This page contains updates to previously published briefings and answers to some questions that the Legal Support Working Group gets asked.
The online copies of the briefings will contain the updated information. If you want to print out a copy including the additions then the best bet is to download the required briefing in PDF format, which will also include the changes.
We have added the following paragraph to the Legal Briefing for Internationals (PDF) on 28 September 2006.
Often people with addresses outside the UK will just be released like everyone else. There was a previous blockade where they wanted all Internationals to sign Undertakings, and many chose to give a UK address on arrest so as to avoid this. If it comes to holding people for court and putting them on bail then the Helensburgh court has accepted foreign addresses but the courts sometimes refuse to bail people to a non-UK address.
If you live abroad, it would be a good idea to have a UK address you can use if you need to. It's your decision whether to give it on arrest or to make the point that you've come from abroad by giving your foreign address and hold the UK address in reserve in case you need it for bail.
If you give an address on arrest then they will try to verify it. One way they sometimes do this, with UK addresses, is to ask the local police to go round and ask if you live there, or to telephone the address if you give them a phone number. If you give a UK address, therefore, you need to check with the people who live there to make sure it's OK and that everyone who lives there knows that you live there. Any citations, etc. will get sent to that address so you need to make sure you have a system for getting them sent on to you, if you move.
A paragraph was added to the Legal Briefing for Blockading (PDF) under "Other Offences" to explain about the new criminal trespass law covering Faslane. This is included in the legal briefing in the second edition of the Resource Pack but was not in the first edition.
We also added an item to the Faslane 365 FAQ to cover this, which is also given here:
I've heard that you can now get arrested under the Terrorism Act at Faslane. Is this true?
There are a number of sites around the UK, one of which is Faslane, which are "Designated Areas" under a new power in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (as amended by the Terrorism Act 2006). It is an offence under this to be inside Faslane without lawful authority.
However, this only applies if you go inside the fence. As long as you stay outside the fence this does not apply - even if you are on MoD land and blockading the gates.
For more information on this see http://www.tridentploughshares.org/article1405