Liberty (advocacy group) activist group, and Paedophile Action for Liberation became affiliated to the pressure group. Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of Liberty, issued an apology about the links between the NCCL and the PIE. In December 2013, she said: "It is a source of continuing disgust and horror that even the NCCL had to expel paedophiles from its ranks in 1983 after infiltration at some point in the 70s." Gay rights and censorship NCCL acted for the owners of "Gay's the Word" bookshop, whose stock was confiscated by Customs officers in 1984. All charges were dropped in 1986. Miners' strike During the
Abu Humam al-Shami Atiyah Abd al-Rahman and in 2007 was arrested and imprisoned in Lebanon for five years. During this time he was held in the infamous Roumieh Prison. He was released from prison in Lebanon in 2012 and immediately traveled to Syria to participate in the Syrian Civil War. He joined al-Nusra Front and became the group's overall military chief. In August 2016, it was reported on social media that al-Shami informed Nusra in letter he wouldn't join Jabhat Fateh al Sham. In 2014, al-Nusra was engaged in hostilities with the break away al-Qaeda faction, ISIL. Al-Shami was said to have spearheaded