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Britain

Four UK pro-Palestinian activists jailed for violent raid on Israeli defense factory

2026-06-13

[IsraelTimes] Judge hands out years-long sentences as he highlights ‘terrorist connection’ in 2024 attack on Elbit, during which one activist fractured a policewoman’s spine with a sledgehammer

Four British pro-Paleostinian activists were sentenced on Friday to years in prison over a 2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defense firm Elbit that caused more than $1 million in damage, with the judge giving longer terms after determining a "terrorism connection."

Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, were members of the since-banned group Paleostine Action, which organized the assault on the Elbit Systems UK facility in Bristol, in southwest England.

They were convicted of criminal damage at Woolwich Crown Court in May, while Corner, who prosecutors said hit a police officer with a sledgehammer and fractured her spine, was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm. Corner was given the lengthiest jail term of the four.

The conviction followed a retrial, after a different jury in February cleared the six of aggravated burglary but failed to reach verdicts regarding criminal damage and some other charges.

Wearing red boilersuits, the four activists damaged computers, drones and other equipment, before clashing with security guards and police who tried to stop them in the August 2024 raid. The group said their aim was to "dismantle drones and weaponry" they believed would be used to kill people, particularly in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip.

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
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
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 parole after release.

Two more activists accused ot taking part in the raid, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin, were acquitted of criminal damage.

Elbit Systems is a defense technology company with around 20,000 staff and revenues of $2 billion, according to the firm’s website.

"Each defendant agreed to take part in high-level actions, and did so with the shared aim of shutting down Elbit and ending what they regarded as British complicity in Israeli war crimes," Johnson said. "The action was designed to influence the UK government and also to intimidate a section of the public, and was for the purpose of advancing an ideological or political cause."

The injured policewoman, Sgt. Kate Evans, told the court she was still recovering from her injuries and was targeted with nasty emails suggesting she worked for "the Zionist occupation of Britannia."

"The emotional impact of this incident has been profound and ongoing," she said. "I experience disturbed sleep, often waking in a panicked state or after distressing dreams."

About 500 protesters gathered outside the court on Friday in support of the four activists, leading to the arrests of 107 showing support for Paleostine Action, police said.

Friday’s ruling comes just before the High Court is due to rule on Monday on the government’s appeal against the lifting of a ban on Paleostine Action.

The assault on the Bristol factory in 2024 was one of the events that led the government last year to ban Paleostine Action as a terrorist organization, The ban under the 2000 Terrorism Act, which went into force on July 5 last year, made membership of or support for the direct action group a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Since then some 3,000 people have been arrested at rallies and demonstrations.

After Paleostine Action challenged the ban, the High Court in London ruled in February that the decision was "disproportionate," had a "very significant" impact on human rights and should be lifted.

The government has appealed against that ruling, with the judgment due on Monday.

Posted by:trailing wife

#1 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: NN2N1 2026-06-13 04:58

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