London judge sentences Palestine Action activists for raid at Israeli defense factory

LONDON (AP) — A London judge sentenced four Palestine Action activists to several years in prison Friday for acting as terrorists when they raided an Israeli defense factory in the U.K. and smashed equipment with the intent of disrupting production of weapons they feared would kill people in Gaza.

The break-in at Elbit Systems caused 1.2 million pounds ($1.6 million) in damage and led to a clash with security guards and law enforcement that left a police officer with broken back.

Justice Jeremy Johnson ruled that the crime went beyond the criminal damage convictions of the four because they aimed to stop the defense company from operating or force the British government to stop its production, which he said gave the crime a “terrorist connection."

“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 U.K. government and also to intimidate a section of the public, and was for the purpose of advancing an ideological or political cause.”

Samuel Corner, 23, was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison. Charlotte Head and Leona Kamio, both 30, were sentenced to five years in prison and Fatema Rajwani, 21, was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.

The assault on the Bristol factory in 2024 was one of the events that led the government last year to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, which led to the arrests of more than 1,600 people protesting in support of the group between July and September last year, according to the latest figures from the Home Office.

London’s High Court ruled that the decision to proscribe the group was unlawful, but has kept the ban in place pending an appeals court ruling due Monday.

As the sentencing was underway in Woolwich Crown Court, more than 100 Palestine Action protesters were arrested outside the courthouse in southeast London.

The four defendants were convicted of criminal damage in May.

Head crashed a van through the gates of the Elbit Systems factory on Aug. 6, 2024 and the four activists, dressed in red jumpsuits, used sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy equipment with the aim of dismantling production of drones they believed would be used to kill people in the Middle East.

In the confrontation with security and law enforcement, Corner struck police Sgt. Kate Evans twice in the back with a 7-pound (3.2 kilogram) sledgehammer, fracturing her spine. He was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Evans told the court she is still recovering from her injuries and was targeted with nasty emails suggesting she worked for “the Zionist occupation of Britain.”

“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.”

Johnson's ruling that the crime was terror-related means each convict must serve at least two thirds of their sentences and will need Parole Board approval to be released.

Amnesty International said that treating criminal damage as terrorism set a dangerous precedent.

“Today’s sentencing hearing risks marking a new low in the ongoing crackdown against protest across the U.K.,” Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty’s U.K. chief executive said in a statement. “It is completely disproportionate to do so because the offense occurred at a protest.”

The convictions followed a previous trial in which jurors acquitted six defendants of aggravated burglary and violent disorder but could not reach verdicts on criminal damage charges. The two other defendants were acquitted at the retrial.