UK
Man, 81, Seeks to Quash Conviction for Apartheid Protest
An 81-year-old retired academic is seeking to overturn a criminal conviction he received after taking part in an anti-apartheid protest that had been infiltrated by an undercover police officer. Jonathan Rosenhead is challenging his conviction for a public order offence during a demonstration in 1972. He recently discovered that one of the men who was convicted alongside him was an undercover police officer who was pretending to be a left-wing campaigner. The spy called himself Michael Scott and adopted a fake identity to infiltrate three left-wing groups, including the Anti-Apartheid Movement, for five years. Scott’s superiors authorised him to use his fake identity in the criminal trial and to be convicted under his alias.
Rosenhead’s lawyers have written to the Crown Prosecution Service asking for copies of official documents relating to his conviction, which he plans to lodge an appeal against. The CPS said it believed that there was no reason to overturn his conviction. His case highlights how a significant number of protesters since 1968 could potentially have been unjustly convicted as key evidence gathered by undercover police officers was withheld from their trials. So far, 57 campaigners have established in recent years that they were wrongly convicted or prosecuted after discovering their protests had been infiltrated by undercover officers.
Read more: Rob Evans, Guardian, https://is.gd/031EY8
