British judge rules that Palestine Action activists will be sentenced as terrorists

A https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/uk">British judge has ruled that four Palestine Action protesters will be sentenced as terrorists, despite jurors convicting them of criminal charges not connected to terrorism during prosecution.

Last month, jurors convicted Leona Kamio, Samuel Corner, Fatema Rajwani, and Charlotte Head of criminal damage in connection with a raid on an Elbit Systems UK plant near Bristol on 6 August 2024.

Two other activists, Jordan Devlin and Zoe Rogers, were cleared of the charges.

Elbit Systems is a British division of the https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel">Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit, which produces drones and other weapons systems used in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

On Friday, the presiding judge Justice Jeremy Johnson added a “terrorism connection” to their offences, a fact that the 12-panel jury were unaware of when convicting them.

This marks the first time in British legal history that the designatiion has been applied to direct action protesters who were not convicted of terrorist offences or of causing intentional violence.

Johnson said in his ruling that the determination was made on the basis that the defendants caused "serious property damage" with the intention of influencing the UK government and "intimidating a section of the public".

He added that those convicted acted "for the purpose of advancing a political and/or ideological cause".

This is a developing story…