Four convicted members of Palestine Action were given lengthy sentences on 12 June for causing criminal damage at a factory operated by Israeli defence firm Elbit.
Judge Jeremy Johnson decided to give longer terms than normal on such a charge because he said there was a “terrorism connection.”
He acknowledged that at the time of the offence – in 2024 – Palestine Action was not a proscribed terrorist organisation but said the offences had a terrorist connection because they involved serious damage to property and were intended to influence British government policy toward Israel, which made them an aggravating factor when sentencing.
The head of Amnesty International UK, Kerry Moscogiuri, said:
“The defendants in this case were sentenced as terrorists because prosecutors want to make an example of them and set a precedent for how direct action protesters could be treated in the future.
“Criminal damage has never been treated as terrorism within the UK justice system before and it is dangerous to treat them as the same thing. We should all be worried about what this means for other individuals taking direct action in protest of a genocide or any other issue.
“The right to protest is one of the most effective tools we have to hold our leaders to account and today is another step in the ongoing crackdown in this country against it.
“It is completely disproportionate to punish protesters for criminal damage as if they were terrorists, a sentence that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The use of terrorism laws against direct action protesters must end.”
Green Party Leader Zack Polanski said it was “gut-wrenching to see four young people jailed for direct action against an arms supplier to Israel” adding that the sentence was a “truly dangerous attack on the right to protest”.
Labour MP John McDonnell said the scale of the sentences was “truly shocking”.
Charlotte Head, 30, and Leona Kamio, 30, were each jailed for five years and Fatema Rajwani, 21, was sentenced to four years and 8 months for criminal damage in relation to a 2024 break-in at the Elbit Systems UK site in Gloucestershire.
Samuel Corner, 23, who was additionally convicted of grievous bodily harm without intent for striking a female police sergeant with a sledgehammer, was sentenced to seven years and eight months.
Each will also spend an additional year on licence and be subject to 15 years of terrorist notification requirements.
They were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court in May 2026 of criminal damage in a retrial of a case in which 6 Palestine Action defendants were previously acquitted of aggravated burglary and the jury could not reach verdicts on other charges.
Pro-Palestinian activists sentenced as terrorists – The Guardian 12 June 2026
Four Palestine Action activists jailed for raid at Israeli defence company – Reuters 12 June 2026
Dangerous move against right to protest – Amnesty International 15 June 2026
Palestine Action activists found guilty in Bristol break-in – AEJ 5 May 2026
