Four Palestine Action activists jailed in UK terrorism case
A London court imposed prison terms of nearly five to almost eight years over a 2024 raid on an Elbit Systems site in Bristol.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
A London court has sentenced four Palestine Action activists to prison terms after a judge treated their raid on an Israeli arms company’s site as a terrorist act, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. The case matters because it comes as the UK’s ban on Palestine Action remains under court challenge and has already led to thousands of arrests, according to the reports.
Judge Jeremy Johnson handed down the sentences at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, giving the four defendants terms ranging from four years and eight months to seven years and eight months, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. The case centred on an August 2024 action at an Elbit Systems facility in Bristol.
According to Al Jazeera and AFP, Johnson said the raid had a “terrorism connection” because it involved serious damage to Israeli weapons and was intended to pressure the British government and intimidate Elbit Systems, described in the reports as Israel’s largest weapons maker.
Four of the six activists tried in the case were convicted last month of criminal damage, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. One defendant was also convicted of hitting a police officer with a sledgehammer.
The activists said they wanted to “dismantle drones and weaponry” that they believed would be used against people in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera and AFP.
Sentences handed down
Johnson sentenced 23-year-old Samuel Corner to seven years and eight months in prison, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. Corner, a former Oxford student, was convicted of striking police officer Kate Evans twice in the back with a seven-pound sledgehammer, causing a fractured spine.
The judge told Corner he had used “extreme and gratuitous force against a vulnerable police officer acting in the course of her duties,” according to Al Jazeera and AFP.
Charlotte Head, 30, received a five-year sentence after crashing a van through the site’s gates, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. Leona Kamio, also 30, was given the same term, while Fatema Rajwani was sentenced to four years and eight months.
The Filton 25 Defence Committee, an NGO supporting the defendants, rejected the terrorism finding and said the ruling would be appealed, according to Al Jazeera and AFP. The group said the four had destroyed more than 40 Israeli weapons, including drones, and described the case as a miscarriage of justice.
Protests and wider legal fight
Supporters of the defendants have gathered outside Woolwich Crown Court during the trial and sentencing, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. About 500 protesters were outside the court on Friday, and police arrested 72 people for holding signs supporting Palestine Action, according to the reports.
Palestine Action was formally proscribed in the UK as a terrorist organisation in July 2025, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. The ban, made under the 2000 Terrorism Act and effective from July 5, made membership of or support for the group a criminal offence carrying a possible sentence of up to 14 years in prison.
Since the ban took effect, about 3,000 people have been arrested at rallies and demonstrations, according to Al Jazeera and AFP.
Friday’s sentencing came shortly before the High Court was expected to rule on the government’s appeal against the lifting of the Home Office ban on Palestine Action, Al Jazeera and AFP reported.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.