payment of council tax is not a crime which negates one’s legal rights: it needs to be dealt with in the usual manner, through the Magistrates' Court of petty sessions.

But Roger Hayes has been arrested, tried and imprisoned all within nine hours – no Habeas Corpus, no trial by jury, no public hearing, and no witnesses called for the defence. At the time of writing the charges are unknown, but in the absence of those for terrorism or issues of national security; with no allegations of torture or rendition; and with no children involved in a ‘family court’ closed hearing, it beggars belief that of all our traditional and hard-won juridicial checks and balances going back to Magna Carta can be so easily dispensed with, such that a British subject of Her Majesty can have his liberty removed at a whim.

Apparently, so swift was the process that the first Mr Hayes’ family heard of his plight was yesterday evening ‘via a telephone call from a Warder in Liverpool prison, to say that Roger had been tried and sentenced to prison’. They must have been utterly distraught.

This is a gross offence against Human Rights: secret court proceedings in civil cases are an audacious attack on our ancient rights and liberties. And the use of evidence against individuals which they are unable to challenge (or even see) is antithetical to every Christian notion of justice. It is all the more incomprehensible since both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties pledged to oppose Labour’s culture of ‘closed material procedures’.

We read that, as Chairman of the British Constitution Group, ‘Roger Hayes has been an outspoken public speaker warning the British public that their rights and freedoms under Common Law and the Constitution are being stripped away and replaced by a dictatorship of secret courts operating under Administrative and Statute Law.’

Well, now his warning has come to pass: the State can apparently bypass centuries of nuanced jurisprudence and we are returned to the era of the Court of Star Chamber. These are indeed the actions of a police state, the implications of which are profoundly disturbing for us all

 

It has always been a rule of thumb that 'crimes' against the state or business are treated far more severely by the courts than crimes against the person. So in the same week that a 14 year old boy is let off for raping a four year old girl because HE is a victim of society in the Judge's opinion, a 'campaigner' who doesn't pay his council tax is whisked off to jail before his feet touch the floor.

Sadly, there is nothing new in that. Taxes are far more important than any form of social justice and the chance to silence a critic is not to be missed at the same time...

 

glad to have missed this story but wtf was his defence
and has the judge been sacked

 

Perceived crimes against the state as mentioned above have always been punished severly. Witness many months of jail for nicking a bottle of water during the riots compared to the maximum of a caution that would normally occur.

While I most certainly don't agree with this man's politics his treatment is a disgrace. We need a change of government and a change of political/economic system. Just heard there are 1,000,000 hungry kids right here in the UK. That's just wrong.

 

yes it is wrong
it is also hard to believe that in2012 there is any reason for 1 child to be hungry,let alone 1 million

 

Hmmm, like to know a bit more. Your conclusions may be correct, but this blokes website shows a profound ignorance of the English legal system. He's also bankrupt. Refusing to pay council tax seems a strange way to protest - its the one tax that we are provided a precise breakdown of spending for, and where I live none of it goes to the EU or on foreign wars - its all local roads, education, bins and police. Surely more relevant to stop paying income tax or VAT?
He was tried in the local magistrates court after failing to turn up for a hearing last week, and causing a near riot at a hearing last year. He is inside for 21 days. The author of your article appears to have cut and pasted most of it from Hayes' website, Kiwi. He has a strange obsession with the Magna Carta, as if a medieval deal between a King and his nobles is the be all and end all of our legal system. The irony is he has a lot in common with the anti capitalist protesters who camped out by St Paul's. Every story has at least 2 sides, it's really tempting to accept whatever reinforces your world view, and I am as guilty of this as anyone.
I would be the last ( the very last) to argue that the government is always right and nothing dodgy ever happens. We have to be constantly alert to maintain individual liberty. But we also live in a collective called society and there are issues, as highlighted by Imaz, where we have to work together on behalf of others, even if it is to our individual cost.

 

Every word of that is an absolute gem.

 

FFS - you read my mind. A friend was telling me about this last night. I didn't know the details then but I said there has to be another side to this story. Thanks. I'll quote you when it comes up again.

 

Imaz, I think its about time you come clean and tell us exactly who and what you are. I already know but I think its only right and proper that you explain to our members what your agenda is. You only ever pop up when something like this gets posted, fire a few rounds, and then disappear into the night until the next anti-Government conspiracy is thrown up by some nutcase with too much time on his hands.

Come on Imaz, have a bit of bottle and nail your colours to the mast.

 

Not saying that this bloke hasn't been harshly dealt with, but it always pays to spend that extra five minutes on Google. The price of a sceptical (many would say cynical) outlook I'm afraid.
The new habit of deporting anyone they want, no questions asked to the US is beginning to wind me up though.

 

shame all the other undesirables cant be gotten rid of as easily