UK jails Palestine Action activists or Israeli firm raid

London: A UK judge on Friday jailed four activists from the Palestine Action group for raiding an Israeli defence firm and causing over a million pounds in damage in “a terrorist act”.

Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani had been found guilty last month of destroying equipment belonging to an Elbit Systems site in the southwestern city of Bristol with sledgehammers and crowbars.

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.

Corner, 23, hit police officer Kate Evans twice on the back with a seven pound sledgehammer, leaving her with a fractured spine, Woolwich Crown Court in London was told.

The group said their aim was to “dismantle drones and weaponry” they believed would be used to kill people, particularly in the Gaza Strip.

But ruling that the raid had been “an act of terrorism”, judge Jeremy Johnson jailed Corner for seven years and eight months.

He told the former Oxford student that he had used “extreme and gratuitous force against a vulnerable police officer acting in the course of her duties”.

Head, 30, who crashed a van through the gates of the site, was sentenced to five years, along with Kamio, also aged 30.

Rajwani, who like Head broke down in tears during the sentencing, was given a prison term of four years and eight months.

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

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

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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 Palestine Action.

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 offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

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

After Palestine 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.