A FEATURE-length documentary on the landmark case of the ‘Bradford 12’ is to be made.

Back in 1981, the discovery of a cache of petrol bombs in Little Horton made front page headlines in the Telegraph & Argus.

Days later, 12 Asian men appeared before Bradford magistrates charged with conspiring to cause damage or destruction by fire or explosion with intent to endanger life and with conspiring to cause grievous bodily harm.

The men pleaded not guilty, claiming they were acting in self-defence, to protect their community against a march they believed was planned by British fascists in Bradford. The petrol bombs weren’t used, as the march didn’t take place.

What followed was a high-profile campaign and a series of demonstrations to free the men, who became known as the ‘Bradford 12’. They were eventually acquitted, after what was called by some journalists and commentators ‘the trial of the decade’, which took place at Leeds Crown Court in May 1982.

At their trial the men said they were forced to defend themselves against a feared skinhead fascist march because, in the previous five years, the police had failed to respond adequately to racist attacks.

The film, from Migrant Media, and with support from the BFI Doc Society Fund, will tell their story.

It will be a “journey through the case, from the victories against the old racism and fascism of the 80s to the resistance against the new racism of Islamophobia of the present.”

Tariq Memood, writer and one of the Bradford 12 defendants, said: “Without people organising on the street, refusing to allow our criminalisation, we would have become just another story of injustice and this film will be which is as much about this struggle, as it will be about an era which created us.”

Artist Mukhtar Dar added:“The struggle was in itself a creative process, in our most inspired moments we imaged a world free of oppression and exploitation, and as we went about selflessly fighting the good fight, we created a culture of resistance."

Filmmaker Ken Fero said the film “has been a long time coming, allowing for a depth of reflection”.

He added: “It will be made collectively, with a strong political direction and follow the radical path of our previous multi-awarding features Injustice (2001) and Ultraviolence (2020) that examined the struggles for justice by the families of predominantly Black people killed by police in the UK.”