Palestine Action activists defeat Starmer regime’s attempt to criminalise them (again)

Three anti-genocide activists have again been found not guilty of violent disorder at an Israeli weapons factory in Bristol.

Palestine Action activists, Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner and Leona Kamio, were all acquitted at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, 13 April.

The three had already defeated the charges when a jury refused to convict them. However, the Starmer regime ordered a retrial and was ‘secretly’ charging them with terrorism by linking the ordinary criminal charges to supposed terrorism, without informing the jury, to allow for longer sentences.

Despite home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s clear intent to make a political example of the trio, the Crown Prosecution Service ultimately informed the court it had no evidence to offer against them.

Judge Justice Johnson formally acquitted the three. Had they been convicted, they could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

The activists are still facing charges for criminal damage. Corner is also charged with grievous bodily harm — in spite of video evidence refuting the claims of police and the Elbit arms maker’s security guards during the first trial.

Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin also face criminal damage charges.

The prosecution is expected to present its case on Wednesday and a jury has been selected.

Palestine Action says its main target is Elbit Systems

Shamefully, Judge Johnson told jurors to ignore any feelings they have about Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the fact that the High Court has ruled the government’s ‘terrorism’ ban on Palestine Action to be unlawful.

He said:

You will appreciate it is vitally important that you judge the case only on the evidence, not on the basis of what the defendants, or you, the home secretary, the government or anyone else thinks about Palestine Action and events in the Middle East.

He then told jurors that whether they think the defendants “had some moral justification is completely beside the point” before reminding them that their views on the war in Gaza are “completely irrelevant to your job in this case”.

In fact, this is untrue. Juries have an absolute legal right to judge according to their conscience, but both the state and the courts now routinely try to obscure this and even to punish those who remind jurors of their right.

The judge also told the jury to ignore any protesters outside court. Supporters gathered with signs and Palestinian flags during the hearing.

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