Four UK pro-Palestinian activists jailed for violent raid on Israeli defense factory |
Four British pro-Palestinian activists were sentenced on Friday to years in prison over a 2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defense firm Elbit that caused more than $1 million in damage, with the judge giving longer terms after determining a “terrorism connection.”
Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, were members of the since-banned group Palestine Action, which organized the assault on the Elbit Systems UK facility in Bristol, in southwest England.
They were convicted of criminal damage at Woolwich Crown Court in May, while Corner, who prosecutors said hit a police officer with a sledgehammer and fractured her spine, was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm. Corner was given the lengthiest jail term of the four.
The conviction followed a retrial, after a different jury in February cleared the six of aggravated burglary but failed to reach verdicts regarding criminal damage and some other charges.
Wearing red boilersuits, the four activists damaged computers, drones and other equipment, before clashing with security guards and police who tried to stop them in the August 2024 raid. The group said their aim was to “dismantle drones and weaponry” they believed would be used to kill people, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
Prosecutors said the incident should be treated as having a terrorism connection and the four should be sentenced accordingly with harsher punishments, drawing condemnation from human rights groups and high-profile supporters.
Judge Jeremy Johnson said it was an “aggravating factor that the offending had a terrorist connection,” but........