Post-war BBC ban During the 1940s, the NCCL led protests against a
BBC ban on artists who attended a 'People's Convention' organised by the
Communist Party.
Miscarriages of justice At this time NCCL was also involved in several
miscarriage of justice cases, including that of Emery, Powers and Thompson, who were sentenced to between four and ten years' imprisonment for assaulting a police officer, even though someone else
confessed to the crime and the prosecution evidence was flawed. NCCL found a witness who confirmed the men's
alibi and they were released from prison and granted a
royal pardon.
Reform of the Mental Health System During the 1950s NCCL campaigned for reform of the
mental health system, under which people known to be sane but deemed 'morally defective' – unmarried mothers, for example – could be locked up in an asylum. By 1957, the campaign had seen the release of around 2,000 former inmates, the abolition of the
Mental Deficiency Act 1913 and the establishment of new Mental Health Review Tribunals and the
Mental Health Act 1959.
1960–1974 In the 1960s the organisation broadened its scope, particularly from 1966 under new general secretary
Tony Smythe. It campaigned on racial issues, on behalf of the Romani community, children, prisoners and servicemen who had changed their decision about joining the forces. It campaigned for the retaining of the public right to petition the ECHR, its General Secretary Martin Loney writing to the Prime Minister,
Edward Heath. However, Loney was controversially sacked by the executive of the NCCL led by its chair,
Henry Hodge.
Opposition to racial discrimination After 1960, NCCL responded to the tightening of
immigration laws and a rise in race-hate incidents by lobbying for the
Race Relations Act, which came into force in 1965. NCCL also published pamphlets exposing the effective 'colour bar', whereby black and Asian people were refused service in certain pubs and hotels.
Data protection In 1975 NCCL bought 3 million credit rating files from Konfax Ltd after they were offered for sale in the
Evening Standard. The files were destroyed and the major privacy protection 'Right to Know' campaign to give individuals greater control over their personal information was launched in 1977.
Paedophilia In 1976, the NCCL in a submission to the Criminal Law Revision Committee of the British Parliament argued that "Childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult result in no identifiable damage… The real need is a change in the attitude which assumes that all cases of paedophilia result in lasting damage". The NCCL also sought to place the "onus of proof on the prosecution to show that the child was actually harmed" rather than having a blanket ban on
child pornography and advocated the
decriminalisation of
incest. Organisations such as
Paedophile Information Exchange (P.I.E.), a pro-paedophile activist group, and Paedophile Action for Liberation became affiliated to the pressure group. Prominent pro-paedophile activist
Tom O'Carroll also sat on the NCCL's sub-committee for gay rights.
Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of Liberty, issued an apology about the links between the NCCL and the PIE. In December 2013, she said: "It is a source of continuing disgust and horror that even the NCCL had to expel paedophiles from its ranks in 1983 after infiltration at some point in the 70s."
Gay rights and censorship NCCL acted for the owners of
''Gay's the Word'' bookshop, whose stock was confiscated by Customs officers in 1984. All charges were dropped in 1986. '''Miners' strike''' During the
miners' strike, NCCL campaigned on behalf of miners stopped from picketing outside their home regions.
Katharine Gun In 2004, Liberty acted for the translator and
whistleblower Katharine Gun who claimed that the American
National Security Agency had requested the
British Government's help in illegal
surveillance on the UN. She was prosecuted under the
Official Secrets Act 1989. The charges were dropped when the prosecution failed to offer any evidence. Chakrabarti and Liberty claimed a major campaign victory when the government dropped the proposal after it was rejected by the
House of Lords in October 2008.
Gooch Gang In April 2009, Liberty protested against a poster campaign by
Greater Manchester Police which depicted a series of notorious Manchester gangsters, the
Gooch Gang, as pensioners. The billboard campaign used computer-generated images of Colin Joyce and
Lee Amos to show how the "aged" criminals would look when they are finally released from prison in the 2040s. Liberty supported claims that the posters should be removed following complaints from family members of the gangsters, not involved with their relatives' criminality, who claimed they were being targeted in the community after the posters were erected.
Cream of Conscience November 2011 saw Liberty successfully assist in preventing
Westminster City Council from
implementing a proposed
byelaw which would have essentially criminalised "soup runs" within areas of
Southwark.
