Victory in Palestine Action trial, say families / Acquittals Demolish Lies About Palestine Action

Palestine Action activists cleared of the aggravated burglary of a UK subsidiary of an Israeli defence firm

The families of six Palestine Action activists have hailed a jury’s verdict as a “monumental victory” after they were cleared of the aggravated burglary of a UK subsidiary of an Israeli defence firm. Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, had pleaded not guilty to all charges after the Elbit Systems building near Bristol was targeted on 6 August 2024.

Rajwani, Rogers and Devlin were also acquitted of violent disorder at Wednesday’s hearing. Student Rajwani’s mother Sukaina Rajwani, said: “We’re so grateful that ordinary members of the public, the jury, delivered the verdict and monumental victory for my daughter.”…

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23rjpjxeg4o

Craig Murray: Acquittals Demolish Lies About Palestine Action

Despite the U.K. government taking every possible precaution to ensure that the state got its convictions in this show trial, the jury refused to find that trying to stop genocide is a crime.

As the trial finished at Woolwich Crown Court of the six Palestine Action activists who entered the Filton factory to destroy Israeli killer drones, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Justice Minister David Lammy and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood are left bereft of a single guilty verdict in the case on which they relied heavily to label Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

I could not, on pain of imprisonment, tell you this during the trial. One item produced by the prosecution as evidence was the notebook of the arrested protestor Charlotte Head, on which she had written details from her training session with Palestine Action and of the proposed direct action against Elbit’s drone factory.

The first ten pages of her notes were about the Israeli weapons company Elbit, their footprint in the U.K., their corporate structure and the weapons they manufacture, and the evidence of the use of their weaponry in the genocide in Gaza.

The jury were shown the notebook but were specifically not allowed to see the first ten pages. Throughout the trial anything that referred to the crimes of Elbit, their role in the mass killing and mutilation of women and children, and their cozy relationship with the British government, was excluded from the jury. The judge continually stopped the defence lawyers from asking or saying anything about who Elbit are or why their property was being attacked.

The defendants were not permitted therefore to explain to the jury why they did what they did, which you might have believed was a pretty fundamental right. The jury were additionally in effect instructed by Judge Jeremy Johnson to convict on the least serious charge, that of criminal damage.

But despite the state taking every possible precaution to ensure that the state got its convictions in this show trial, the jury refused to find that trying to stop Genocide is a crime.

This trial was fundamental to the government’s argument that Palestine Action is a terrorist organisation. And the key to that was the accusation that Palestine Action intended from the start harm to people, not just to property. That is why these defendants were all charged with “aggravated burglary”.

Aggravated burglary is an extremely serious charge, carrying a potential life sentence. It is the offence of breaking into a property with the intent to use a weapon. On aggravated burglary, all six defendants were found resoundingly Not Guilty. So the attempt to portray Palestine Action as an organisation involved in violence against persons has fallen flat on its face. Because the jury could see it was stupid and obviously untrue….

https://consortiumnews.com/2026/02/05/craig-murray-acquittals-demolish-lies-about-palestine-action/

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