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On Tuesday, a London court convicted four of six Palestine Action activists of criminal damage for their break-in of an Elbit Systems factory in August 2024.

The four activists — Samuel Corner, 23, Charlotte Head, 29, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21 — were found guilty of smashing drones and computers at the Israeli defense firm’s U.K. site in an attempt to shut the factory down. Samuel Corner was additionally found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm, without intent, for striking a police officer with a sledgehammer after the activists were attacked by security guards and police. The legal proceedings have lasted some 21 months, with the young activists spending the majority of that time in jail.

Near the end of the trial, the activists dismissed their defense lawyers and delivered their own closing speeches.

In her closing speech, Charlotte Head explained that she joined Palestine Action “after months of campaigning and pleading and asking those in power to stop abetting Israel and housing companies like Elbit,” to no avail, and that Palestine Action “has been trying to end British complicity in war crimes since 2020,” permanently shutting down four Elbit sites through its activism.

Tanzanian-born Fatema Rajwani said in her closing remarks that she had disarmed Elbit’s drones “because they were going to kill children,” and that she was “sick of waiting for the........

© Truthout