My good friend Manni Singh has been jailed for 72 days – an incredibly draconian sentence – for organising an entirely peaceful political demonstration at which I was a speaker, on which there were zero incidents of violence or damage.
The harsh sentence is completely out of line with any recent treatment of peaceful protestors, for example from the Occupy movement or Extinction Rebellion.
People attended the Glasgow All Under One Banner march from all over Scotland. Singh made all the correct applications to hold it to Glasgow City Council. His application was for simply a repeat of the highly successful and peaceful event a year previously. As I reported at the time, it was the SNP group who control Glasgow City Council who ordered the start time be moved forward from 1.30pm until 11am, specifically in order to reduce the numbers on this pro-Independence march. 100,000 people attend AUOB marches from all over Scotland, including the Highlands and Islands, so an 11am start is simply not practical.
Manni went ahead with the original start time in close cooperation with the police. There were no problems whatsoever. Glasgow City Council is not only SNP controlled, it is controlled by a group specifically close to Nicola Sturgeon. It was the SNP on Glasgow City Council who pushed the police to arrest Manni Singh and initiated his jailing, as confirmed here in this tweet from NEC national executive member and Glasgow City Councillor Rhiannon Spear.
Many prominent SNP supporters – including the brilliant writer Paul Kavanagh – are baffled by the SNP’s hostility to the AUOB marches. As Paul wrote at the time of the Glasgow demonstration:
Yet Nicola Sturgeon, who was happy to attend an anti-Brexit march in London, not only didn’t attend the Glasgow event, she didn’t even tweet a supportive message afterwards. Other SNP figures went on social media to criticise the march for taking place. Because apparently demonstrating that there is indeed mass support for independence in Scotland in the face of anti-independence parties and press which insist there is not is a waste of time that could better be spent sticking SNP leaflets through doors, leaflets that invariably get stuck in a bin without being read.
In fact, the last time that the SNP officially supported a mass participation independence event was the rally at Calton Hill back in 2013. That’s simply not good enough. But worse than that, the SNP led council in Glasgow became embroiled in a dispute with the march organisers, and now Manny Singh of All Under One Banner has been charged with an offence under the Civil Government Act. None of this is a good look for the SNP.
Here is a photo of Nicola Sturgeon on that anti-Brexit march in London.
The vicious jailing of Manni Singh shows you just the kind of oppressive society Scotland is becoming under the Sturgeon government. The fact that diehard Independence supporters like Elaine C Smith and Brian Cox have had to come out and oppose the oppressive hate crime bill should tell you something. AUOB is a genuine grassroots, working class Independence organisation. That Independence is the genuine aim of the SNP careerists who try to sabotage it I very much doubt.
The jailing of Manni Singh for a peaceful demonstration should be a wake up call to all those who believe that the Scottish establishment will not jail me for publishing the truth about the trial of Alex Salmond. Precisely the same people are behind the political persecution of me as behind the jailing of Manni. That is why I am extremely keen that you should follow my trial, and dial in to listen to the hearing tomorrow morning. Please read my article from earlier today.
Manni was given the alternative of a curfew sentence which he refused because of his employment as a taxi driver.
You can see my account of the demonstration for which Manni has been imprisoned.
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I’m not a fan of football in general however this highlights once again the machinations within the COPFS, and the Lord Advocate.
The defendants claim the Scottish government acted disgracefully-and like the Alex Salmond’s bill of half a million pounds the the Scottish taxpayer is set to fork out £ 50 million pounds in compensation on this one.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/18678401.crown-office-prosecuted-rangers-fc-figures—admitted-malice/
I really don’t see how these people can stay in office. They are supposed to uphold the law, not break it and act out of malice against people they hold a grievance against. Britnats in the Crown office not liking what is happening to their football club?
Now that they have admitted they have acted out of malice on one occasion they now must come under suspicion for doing so at other times in the past (Salmond?), present (Murray,Hirst?) and in the future.
These people in the Crown office and Procurator fiscal are a disgrace. Using their powers in office as a personal weapon. They should resign or be sacked by the Scot gov.
Britnats are celtic fans?
Really?
Nick
What are you on about? A silly silly comment about a very serious matter. Are you just a very poor unemployed comic?
John Reid, ex Labour UK Home Secretary and ex chairman of Celtic FC and Britnat.
Brian Wilson, ex Labour MP, Britnat and Celtic fan.
Yes really.
Union Jack Galloway
Crown office you mentioned.
Current
2 exceptions hardly the rule.
The overwhelming majority of “britnats”,as you use constantly,are of a blue persuasion,making your comment nonsense.
