Yesterday the European Court of Human Rights rejected the governments appeal to its decision in January that ruled Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Although the Home Office has said it is still considering how the ruling affects the law and the police will continue to use it. It’s possible that any Stop & Search under s44 since 12th January 2010 will be open to legal challenge, so hang on to any receipts.

Unfortunately there are still a swathe of laws that police use to harass photographers, most notably s43, which is similar to s44 but requires an officer to suspect that you are a terrorist and s76 which makes it illegal to ‘elicit information about a police officer’ which includes photographing them.

In the meantime we’re going back to the place where our campaign started, outside New Scotland Yard. We’ll be gathering at 12 noon, this Sunday 4th July (Independence Day!) Come along and lets celebrate a little more freedom for photographers.

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I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! is proud to support this pre-election rally on Terror Laws, Civil Liberties & Press Freedom at 7pm on the 13th of April at Friends Meeting House in Euston.

The rally will be chaired by photographer Jess Hurd and there’s a top lineup of speakers who have dealt with the raft of terror laws that we face today:

• Jeremy Dear, General Secretary National Union of Journalists
• Paul Lewis, Guardian journalist & British Press Awards Reporter of the Year 2010
• Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King’s College London & author of Bonfire of the Liberties
• Henry Porter, Observer columnist, author & British editor of Vanity Fair
• Chez Cotton, Head of Action Against the Police at Bindmans Solicitors & a co-ordinator of the Police Action Lawyers Group
• Marc Vallée, Photojournalist, investigative journalist and one of the organisers of the I’m A Photographer, Not a Terrorist! campaign group.

Supporting the rally are the National Union of Journalists, NUJ London Central Branch and the I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! campaign group.

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Mass Gathering in defence of street photography

I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! invite all Photographers to a mass photo gathering in defence of street photography.

Following a series of high profile detentions under s44 of the terrorism act including 7 armed police detaining an award winning architectural photographer in the City of London, the arrest of a press photographer covering campaigning santas at City Airport and the stop and search of a BBC photographer at St Pauls Cathedral and many others. PHNAT feels now is the time for a mass turnout of Photographers, professional and amateur to defend our rights and stop the abuse of the terror laws.

And thanks to the lovely people at Spreadshirt there’s now free shipping on everything in our shop with the promo code 23JAN. So go buy a hoodie or 3!

Social Media

You can use the Twitter hashtag #mpg to follow what’s going on and Flickr users can tag their photos with this Upcoming Event by adding the tag: upcoming:event=4903212 to your photos.

Sorry it’s a bit late notice but tomorrow I’m Photographer Not a Terrorist! will be taking part in a panel discussion at Signs of Revolt:

“This panel looks at the impact of digital photographic tools on reporting events, particularly post-G20 and how the State is trying to criminalise image taking and the ways photographers are getting organised to resist this. This will be interspersed with photo shows and film clips from the archives of some of the key movements photographers and filmmakers.”

The panel includes photojournalist Jess Hurd, photojournalist and investigative reporter Marc Vallée, film and print journalist Jason N. Parkinson and filmmaker Shaun Day.

11am, Sunday 15 November 2009
Shop 14, The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL.

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Freedom to Photograph – Reclaim Our Shopping Centres

Few people know about the restrictions on photography in ‘public’ spaces like shopping centres unless they have been frog-marched out of Canary Wharf, Westfield or the Arndale Centre by burly security guards.

These private shopping meccas welcome people spending their money but threaten to call the police if they bring out a camera.

We have picked a typical shopping day in September to highlight to the public these ‘photo free zones’ and we encourage all photographers, amateur and professional, to Flashmob their local shopping centre on Saturday 12th September at 3pm. Or come to the flashmob in London.

London – Canary Wharf

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Elsewhere

If you can rally a good number of people in your city for your own flashmob event announce it using the #PHNATMob hashtag on Twitter or on our Facebook page.

Get in touch with us and we’ll help you promote it.