June 12, 2020

Anna Murray 

Earlier on two occasions in 2009 and 2010, 11 Palestine solidarity campaigners, members of the Collectif Palestine 68, displayed products from Israel and urged customers not to buy those products at a shop near Mulhouse in eastern France. 

They were charged with incitement to discrimination for handing out Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) leaflets, and given suspended fine of €1,000 (US$1,135) to 3 civil partiesand €7,000 in damages. An appeals court in France declared them guilty of inciting people to discriminate against products from Israel.

On June 11, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has made ruling to assure that the convictions for campaigning for a boycott of Israeli products violated the campaigners’ right to freedom of expression. The court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, the convictions of 11 activists in France for campaigning actions to boycott Israeli products violated their right to freedom of expression.