What happened with rangers is a bit more complex than appears,as the crown office was acting on evidence supplied by,for example,hmrc.
But you as usual go all in on the binary “britnat bad,scotnat good” trope,ignoring the shades of grey. The flipside of _n.
Nick
I never mentioned Celtic until you raised it. I never said it was the rule that Celtic fans were Britnats. I was just showing that things are not black and white but indeed grey. Oh that’s right you accuse me of ignoring the grey but my comments were the opposite.
The COPFS stated in court they acted out of malice. They acted unlawfully and are a disgrace.
You of course are the flipside of reasonable comment.
A propos the photograph that accompanies this article – Campbell should be very frightened indeed. How long before he, too, is fitted up with that photograph as irrefutable evidence?
More likely to be prosecuted for putting a hand on Sturge’s ass than for facilitating the mass slaughter of Arabs on a pack of lies. Far more likely.
Does anyone know what prison he currently sits? Because someone needs to stand outside demonstrating the injustice. It only takes one.
There was no response to my earlier request for the info.
If Manny has been jailed at Barlinnie, it is not fit for purpose.
‘Scotland’s biggest prison is “no longer fit for purpose” for the number of inmates it houses. Inspectors have said Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow has an “outdated and antiquated building design” and medical rooms are in a “severe state of disrepair”.’
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/barlinnie-no-longer-fit-purpose-22090675
May 2020
Barlinnie is one of 15 prisons in Scotland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Prison_Service
I believe it is important to establish the Prison. 1. What options are available to those who reject tyranny 2. If the prison is many miles away that is an additional punishment used by the state to inflict mental harm on the person as relatives and friends may find it difficult to travel long distances. Also moving a prisoner around frequently. Prison was not in the public interest and this measure should be used. I wonder what the cost will be for the incarceration. This episode set the bar very low of what a person can be incarcerated for.
I just received an envelope in the post.
14 year-old’s can now register to vote and 16 year-old foreign citizens as well.
The Nictator is on a roll!
Can see you similarities with the Democrats in America?
My advice, if you are a white heterosexual male, is to buy an nice frock and wear it – it’s the only way you can stay safe!
You old duffers are obsessed with trans rights aren’t you?
Anyway, yes Sturgeon is most definitely cut from the same cloth as the Labour right and the democratic party of America. There is an awful lot of crossover between them all. In fact I’d venture to say that trips to george town are a definite sign of CIA connections if not actual assets.
These people are very powerful in permanent opposition because they facilitate the Government’s ability to do as it pleases – See Starmer and Ed Davey down south like Sturgeon they huff and puff about the Tories but they’ll do very little to prevent the policies.
The big difference I can see is that a majority of Scots are awake to it all – unlike the english – who are just too large and too disparate group of tribes to ever get their shit together
Super quick profiling based on my one post?
Also the Jactator is putting Covid-19 positive people into quarantine camps in NZ.
Will we be next?
They seem to be singing from the same song sheet.
How right you are.
August 14, 2020
In a move right out of George Orwell’s 1984, New Zealand has announced it would put all COVID-19 patients into mandatory quarantine camps. The Prime Minister of New Zealand has said that your each and every activity will be monitored in these camps and those that refuse to be tested would be forced to stay in the camps for a longer duration.
https://greatgameindia.com/new-zealand-quarantine-camps/
What’s up with these women? Sturgeon is 50. Ardern is 40. They make Theresa May look saintly.
Who’d have thunk it.
Ardern used to work as a policy adviser to Tony Blair. and was recently praised by Alastair Campbell for her handling of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Judged by the company you keep?
Sounds like a good idea to me!
New Zealand went for 102 days without a single reported case, 14 have been reported in the last week.
These camps must be bursting at the seams.
NZ has the virus under control and wants to keep it that way. How it makes Theresa May saintly is obvious only to you.
fonso
If they kept it under control without quarantine camps, why do they need them now?
New Zealand is the refuge of choice for the world’s billionaires – there was a spate of articles at the start of “lockdown” about the many bunkers that have been built there in recent years.
But I’m sure that fact has not influenced jacinda’s policies at all – it’s for the good of the new zealand population as a whole…
The English got their shit together for Brexit. In effect, they voted for independence from the EU, which is more than the Scots have ever done.
I agree.
Spain – population 46 Million+ crippled by austerity
Greece – population 10 Million+ crippled by austerity
Scotland – population 5 Million+ how would we fare?
To protest against the Nictator, leave the SNP as a member (you could still vote for SNP)
Did any of the senior SNP leadership support Assange?