Freedom Games? In response to the vast security systems which were put in place ahead of the London 2012
Olympic Games, Liberty raised concerns with regards to the infringements to civil liberties which would subsequently occur. Liberty argued that neither
peaceful protest nor the right to free speech were a factor in ensuring the safety of the Games.
For their eyes only Another prominent campaign in 2012 was "For their eyes only" in response to the proposed Justice and Security Bill which was introduced in the
House of Lords on 28 May 2012. The
Bill was introduced as a result of prolific media investigations and litigation surrounding the UK Government and proposed "secret courts" and evidence which would be non-disclosable. A campaign presence and attendance by
Shami Chakrabarti at the Liberal Democrats Conference in September 2012 in Brighton successfully led to the passing of a motion by Jo Shaw, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Holborn and St Pancras, against the Bill. Nevertheless, the substantially unchanged Bill became law in April 2013.
Extradition Watch A prominent campaign by Liberty was in relation to fairer extradition laws and the opposition of unfair extradition proceedings, the most prominent case being that of
Gary McKinnon who gained worldwide press attention. Other prolific cases included that of Babar Ahmed, Talha Ahsan and Christopher Tappin.
Gary McKinnon 16 October 2012 saw a victory for
Gary McKinnon, after a decade-long ordeal, as the Home Secretary,
Theresa May, announced that she was refusing to allow Gary's extradition to the US on the basis that doing so would breach his Human Rights. Gary McKinnon was charged in 2002 of hacking into
US military and
NASA systems, but maintains that he was looking for
UFOs and evidence of
free energy suppression. Gary, who has
Asperger syndrome, could have spent up to 70 years in a US jail if convicted and it was argued by his lawyers in an appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that because of this factor and because the crime was committed in the UK that he should be tried in the UK. Director of Liberty,
Shami Chakrabarti said of the
Home Secretary's decision "This is a great day for rights, freedoms and justice in the United Kingdom." The Home Office also admitted that it was the Human Rights Act which essentially prevented the extradition.
Gay rights Liberty intervened in the case of
gay couple Michael Black and John Morgan who were turned away from a
bed and breakfast because of the owner's religious views. On 18 October 2012 it was ruled that the B&B owner was in breach of equality legislation by unlawfully discriminating against the couple on the basis of their
sexual orientation. Liberty's Legal Director James Welch said of the decision "Hopefully today's ruling signals the death knell of such 'no gays' policies – policies that would never be tolerated if they referred to a person's race, gender or religion."
2015 onwards Save our Human Rights Act Immediately following the
2015 general election result, Liberty launched a campaign to save the
Human Rights Act. The
Conservative Party – which had won a majority – had included a pledge in its manifesto to repeal the Act. Liberty called this "a knowing attempt by Government ministers to hand itself the right to end the universality of human rights and choose when and to whom they apply". In May 2016, Liberty,
Amnesty International UK and the British Institute of Human Rights published a statement opposing repeal of the Act, backed by more than 130 organisations including
UK Families Flight 103,
Friends of the Earth, Refuge,
Quakers in Britain,
Stonewall, the
Terrence Higgins Trust, the
Down's Syndrome Association and the
Football Supporters' Federation. In July 2015, Liberty coordinated an intervention from a number of former Anti-Apartheid campaigners including
Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and
Denis Goldberg.
The Deepcut inquests Liberty represents the families of three of four young soldiers who died of gunshot wounds at
Deepcut army barracks between 1995 and 2002 – Cheryl James, Sean Benton and James Collinson. Liberty used the Human Rights Act to compel
Surrey Police to disclose evidence about the deaths to the families, which they were then able to use to apply for fresh inquests. The second inquest into the death of Cheryl James took place at Woking Coroner's Court from January to April 2016. On 3 June 2016, Coroner
Brian Barker QC recorded a verdict of suicide, delivering a narrative verdict that strongly condemned the culture at Deepcut. Following the verdict, Liberty called for reform to tackle the "pervasive sexualised culture" in the Armed Forces. The second inquest into the death of Sean Benton also took place from January to June 2018, also in Woking. On 18 July 2018, Coroner
Peter Rook QC also recorded a verdict of suicide and again strongly criticised failings at Deepcut and in the Surrey Police investigation. Following the verdict, Liberty and Sean's family called for all serious crimes within the Armed Forces to be investigated by the civilian police, rather than the
Royal Military Police.
Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement Liberty represented the family of Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement, a Royal Military Police Office who took her own life in 2011 after alleging that she had been raped by two colleagues. An initial inquest in March 2012 recorded a verdict of suicide, but Anne-Marie's family, represented by Liberty, used the Human Rights Act to secure a second, more thorough inquest. They alleged that Anne-Marie had been bullied and that the Royal Military Police had failed in their duty of care. On 3 July 2014, Nicholas Rheinberg – Coroner in the second inquest – ruled that bullying, the lingering effect of the alleged rape and "work-related despair" had contributed to Anne-Marie's suicide. On 29 October 2015, the
Service Prosecuting Authority announced that two former soldiers had been charged with raping Anne-Marie and stated that "the original decision by the SPA not to prosecute was 'wrong'". The two men were acquitted on 20 April 2016. In October 2016, the Royal Military Police apologised to Anne-Marie's family for failings and mistakes in the original rape investigation. In November 2017, the Ministry of Defence announced it would stop Commanding Officers investigating allegations of sexual assault themselves – a call Liberty had made from Corporal Ellement's 2014 inquest.
Mass surveillance Following
Edward Snowden's whistleblowing in 2013, mass surveillance became a major part of Liberty's work. Shortly after the revelations, Liberty brought a legal challenge to the UK government's practices with a coalition of other organisations, including
Amnesty International,
Privacy International and
ACLU. In September 2018, the
European Court of Human Rights ruled that
GCHQ's bulk interception practices had violated privacy rights and failed to provide sufficient safeguards. In 2014, Liberty represented MPs
David Davis and
Tom Watson in a legal challenge to the
Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA), claiming that it breached privacy rights. The case was referred to the
European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the Court of Appeal, and in December 2016 the ECJ ruled that the general and indiscriminate retention of emails and electronic communications by governments was illegal. In January 2018, the Court of Appeal found DRIPA unlawful. Throughout 2016, Liberty campaigned against what it believed to be a serious lack of privacy safeguards in the
Investigatory Powers Bill. The Bill passed in November 2016. In January 2017, Liberty launched a crowdfunder to raise funds to challenge the Act in the High Court, raising more than £53,000 in a week. Liberty's challenge to various parts of the Investigatory Powers Act is ongoing. In April 2018, the High Court issued its ruling on the first part of the challenge, giving the government six months to rewrite core parts of the Act, which it found incompatible with EU law.
Equal pensions for same-sex couples Liberty represented John Walker in a legal challenge to a loophole in the
Equality Act which let employers exempt same-sex spouses from spousal pension benefits. Upon retirement from
Innospec, John had discovered that his husband would only receive a few hundred pounds a year. If he were married to a woman, she would have received around £45,000. In July 2017, the Supreme Court found the loophole unlawful under EU law.
Hostile environment policies Liberty campaigned against the introduction of the '
hostile environment' policies and has since campaigned for their repeal. It has also campaigned against data-sharing arrangements between immigration enforcement and public services including hospitals, schools and police. In August 2017, Liberty exposed that the
Home Office had secretly gained access to nationality data on homeless people in London.
Facial recognition In June 2018, Liberty announced it would be representing Cardiff resident Ed Bridges in a legal challenge to South Wales Police's use of facial recognition technology in public spaces. Liberty argues that the technology "is dangerously inaccurate and has the potential to trample on the freedoms we all take for granted".
Immigration detention In January 2017, Liberty launched a campaign calling for a 28-day statutory limit on immigration detention in the UK. It took action against Home Office regulations that sought to redefine certain powers under the
Public Order Act 1986, as recently amended by the
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, to apply to "more than minor" disruption in protests rather than just to "serious disruption". The Home Office argued that the meaning of "more than minor" was compatible with "serious". In May 2025, the
Court of Appeal ruled that the
two regulations issued were unlawful, because these meanings were incompatible. Liberty
intervened in a 2025 court case challenging the banning of
Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. It provided evidence that upholding the ban would undermine freedom of expression and allow peaceful protests to be criminalised. == Organisation ==