UK Court Sentences Four Pro-Palestinian Activists for 2024 Elbit Factory Raid
Four members of the banned Palestine Action group received prison terms ranging from four years eight months to seven years eight months for criminal damage and grievous bodily harm after a 2024 raid on an Elbit Systems facility in Bristol.
A Woolwich Crown Court judge sentenced four British activists linked to the now-banned Palestine Action group for a 2024 raid on an Elbit Systems factory in Bristol that caused over $1 million in damage. Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Zainab Rajwani were convicted of criminal damage, with Corner also found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm after he struck a police officer with a sledgehammer, fracturing her spine. Corner received the longest term – seven years and eight months – while Kamio and Head were each given five years and Rajwani four years and eight months. All will serve an additional year on parole after release.
The activists, dressed in red boilersuits, damaged computers, drones and other equipment before confronting security guards and police. Prosecutors argued the incident had a “terrorism connection,” a factor the judge cited as aggravating, though he noted the defendants’ prior good character as mitigating. He described the raid as an attempt to “shut down Elbit and end what they regarded as British complicity in Israeli war crimes,” and said it was intended to influence the UK government and intimidate the public for political purposes.
Sgt. Kate Evans, the injured police officer, testified that she continues to recover and has received threatening emails. Approximately 500 protesters gathered outside the court, leading police to arrest 107 supporters. The ruling comes ahead of a High Court decision on the government’s appeal against a February judgment that lifted the ban on Palestine Action, a ban that had been imposed under the 2000 Terrorism Act.
