Four UK pro-Palestinian activists jailed over raid at Israeli firm Elbit
Story by Reuters
(Reuters) — Four British pro-Palestinian
activists were sentenced to a total of more than 20 years over a
2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defence firm Elbit
which caused more than £1 million of damage, with the judge
giving longer terms after determining there was a “terrorism
connection.”
Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and
Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, were members of the banned group
Palestine Action, which organised the assault on the Elbit
Systems UK facility in Bristol, southwest England, two years
ago.
They were convicted of criminal damage at Woolwich Crown
Court in May while Corner, who prosecutors said hit a police
officer with a sledgehammer, was found guilty of inflicting
grievous bodily harm. They had previously been acquitted of
aggravated burglary.
Prosecutors said the incident should be treated as having a
terrorism connection and the four should be sentenced
accordingly with harsher punishments, drawing condemnation from
human rights groups and high-profile supporters.
Judge Jeremy Johnson said it was an “aggravating factor that
the offending had a terrorist connection,” but added that their
previous good character was a substantial mitigating factor.
He sentenced Corner to seven years and eight months in total
for the two convictions, after finding he used “extreme and
gratuitous” force and that his autism didn’t explain why he
swung the sledgehammer.
Kamio and Head were sentenced to five years while Rajwani
was sentenced to four years and eight months for the criminal
damage. They will all spend another year on licence after
release.
Lawyers for activists say terror link is baseless
The raid took place around 10 months into Israel’s
bombardment of Gaza in response to a deadly attack by Hamas-led
fighters in October 2023.
Palestine Action was later proscribed under terrorism law, a
decision which was ruled unlawful by London’s High Court though
the group remains banned pending a government appeal, with a
ruling due on Monday.
Judge Johnson said that while at the time of the offence
Palestine Action was not a proscribed terrorist organisation,
the offences had a terrorist connection because it involved
serious damage to property and was intended to influence British
government policy toward Israel, and said it was an aggravating
factor when sentencing.
In impact statements given to the court, Elbit said the
company had received almost £1.2 million from insurers to cover
the damage, while the incident had had a lasting impact on staff
safety and wellbeing.
Specialist military drone equipment, IT systems and
computers were among the items damaged in the incident.
The activists said they were simply motivated to destroy
weapons to stop what they described as Israel’s “genocide” in
Gaza and disavowed violence against people.
Lawyers for the jailed activists said there was no basis for
treating their convictions as terrorism, saying they had not
been charged with any terrorist offence.
About 100 public figures, including author Sally Rooney,
activist Greta Thunberg and actor Steve Coogan, have signed an
open letter saying that if the four received harsher sentences
because the offence was treated as terrorism, it would be a
miscarriage of justice.
“Criminal damage has never been treated as terrorism within
the UK justice system before and it is dangerous to treat them
as the same thing,” said Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International
UK’s chief executive.
“It is completely disproportionate to punish protesters for
criminal damage as if they were terrorists, a sentence that will
stay with them for the rest of their lives.”
Outside court, police said they had arrested over 100 people
for showing support for Palestine Action.
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