A British court acquitted six activists from the Palestine Action movement of aggravated burglary over a break-in at the premises of the Israeli defense industries company Elbit Systems in the United Kingdom.
The activists faced accusations of breaking into the company’s site in Bristol, western England, in August 2024, and causing damage whose value exceeded £1 million.
Palestine Action is a direct action movement. Its operations target “corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex and seeks to make it impossible for these companies to profit from the oppression of Palestinians,” and it affirms its commitment “to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.”
Charges were brought against Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, Fatema Rajwani, Zoe Rogers, and Jordan Devlin, including threats of unlawful violence, using sledgehammers as weapons, and aggravated burglary, charges that carry penalties of up to life imprisonment.
The activists’ trial began in November last year, and the defense said they had not expected security guards to enter the factory and were “completely out of their depth.”
The jury deliberated for more than 36 hours, and did not reach verdicts on criminal damage charges against any of the six defendants, despite five of the activists admitting to the jury that they entered the factory without permission and damaged company equipment, including computers and drones.
They said there was a “lawful excuse” for what they did, in that their actions aimed to protect lives in Gaza by disrupting Elbit Systems’ weapons supply chains.
After the acquittal, the activists hugged one another as dozens of supporters cheered them.
Five of the six were released on bail, pending a possible retrial on the charges where the jury reached partial or no verdicts. The sixth defendant, Samuel Corner, was remanded in custody. Their next hearing is expected on Feb. 18.
British lawmakers banned the Palestine Action movement under the counterterrorism law in July last year after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and caused damage to aircraft as part of a series of protests.
At the time, the movement said two of its members entered RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, poured paint into the engines of a Voyager aircraft, and caused additional damage using iron rods.
The pro-Palestine organization accuses the British government of complicity in war crimes carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
After the ban decision, digital rights groups, journalists, and academics from the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States expressed deep concern about the repercussions of the British government’s decision to designate the movement a terrorist organization under the Terrorism Act 2000, warning of the decision’s impact on freedom of expression and lawful digital activism in the country.
