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UK: Court rejects concerns over sentencing of Asian youths:

01 January 2003

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The Court of Appeal has rejected concerns over the sentences handed out to youths of Pakistani descent who were arrested for participating in the Manningham riots in Bradford in 2001. The excessive sentences, mainly for stone throwing, were analysed by the Institute of Race Relations in a report last year that revealed "a huge discrepancy in the sentences imposed against the Manningham rioters...and the sentences which have been brought in other cases of civil disturbance in the UK." Of the 15 appeals before the court, only four had their sentences reduced. Defence lawyer, Michael Mansfield, pointed out the judges had failed to take into account the provocations of the National Front, which had sparked earlier conflicts in Oldham and Burnley. Bradford's Pakistani youths have a long and honourable record of defending their communities against attacks by racists and fascists and harassment by the police. The Bradford 12 established the principle of "self defence - no offence", and it has taken a Labour government to undermine it.

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