UK Government not accepting epetitions to try Tony Blair

[Pappa]

...for war crimes.

There are piles that have been created, but all are rejected on the following grounds:

Matters which are not the responsibility of HM Government

• Party political material
• Commercial endorsements including the promotion of any product, service or publication
• Issues that are dealt with by devolved bodies, eg The Scottish Parliament
• Correspondence on personal issues
• Freedom of Information requests

Anyone got any idea which of these supposed reasons is the one they are using to stop these epetitions being published on their website?

Here is the list of rejects: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/search? ... e=rejected

[Thinking Aloud]

"Personal issues" probably!

[Jay G]

Why not submit petitions to the ICC?

[Pappa]

Why not submit petitions to the ICC?

Because a signatory member state must initiate proceedings to try somebody. The ICC can't do anything unless that happens.

[Jay G]

Why not submit petitions to the ICC?

Because a signatory member state must initiate proceedings to try somebody. The ICC can't do anything unless that happens.

Does anybody really think HM Government will endorse a criminal prosecution against a former Prime Minister for decisions made while in office executing foreign policy?

[Pappa]

Why not submit petitions to the ICC?

Because a signatory member state must initiate proceedings to try somebody. The ICC can't do anything unless that happens.

Does anybody really think HM Government will endorse a criminal prosecution against a former Prime Minister for decisions made while in office executing foreign policy?

No.

[Pappa]

I came across all the above rejected petitions while I was searching for an "Arrest the Pope for Crimes Against Humanity" petition. I was surprised that none had been started yet so I search for a Tony Blair War Crimes one, and they were all rejected.

I created this petition earlier today:

Arrest the Pope for Crimes Against Humanity

I can't quote the text of the petition because it's nowhere to be seen on their system, but it was clear and to the point, contained no factual errors or hyperbole, etc..

I received this response:

Your e-petition "Arrest the Pope for Crimes Against Humanity" hasn't been accepted.

E-petitions will not be accepted if they:

• contain offensive, joke or nonsense content
• use language which may cause offence, is provocative or extreme in its views
• use wording that is impossible to understand
• include statements that amount to advertisements

If you'd like to submit a new e-petition, please read the site's terms and conditions which explain the rules in detail.

Thanks,

HM Government e-petitions http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/

The response comes from a no-reply email address, and looking into other petitions that have been started to complain about the Government's rejection procedure, I find this response cropping up:

The Government will not enter into correspondence on rejected e-petitions.

What's a guy to do when faced with such open censorship?

[Thinking Aloud]

Your petition was clearly "extreme in its views".

[Pappa]

Also, it seems that while they simply reject petitions calling for the arrest of Tony Blair, they delete those calling for the arrest of the Pope. I surely can't be the only one who's tried to create one.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site:e ... tony+blair = 78 results

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site:e ... rrest+pope = 0 results

[Thinking Aloud]

Did you take screenshots? I predict a lucrative conspiracy website in the offing for you.

[Pappa]

Did you take screenshots? I predict a lucrative conspiracy website in the offing for you.

I will next time.

[Pappa]

I've sent a Freedom of Information request to the Government, asking how many ePetitions have been rejected and/or deleted that called for the Pope to be arrested, and also asking for a breakdown of the reasons each ePetition was rejected.

[PsychoSerenity]

I suspect the whole e-petitions thing was someone's clever idea to give voters the illusion of influence over the government, while never seriously considering acting on things that weren't in their interests anyway. If people kick up a fuss, no doubt they will come up with some excuse for it to be removed altogether as a failed experiment.

I'm in a bit of a cynical mood at the moment.

[Pappa]

I suspect the whole e-petitions thing was someone's clever idea to give voters the illusion of influence over the government...

I'm sure of that.

[Audley Strange]

Yeah, like voting was.