Support for Assange unites Left and Right!
I thought you were half joking, but I’m now more than convinced now you are right, 2019 Georgetown but also 2015 she addressed The World Bank, went to IMF and met Christine Lagarde (imf meeting minutes missing from snp website) and then met with the neocon Council on Foreign Relations!
Some might say we’d tried that already:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aXv1J9ewjY
That said, now that the metric has been set with compensation for malicious prosecutions, perhaps a more rewarding strategy in the long term (where short term financing permits) is to stand firm on principles, report honestly, and host lots of big parties..
You’re taking the pith.
He’s talking the path…
It sounds as if the sheriff didn’t have an option. He was clearly going to impose a ROLO but Singh left him no option when he refused to do it. A ROLO is a direct alternative to a custodial sentence. The judiciary are hamstrung by the legislature.
He had plenty of alternatives. A small fine would have been the sensible option. Or if a curfew, a one week curfew. A curfew is also an unwarranted deprivation of liberty for demonstrating.
Manni should have Appealed by Stated Case (give the Sheriff something to type up), and asked for Interim Liberation meantime. He could have taken it all the way to the Appeal Court in Edinburgh. You don’t even need a lawyer. You can Appeal as ‘party’. You still have to get through an initial ‘sift’ though. Then you get to say your bit in front of the three judges.
Whether you like it or not, the SNP has ceased being any kind of Scottish national party.
If that is so, who will lead Scotland to independence?
As I alluded to, Scottish independence is nothing to do with Scotland. Scottish independence will come about when England decides and not before.
I’m going to write out exactly why I think this is the case and post it when Craig Murray posts a topic in which my postulations won’t be buried because I believe it’ll be essential reading for all Scottish independence supporters.
So I’d better crack on and get it typed up!
You sound like one of those gradualist/sturgeonites full of insights into why now is not the time.
You crack on though and get it typed up. Don’t waste time. You can be sure I won’t waste any reading it.
@Mist001
If you get it in at the beginning or near the beginning of a new and relevant post from Craig and if it’s as full of substance as you indicate, your contribution could be seen as a kind of guest post. I’m looking forward to the controversy which I imagine your guest post will initiate.
“Scottish independence will come about when England decides and not before”
I can’t tell if you’re trolling or if you actually believe what you wrote – either way, I wouldn’t bother “typing up” anything else
Freedom is not given by the oppressor, it has to be taken from them
I wouldn’t agree with that last observation, Stewart, it’s too sound-bitey. Take the case of decolonialisation in Africa by the British. Most of the colonies were given their independence without any violence by the colonizer or the colonized. Nigeria,, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Tanzania…..and the same applies to some of the Asian colonies : Ceylon, Malaya…..
@McKindle when was Africa “decolonised”? The Army moved out and the IMF moved in – vast wealth continues to be funnelled out of africa to offshore accounts, via the city (state) of london, with a cut for the puppet president-de-jour
if they get uppity, they get replaced in a “popular” uprising (popular with the CIA, that is)
sorry for the sound-bite, doesn’t make it any less true though
Re Theresa May v. Sturgeon/Ardern : are we comparing relative saintliness or their ages? Is there a read-across?
Race, religion and sex shouldn’t matter. Macron’s wife didn’t care about age. It seems the left pushes lies and ideology and the right pushes lies and greed. I was hoping Tulsi Gabbard might feature at some point but she seems to have disappeared – not fit for the Democratic convention. If you’re old enough to vote at 14, what else are you old enough for? Where is this leading?
You confuse left with “left”.
And maybe right with “right”
Please enlighten me.
Dedicated to the Nictator:
Song: Criminal, by Fiona Apple – YouTube (4m 23s)
Alf Baird
August 27, 2020 at 12:25
“John O’Dowd and WGD (and others) well explain GERS and what its really about. However, independence is arguably not about money per se, its about removing the oppression of a people”.
Thanks Alf. I agree with that too – and your marvellous book Doun-Hauden – which I’mreading at the moment.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doun-Hauden-Socio-Political-Determinants-Scottish-Independence/dp/B086Y6MMH2
The two are not mutually exclusive though. Like you, I want independence – no matter what. It’s a question of national liberation.
But it’s also important to note that our opponents are using bogus economic arguments to frighten those among us who are understandably cautious about future prospects.
These lies need to be nailed. The great news is that as well as being free, and after a period of unavoidable adjustment, the strong likelihood is that a Scotland free to make its own decisions – on for example how we run our ports, and make our own trading arrangements – Scotland has every reason to expect an economic future better than the one we can expect in puir wee Brexit North Britain/Greater England.
