Four Palestine Action activists sentenced to up to eight years for raid on UK arms firm

A Woolwich Crown Court judge sentenced four members of the Palestine Action group to prison terms of five to eight years after they were convicted of criminal damage and assault during an August 2024 raid on the Elbit Systems site in Bristol. Judge Jeremy Johnson said the attack on the Israeli weapons manufacturer constituted a “terrorist act” intended to influence the British government and intimidate the company.

The defendants were found guilty of causing serious property damage to the arms facility, with one activist, Samuel Corner, also convicted of striking police officer Kate Evans with a sledgehammer, resulting in a fractured spine. Corner received a sentence of seven years and eight months, while Charlotte Head and Leona Kamio were each sentenced to five years, and Fatema Rajwani received four years and eight months.

Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organization in the UK last July, said the raid aimed to dismantle drones and weaponry it believed were being used in Gaza. The Filton 25 Defence Committee, an NGO, described the activists’ actions as “saving lives” and called the ruling a “serious miscarriage of justice.”

Approximately 500 demonstrators gathered outside the court, and 72 people were arrested for displaying pro-Palestine Action signs. The sentencing occurs ahead of a High Court decision on the government’s appeal against the lifting of a Home Office ban that made membership or support for the group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.