Consultant Anaesthetist @GSTTanaesthesia| Former Informatics Fellow @RMHCancerPeriop| HSRC Fellow @HSRCNews | NHSE Clinical Entrepreneur @PiBaby2 @Call4Help_App
London, England
Joined February 2009
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Cyrus Razavi retweeted
Rajiv Menon KC gives interview to @DuncanGardham at The Observer about the contempt proceedings against him - denying that he invoked jury equity, and revealing that the proceedings prevented him from seeing his father before he died.
observer.co.uk/news/national…
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
The IDF did not have an Einsatzgruppen style policy of actively hunting down and killing every child in Gaza. The little kids and other civilians were deliberately shot (murdered) specifically in evacuated zones, after evacuation orders were given. The idea was to ensure that the Palestinians left all the areas in which the Israeli ground troops were operating, with the eventual hope of a total ethnic cleansing. The goal of the "war", in fact, was to depopulate and destroy Gaza, and murdering civilians was one of the means by which they tried to achieve this.
One important thing to emphasize - and why the investigation is a sham, carried out for reasons of optics/"hasbara" - is that Hind Rajab was killed *pursuant to IDF policy.* This wasn't a matter of rogue soldiers.
What was IDF policy? 1) Issue evacuation orders to Palestinians, i.e. the "leaflets and texts" Destiny and charlatan John Spencer cuddle to sleep at night. 2) Send in ground troops. 3) Permit your troops to kill any Palestinian, including prepubescent children,* they encountered. This is why we saw a pattern of prepubescent children shot in the head or chest.
The IDF has implicitly admitted to a policy of intentionally killing little kids who strayed into the evacuated zones. Hence this January, when Fadi and Jumaa Abu Assi - unarmed boys ages eight and ten - accidentally wandered past the "yellow line" while looking for firewood, not only did Israeli "soldiers" intentionally murder them, but the IDF defended the practice when asked about them by CNN, citing the fact that the two children "crossed the yellow line" (i.e. into an evacuated zone), and were engaged in unspecified "suspicious activity."
You'll note that Fadi, the eight year old intentionally murdered by the IDF, was just two years older than Hind Rajab.
* Some commanders forbade the forbidding of little kids, others sanctioned it. The higher ups clearly sanctioned it as commanders such as Yehuda Vach who sanctioned the murder of children were not punished, but in fact (in Vach's case) promoted.
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
people should understand - tens of thousands of people are missing in gaza, most of which are under the rubble. the MAIN reason the zios won't allow journalists in is because they're destroying the rubble and hiding the countless bodies. he's been missing since 2024 and like many of our other family members we assumed he was killed. this photo was a shock for us to see.
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
BREAKING: Justice Jeremy Johnson has ruled that the Filton 4 will be sentenced as terrorists – even though two juries refused to convict them of violence charges over their efforts to disable an Israeli factory in the UK making killer drones for use in Gaza. They were found guilty of a minor charge of criminal damage.
Judge Johnson kept the jury in the dark of his plans to sentence the four as terrorists. This is the first time in British legal history that anyone has been sentenced as a terrorist for damaging property. It's a very dark moment in an increasingly authoritarian Britain.
Thousands of legal professionals complained about Johnson's clear abuses of legal procedures to help the government's case for proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
Johnson has now proved this was always a show trial.
I explain how he rigged the two trials here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/…
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
🚨 In more than 25 years of working on terrorism cases, I never thought I would see terrorism legislation used in a way that blurs the line between genuine national security concerns and the policing of political expression and protest.
The sentencing of the Filton 4 raises profound questions about the direction of our justice system. Counter-terrorism laws exist to protect the public from serious threats, not to chill political dissent, including direct action protest.
If we are not careful, we risk setting a dangerous precedent, one that many will view as driven not by principle, but by a desire to shield Israel from criticism.
I strongly oppose what happened in this case today.
🚨BREAKING: Filton 4 sentenced as terrorists
Amnesty opposes the use of terrorism powers in this case.
It is completely disproportionate to punish protesters for criminal damage as if they were terrorists, a sentence which stays with you for life.
The defendants in today’s case were sentenced as terrorists because prosecutors want to make an example of them.
Today's decision shows how direct action protesters could be treated in the future.
The use of terrorism laws against direct action protesters must end.
Together we must continue calling out the abuse of power and fighting for our right to protest.
Read our position:
Criminal Damage, Direct Action, Terrorism: Misuse of counter-terrorism powers in the UK: amn.st/6015B87ZCx
ALT Filton 4 sentenced as terrorists, use of terrorism laws against protesters must end
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
Statement by Barristers Chambers re Prosecution of Rajiv Menon Kc
Rajiv Menon KC, a highly respected silk at Garden Court Chambers and a former head of chambers, is facing proceedings for contempt of court. The alleged contempt concerns a closing speech that Rajiv delivered to a jury at the Woolwich Crown Court in January 2026. The trial involved pro-Palestine activists causing criminal damage to weapons and other property at a factory in Filton, Bristol belonging to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer.
Not only is this the first time in English legal history that a barrister is being prosecuted for contempt in respect of a closing speech at a criminal trial, but the procedure being used to prosecute Rajiv is wholly novel and without historical precedent.
Until this week, any publication about Rajiv being prosecuted for contempt has been prohibited by various court orders. As a result of reporting restrictions now being lifted, Garden Court Chambers is at last able to comment publicly on this matter. We have supported Rajiv throughout the proceedings, including significant numbers of our members attending court hearings at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Rajiv is independently represented by solicitors and leading counsel who have made powerful arguments about the jurisdictional legality and procedural propriety of the contempt proceedings being brought against Rajiv. Judgment is currently awaited from the Court of Appeal (Civil Division). It is hoped that the arguments being advanced will prevail, and that the proceedings against Rajiv will be swiftly concluded without Rajiv having to stand trial. Whatever the outcome, Garden Court Chambers will continue to support Rajiv.
