A skilled and persuasive human rights lawyer who fought for civil liberties in the face of over-reaching anti-terror law

As a leading authority on counter-terror legislation, Conor Gearty was incensed at the way anti-terror laws are so often enacted to stifle debate and intimidate protest.

The Labour government’s banning of Palestine Action, he argued, was “preposterous”. He told a podcast for Prospect magazine that the then home secretary, Yvette Cooper, had fallen back on the “usual claim they make in a tight corner”, that “‘you have no idea what I know’ … They calculated the ban would produce not much of a reaction.”

This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.