At 94, This Jewish Barrister Finally Got Arrested — And She Says She's 'Proud'

Margaret Owen had spent months trying to get detained. On Sunday, the Metropolitan Police finally obliged — in Liverpool.

The 94-year-old Jewish human rights barrister was arrested at a rally outside the Labour Party conference, becoming the oldest known person detained in a widening crackdown on supporters of Palestine Action, a group banned under UK terrorism law in July 2025.

Owen, who received an OBE in 2013 for her work advancing women's human rights, had attended roughly a dozen protests wearing a sign reading "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action." She also attached a placard bearing those words to a window at her London home. She even wrote to the Metropolitan Police with photographs and a confession, hoping to force an arrest. No one came.

"I think they never wanted to arrest me because that would be quite a story for the media," she told Al Jazeera. "This ancient veteran human rights lawyer, aged 94, you know, it's too much of a story."

Merseyside Police, however, appeared unfamiliar with her. Authorities in the northern city said 82 people were arrested at the same demonstration "on suspicion of wearing/carrying an article supporting a proscribed organisation." All have since been released on bail.

"I was the oldest there," Owen said. "Maybe they'd never heard of me, the police up in Liverpool."

"I'm rather proud and glad to have finally joined the club," she added.

Her arrest represents a striking development in a civil disobedience campaign that has drawn in an unusually broad cross-section of British society. Retired doctors, teachers, lawyers, vicars and magistrates have been detained. So have a former adviser to King Charles and a singer from the band Massive Attack.

The common thread is seven words: "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action."

The campaign is organised by Defend Our Juries, a UK-based activist group demanding that the government lift its ban on Palestine Action. The group's co-leader, Tim Crossland, is himself a former government lawyer.

Palestine Action was founded in 2020 with the stated aim of countering Israeli war crimes and what it describes as British complicity in them. Its primary target has been Elbit Systems, Israel's largest arms manufacturer, which operates several facilities in the UK. Activists have staged raids on such sites. Several participants have been jailed, with some sentenced under terrorism provisions.

The organisation was proscribed under the Terrorism Act in July 2025. Then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pressed ahead with the ban despite warnings from campaign groups, the United Nations human rights chief, and a range of leading politicians and peers who argued the move misused counterterrorism legislation. Only 10 MPs voted against it in the House of Commons, compared with 276 in favour.

Under previous Prime Minister Keir Starmer, few lawmakers criticised Israel's conduct in Gaza or questioned the ban. That dynamic has begun to shift.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband recently told LBC radio that he believes in the right to peaceful protest. "I don't think it was anyone's intent to have those people criminalised," he said, referring to the elderly and Christian leaders who have been arrested. His remarks, like his recent announcement of sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements, marked a departure from his predecessors' positions.

Owen has her own connection to Miliband: she was a friend of his late mother, Marion Kozak, a prominent human rights campaigner. Owen said she admires the Foreign Secretary.

For Owen, the involvement of legal professionals in the protest movement carries particular weight. She said she wanted to be detained because their participation lends the campaign "some sort of authority."

The Metropolitan Police declined to comment on Owen's case specifically. But a spokesperson told Al Jazeera that in London, "officers may not have witnessed an offence being committed, or the circumstances may not have met the necessary legal threshold for an arrest at that time."

The legal landscape remains unsettled. A case challenging the ban on Palestine Action is set to come before the Supreme Court, a process that Miliband said should be allowed to play out.

For now, Owen's arrest has added a vivid chapter to a story that officials in London seemed eager to avoid. A 94-year-old barrister with an OBE, a history of human rights advocacy and a placard in her window has become, by her own account, the newest member of a club she spent months trying to join.