LONDON: Marianne Sorrell, an 80-year-old retired teacher from Wells, a city in southwestern England, said that her arrest earlier in July for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally has left her feeling “traumatized” and “sick.”
Police officers detained Sorrell for nearly 27 hours on July 12 after forcibly entering her house and seizing 19 items, including iPads, a Palestinian flag, books about Palestine, and materials related to Extinction Rebellion and climate change. She was held on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action, which the UK government banned earlier this month under anti-terrorism laws.
Sorrell told The Guardian newspaper: “At 80, to be treated like a dangerous terrorist is deeply shocking. I’ve been very traumatised by this. Every morning I wake up feeling sick, nauseous. (I have) had to take anti-sickness pills.”
She said a friend of hers, who went to feed her cats while she was in custody, saw a Geiger counter, which measures radiation, on the table while the police were searching the house.
“They’ve actually not taken anything that could be classed as illegal but it’s very confusing that they’re beginning to think anything connected to Palestine or support for Palestine is illegal in some way,” Sorrell said.
She was detained at the end of a one-hour demonstration in Wells by the group Defend Our Juries in support of Palestine. Her friend Trisha Fine, 75, also from Wells and a retired teacher, was arrested and held by the police for nearly 27 hours. At the Cardiff rally, 11 others were arrested. Police questioned Sorrel and Fine about their awareness of Palestine Action’s support for violence and whether they were prepared to engage in it themselves.
The women have been released on bail until October and are prohibited from contacting each other or spending any nights away from their homes.
Fine told The Guardian: “Am I a 75-year-old terrorist? I don’t think so. It’s completely out of order. You just wonder what the hell is happening with this country and this government.”
Sorrell said: “I just feel if I’m put in prison for this, and even if I die in prison for this, I can’t think of a better thing to die for really than for the justice of the people who’ve been persecuted now for almost my lifetime.”
Palestine Action was banned in July after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton on June 20, causing an estimated £7 million ($9.38 million) of damage to military aircraft.
Membership of or direct support for Palestine Action now carries a prison term of up to 14 years. Displaying the group’s name on clothing could lead to a six-month jail sentence.
