Four Palestine Action activists jailed over raid on Israeli-linked defence firm
Four Palestine Action activists have been jailed after raiding an Israeli-linked private defence company.
Samuel Corner, 23, was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison, including on the count of grievous bodily harm and criminal damage. He will be eligible for parole after seven years and eight months.
Charlotte Head, 30, and Leona Kamio, 30, were each jailed for six years less 45 days for causing criminal damage. The pair will be eligible for parole after four years and 320 days.
Head was also disqualified from driving for one year because she was driving the prison van that the group used as a “battering ram” to get inside the Elbit Systems UK factory.
Fatema Rajwani, 21, was jailed for five years and eight months less 45 days for causing criminal damage.
She will be eligible for parole after four years and 200 days.
Justice Johnson said he took into account that Rajwani was only 20 at the time of the attack.
He also considered the impact of several mental health issues and disorder diagnoses for Head, Kamio and Rajwani as making custody more difficult for them.
They were not ordered to pay compensation, but Justice Johnson said the damaged company and the injured police officer could bring legal proceedings to seek compensation.
Johnson also said the attack meets the legal definition of a “terrorist connection”, one of the key questions of the trial.
The group caused £1m worth of damage to the Elbit Systems UK factory in Bristol in the early hours of August 6, 2024, in protest over the company’s ties to conflict in the Middle East.
A police officer was injured and left with a fractured spine after Corner attacked her with a sledgehammer.
Around 500 protesters had gathered outside Woolwich Crown Court before the ruling in support of the defendants and Palestine Action.
The Metropolitan Police said 107 people were arrested for supporting Palestine Action at the protest.
