Jury Fails to Convict Majid Freeman: State Exhausts Resources, Jury Remains Unconvinced

Birmingham — After almost a week of deliberations, the jury in the trial of community activist and humanitarian aid worker Majid Novsarka (Freeman) has failed to reach a verdict, resulting in a hung jury at Birmingham Crown Court. This follows a three week trial whereby Majid asserted his defence and support for the Palestinian’s right to resist - as well as stating that support includes armed resistance but does not equate to direct support of Hamas, yet despite all of this a jury was still not convinced that any wrongdoing occurred. The judge has discharged the jury and a retrial has been ordered with a provisional date of 20th September 2027 for 4 weeks.

Despite the state exhausting considerable resources in an attempt to prove that Majid Freeman was a terrorist, ten members of the British public, after days of careful deliberation, were unable to agree that he was guilty of any of the offences charged. This outcome reflects the strength of public feeling about Palestine. When a jury is asked to sit with the reality of a genocide and decide whether standing against it constitutes terrorism, the state is relying on fear and legal complexity to override what every decent human instinct is telling them. The jury sat through weeks of evidence about a genocide unfolding in real time, about a man who had visited Gaza, who knew people being killed, and actively reported on their resistance to genocide, to make sure the world could not look away. They deliberated for almost a week and could not agree that what he did was terrorism. 

A retrial presents a fresh opportunity. The evidence of Israel's brutality in Gaza, the scale of the genocide, the systematic destruction of civilian life, hospitals, schools and entire communities, will once again be placed before a jury. Once again, the public will be asked to sit with that reality and decide whether supporting the right to resist it constitutes a criminal act, and we welcome that opportunity.

Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE, said:

"The state threw everything it had at Majid Freeman and a jury of his peers still could not agree he was guilty. That is a profound indication of where the British public stands on the criminalisation of solidarity with Palestine."

Of the outcome, Majid Freeman:

"The state exhausted considerable resources trying to prosecute me based on emoji, duas & posts online. And after almost a week of deliberation, the jury could not agree that I was guilty. They could not agree. That is not nothing. I welcome the opportunity of a retrial, because it means the evidence of what Israel has done to Gaza, the brutality, the systematic destruction of an entire people, will once again be placed before a jury of the British public. Let them see it again. Let the world be reminded again.”