Filton 24’s Jordan Devlin: ‘we did the right thing’

Jordan Devlin was part of the ‘Filton 24’ Palestine Action activists who damaged Israeli arms-maker Elbit’s factory in Bristol. Devlin was — repeatedly — acquitted despite the stubborn efforts of the Starmer regime to criminalise him and his comrades as terrorists. Now he has spoken out and says that he and his comrades against genocide “did the right thing”.

The Starmer regime insisted on bringing Devlin and others to a re-trial despite a jury’s rejection of its charges. Earlier this week a jury — whom the judge had banned from knowing they could acquit according to conscience — convicted four of the group of criminal damage. The government intends to try to have them sentenced as terrorists despite there being no terror charges. It had already held them for up to over 18 months without trial.

Filton 24 — No regrets

Police and security guards had been allowed to change their claims after video evidence proved them to be untrue. Elbit was allowed to retain video evidence, away from police evidence control, for a year.

Devlin, a 31-year-old Irishman, said that smashing up the equipment used to make Israel’s murder drones had felt “fantastic” and that he had no regrets:

I don’t regret signing up to this action because I’m very acutely aware I was quantifiably saving lives. We know we did the right thing by signing up to this.

He also pointed to the absence of CCTV footage to substantiate the police’s claims. Devlin said he didn’t understand the verdicts against his teammates and criticised the judge’s needless decision to re-imprison them to await sentencing after their prolonged incarceration before trial.

I am concerned for the state of British justice, for remanding three young women who’ve already served close to the upper limit of criminal damage [for a first-time offender], when the prosecution haven’t even suggested to remand them.

The same judge had directed the jury to ignore “feelings of emotions and sympathy to those who support one side [in the Middle East]”. He had issued an order barring the defendants and their lawyers from reminding jurors of their legal right to ignore his direction and acquit regardless. Devlin said:

It’s just such a messed-up event that’s going on in this world and we’re just allowing it to happen but he’s instructed that the jury put any emotions aside, any sort of feelings that they have negatively or positively about what they call ‘the war in Gaza’, the fucking genocide in Gaza.

British complicity in this is not just any sort of throwaway statement or a metaphor but really is bolstering this thing.

The Starmer government has been desperate for convictions to shore up its unlawful decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist group when the government’s security experts had said it was unmerited. Starmer is waging war on UK citizens’ free speech and protest rights in order to protect Israel from resistance and scrutiny. His regime is trying to overturn the High Court’s decision that the ban is unlawful. Government documents show Starmer used anti-terror laws in order to avoid human rights hurdles.

Featured image via The Bristol Cable