” Scotland free to make its own decisions – on for example how we run our ports, and make our own trading arrangements “
Not if you join the EU which I believe is SNP policy.
Kempe, I think the point here is that an independent Scotland should be able to choose its own preferred trading deals/blocs (e.g. EFTA or EU, an issue Lesley Riddoch well covered in yesterdays ‘National’) and not simply have this imposed by English Tory political dogma. The same goes for Scotland’s major seaports which have been left to decline and wither (resulting in undeveloped trade potential) under the dysfunctional ownership of offshore private equity groups, the latter also thanks to English Tory political dogma (see http://reidfoundation.org/2016/01/sort-out-our-ports/; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259170427_Acquisition_of_UK_ports_by_private_equity_funds )
Thank you for that clarification John, and for the kind words. The mankit naitur of the ‘union’ charade is further exposed each day, and not only by indy campaigners and commentators; unionists jist hiv tae appen thair mooths an deceit fa’s oot.
The GERS notional (fictional) deficit.
The UK gov can deem any item of expenditure a UK expenditure and that then means it allocates a portion of the cost to all four nations in the UK for the GERS figure but there is no Barnett consequential. Most of this UK expenditure is in England and benefits England. On the other hand the new bridge over the Forth is not deemed UK expenditure and comes out of the Scotgov budget.
40% of the spend in the GERS figures is controlled by the UK gov and a good chunk of this is spent in England to benefit England (mainly the South east/London).
70% of the revenue raised in the GERS figures is controlled by the UK gov.
Scotlands deficit – what a pathetic joke. The Scottish gov cannot borrow £15billion to cover this fictional deficit. Why do you think they are currently asking for borrowing powers to help the Scottish economy during this economic crisis.
GERS is propaganda and lies for idiots and Britnats.
Only an independent country that controls its taxes and spending 100% can be said to have a surplus of deficit.
The deficit Scotland has is a democratic deficit. Scotland has never had democracy and never will until it is independent.
Holyrood already has borrowing powers and has had for some years.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-third-annual-report-implementation-scotland-act-2016/pages/7/
Kempe
I never said they had no borrowing powers at all. Try reading my post again – but I think you know that already don’t you. I said they couldn’t borrow to cover a £15 billion annual deficit. Like Most Britnats you like a bit of misrepresentation – don’t you Kempe.
Indeed if the Scotgov had run up the regular annual deficit that GERS jokingly claims the Scotgov would have a large overall national debt figure – but of course they do not – only the UK has a total debt of £2 trillion.
” Why do you think they are currently asking for borrowing powers “
Implies they currently have none.
The SNP entrenching UK fascism.
Thatcher’s tidy up of civic law brought this about. In Scotland you do not require permission for any demonstration, but must notify the local authority of intentions. They then pass this on to the police for comments and they can stipulate conditions which if not adhered to can lead to prosecution and jail. A tedious legal way of in fact licensing demonstrations. The test of the movement is if the 20,000 who turned up for the march get organised to defend Manny’s, theirs and our democratic rights. That is the test!
Michael Taylor
I was at the March you refer to and it was way more than the 20k you state attended. It was a march in the independence city of Glasgow after all.
If Manny did anything wrong the disposal should have been a ten bob fine, Along with Craig’s prosecution this is not the future I want for an independent .Scotland, and that I truly want.
I met Gordon Wilson on many occasions, for coffee in a café in Sauchiehall Street, before the days of Radio Free Scotland. I was a radio/TV engineer and I remember once he put his coat and soft hat on saying “let’s go, walls have ears”… really!
Years later I built my own transmitter and Josh MacRae, Nigel Denver, Jackie O’Connor and Hamish Imlach would sing rebel songs written by myself, Morris Blythman and Hamish Henderson. It was basically for a Glasgow audience as my transmitter was not very powerful.
We would transmit from the back of my van, I worked as a TV engineer at the time, moving around Glasgow, usually just before the BBC shut down at night.
We were warned by the SNP not to broadcast during the National Anthem (for fear of annoying people!). The BBC TV always closed by playing the National Anthem but needless to say that was EXACTLY when we broadcast.
On a trip abroad, someone “from the SNP” called at my parents’ house and said I had given permission for them to collect my transmitter…. and I never saw it again.
Later these agit prop songs were recorded and I’m pleased to say Winnie Ewing approved, writing to me how important these songs were to her and Scotland…. I still have letters from her.
I wrote the song for Manni last May and Gavin Paterson has been giving it laldy ever since and I, too, am saddened by the SNP’s official silence.