Mark Hirst
 Mark Hirst    (journalist, activist) | |
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| Born | Scotland Scotland |
Scottish independence activist persecuted by police | |
Mark Hirst is a Scottish journalist and independence activist.
Contents
Career
In 1998, Hirst was a trade unionist who fought against the tech firm VIASYSTEMS when they closed their Scottish factory. He was the elected trade union organizer who fought the owners all the way before being sacked alongside his colleagues. Since then, he has worked in Public Relations at both local and national government, and been an activist for equality ,social justice and civil liberties.[1]
Later, Hirst worked as a reporter for Scottish Television (STV) and has several award-winning documentaries to his name. He also worked at Radio Sputnik / Sputnik News, where he was appointed Editor-in-Chief. During his nine years as a researcher for several SNP MSPs he organised the research staff into the National Union of Journalists to secure better pay and conditions for the staff from all political parties. [2]
Political Persecution
Following the verdict in the Alex Salmond sexual harassment trial and acquittal, Scottish prosecutors began actively pursuing independence supporters who publicly supported the former First Minister of Scotland.
On 29th March, the day the nine women who had denied being co-conspirators managed to conspire to produce a joint statement about their ‘devastation’ at the not guilty verdict, Hirst made a short video, where he expressed his opinion that the continued attempts to undermine Alex Salmond were unfair, unjustified and politically motivated from quarters within the SNP who were comfortable to be on the payroll but were “soft” on independence, the primary reason for the formation and existence of that political party.[3]
Hirst made the point that given the political motivation of the accusations against Alex Salmond there would inevitably be repercussions that would involve further inquiries and investigations making the continued anonymity of the accusers difficult to maintain. He stated clearly that he knew the identities of all the accusers but gave absolutely no hints as to the identity of any of them.[3] The video was made available to his own Followers on Twitter and YouTube via a closed link. Mark did not Re-Tweet the video or send it to any SNP officials or any of the Salmond accusers. [3]
Police raided his home on April 20th, 2020, where five detectives removed his mobile phone, hard disks and computers. In early May 2020 Mark Hirst, together with Craig Murray, was arrested and charged in relation to comments they made publicly during and following this trial.[4] When informed the issue of concern was the short video Mark had made on 29th March, he offered to remove it or change the setting to ‘private’ to severely restrict access to it. The police declined that offer and even suggested such a move could be construed as ‘tampering with evidence’…
Hirst's trial took place on the 7th of January 2021 where he was acquitted after the Court ruled "there was no case to answer". [3] Following advice from senior counsel, Hirst in April 2021 planned to bring a "malicious prosecution" action against the Crown Office.[2]
A Document by Mark Hirst
Related Documents
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Defend Freedom of Expression – Support Mark Hirst | Article | 15 May 2020 | Tommy Sheridan | If we don’t speak up now in defence of those guilty of no crime other than expressing their opinions and speaking truth to power then we will all one day be caught in the tangled web of thought control and authoritarian rule which will render us powerless to oppose injustice and resist draconian restrictions on our freedoms. |
| Document:Dissident British ex-diplomat Craig Murray indicted for blog posts in Kafkaesque case | Article | 27 April 2020 | Ben Norton | “The state believes it has finally discovered a way to put me in prison without the inconvenient hurdle of a jury of my peers. This really is the epitome of bad law. To use it against freedom of speech is disgusting.” |