It is important to note that the prosecution of Rajiv for contempt has wider constitutional implications. We are extremely concerned about the chilling effect on the Bar of the state seeking to criminalise barristers for their representation of their clients. Such action is bound to undermine the confidence of the public that those charged, particularly in political and controversial cases, can receive the committed representation that they would expect to be provided.
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
Rajiv Menon was my barrister when I appeared before the Tribunal investigating police surveillance of left and women's groups. His opening speech was brilliant. He is on of this country's most gifted barristers, a descendant of Mike Mansfield. His prosecution is an appalling instance of some judges prostrating themselves before the needs of the state as they did a number of times against Irish and Muslim prisoners. One hope they might have learnt from how they treated the Irish. Doesn't seem to be the case.
It may not be fully appreciated that the UK is not only seeing unprecedented treatment of direct action protestors as “terrorists”, but a lawyer representing them is himself being prosecuted for his remarks in court.
Here his fellow lawyers explain what is happening and express solidarity. A crucial case for justice and the rule of law in the UK.
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
One part of the travesty of the Filton 6 actionists’ trial and retrial that has received less attention but is very important: Rajiv Menon, King’s Council, barrister for a member of the Filton 6, is being persecuted on a wholly unprecedented charge of contempt of court, carrying a punishment of up to two years imprisonment, for mentioning legal history and principles of law that allow juries to make independent decisions on conscience that Judge Johnson ruled out.
In the first trial’s closing statement to the jury, Menon pointed out the case that established this principle from 1670 and quoted the public plaque outside the Old Bailey (the central court in London) commemorating the case. He also reminded the jurors six times that the judge could not direct them to convict. The jury exonerated all the defendants in that first trial. Now they have been retried and convicted on some charges.
It sounds like Rajiv Menon is being punished for being extremely good at his job and for explaining the actual law relevant to the rights of the jury that this establishment judge close to the UK police and security services unethically suppressed to secure a political conviction to protect Elbit Systems. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Judge Johnson set up the rules and judgments precisely to engineer a conviction to circumvent the propensity of juries to acquit actionists. Then he plans to sentence them under extremely harsh terrorism laws by manipulating unjustly what jurors could know. Rajiv Menon initially disrupted that plan in the first trial. So now the judge and state are going after him.
We must support Rajiv Menon, a fantastic and principled barrister, and the actionists against the UK state’s punitive crackdown on those using democratic rights to protest and stop the Israeli arms industry from facilitating war crimes, illegal occupation and genocide. The corrupt and complicit political establishment in the UK has shown themselves willing to evacuate rights to free speech and assembly, jury trials, press freedom and a host of democratic rights for all citizens simply to protect Israel’s impunity and their own complicity in the genocide.
Support Rajiv Menon for defending pro-Palestine actionists and condemn what the UK courts and injustice system have done to jury trials and democratic rights!
Indeed 💚
(1/3) Garden Court North members express solidarity with Rajiv Menon KC, a highly respected silk and member of @gardencourtlaw, who faces prosecution for contempt of court following his closing speech in a high-profile and politically sensitive criminal trial.
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Cyrus Razavi retweeted
I used to think my dad just had a weird habit.
Every night, no matter how late it was, he’d check if I was asleep. Like actually come into my room, stand there for a second, then leave.
I remember pretending to sleep sometimes just to see how long he’d stay. Sometimes he’d fix my blanket, sometimes he’d just sigh and walk out.
As I got older, I thought it was kinda annoying. Like… why are you still doing that?
One night I finally asked him.
He just shrugged and said, “Just checking.”
Years later, my mom told me the real reason.
When I was a baby, I got really sick out of nowhere. Stopped breathing in my sleep. They barely made it to the hospital in time.
After that, he never fully trusted “quiet.”
So every night, for years… he just needed to see my chest rise at least once before he could relax. 🥹
Ha, not done this for years, getting old 😭😭 😭
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Cyrus Razavi retweeted
Sad to learn of Craig Venter passing. He was a controversial iconoclast, but there is no question that he helped drive progress in genomics and the Human Genome Project. Many of the people who argued his approaches were wrong headed or impossible later ended up adopting those same methods.
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
The undisputed valor of our troops and the tactical brilliance of our military operations do not equal strategic success.
If they did, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and Yemen would look very different today.
We can bomb and blockade Iran, or get dragged into something far worse, but none of it will force Iranian leaders to behave the way we want.
We can accept this reality now and clearly define what our actual interests are in the region, or we can be forced to accept it later—after losing more American lives and trillions of taxpayer dollars.
Yes, our military can sustain operations and crush any enemy in nearly any battle (while losing the war). But to what end? What’s in it for the American people?
It's foolish to think we can keep launching these senseless foreign interventions and maintain our status as the world’s most powerful nation.
This is the glaring blind spot that our foreign policy has failed to address for decades.
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
One in 10 NHS Surgical Procedures are cancelled, with 37% potentially avoidable. New study by Bedford et al
ow.ly/nCHY50YOX3V
ow.ly/ByLM50YOX3Q
Cyrus Razavi retweeted
1/The UK has been a global leader in tracking AI cyber capabilities for 2+ years. Our testing shows accelerating capabilities. The UK's @AISecurityInst most recently tested Anthropic's Mythos model, some reflections🧵
telegraph.co.uk/business/202…
