The #Twitterjoketrial Disgrace

You may remember Paul Chambers. He’s the poor sod tried and convicted for tweeting:

“Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week… otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!”

The context? He was trying to visit his girlfriend in Northern Ireland. It was January. There was snow. Nottingham airport was closed. This was frustrating. So he tweeted this – evidently ill-advised – joke. And was arrested under the terms of the Terrorist Act and subsequently prosecuted – and shamefully, convicted – under Section 127 of the Communications Act for sending an “indecent, obscene or menacing”message.

His girlfriend relates the story here and Jack of Kent, who has been at the heroic forefront of the effort to correct this manifest injustice (which has cost Chambers not one, but two jobs) explains why the case matters here. 

Paul Chambers’ appeal is being heard in Doncaster today.