Four Palestine Action activists jailed over Bristol Elbit factory raid

Four members of the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action were sentenced in Britain on Friday to lengthy prison terms for breaking into an Elbit Systems factory in Bristol in 2024, causing more than $1 million in damage and fighting police. Around 500 supporters gathered outside the London court, and police arrested 107 people for showing support for the group, which is still a criminal offence in Britain even though its formal terrorist designation was overturned earlier this year.

The defendants, convicted last month after a retrial of criminal damage, were Samuel Corner, 23, Charlotte Head, 30, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatima Rajwani, 21. Corner, the only one also convicted of causing grievous bodily harm, received eight years and eight months in prison, with parole eligibility after seven years and eight months. Head and Kamio each received terms of six years minus 45 days, with parole after four years and 320 days. Rajwani was sentenced to five years and eight months minus 45 days, with parole after four years and 200 days.

Head was also banned from driving for one year because she drove the prison van used by the group to enter the plant on 6 August 2024. Sky News said Head and Rajwani cried after the ruling. The judge said he considered Rajwani’s age, she was 20 at the time, and mental-health issues and diagnoses affecting Head, Kamio and Rajwani, though he said the prison terms were still justified.

The court heard that Corner struck police officer Kate Evans with a 5-kilogram hammer, breaking her spine. Evans read a statement in court and said she had been forced to give up her sergeant’s rank because of the lasting effects of the attack. The judge said the raid was carefully planned and ruled again that the offences involved a “terrorist connection,” an aggravating factor under criminal law.

Police said the protest outside the court included drums, Palestinian flags and signs reading, among other slogans, “Direct action saves lives” and “Saving lives is not terrorism.” Former Labour chancellor John McDonnell also joined the demonstration. The factory belongs to Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, which said after the raid that it does not produce systems for Israeli security forces and supplies equipment to the British army. The Bristol site had already been the target of repeated Palestine Action protests and was announced for closure in September, which the company said was for business reasons only.