Six British pro-Palestinian activists have been acquitted of aggravated burglary relating to a 2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defence firm Elbit, with a jury unable to reach verdicts on charges of criminal damage.
Prosecutors at London’s Woolwich Crown Court said on Wednesday the six defendants, whose trial began in November, were members of the now-banned group Palestine Action, which organised the assault on the Elbit Systems United Kingdom facility in Bristol, southwest England, in August last year.
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The six – Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31 – all denied charges of aggravated burglary, violent disorder and criminal damage.
Rajwani, Rogers and Devlin were found not guilty of violent disorder by a jury at the Woolwich Crown Court, while it could not reach verdicts on the same charge against Head, Corner and Kamio after more than 36 and a half hours of deliberation.
The jury was also unable to reach verdicts for charges of criminal damage against all six defendants, and was also unable to reach a verdict on a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent against Corner, for allegedly hitting a female police sergeant with a sledgehammer.
While the defendants have been acquitted on the aggravated burglary charge, they could face a retrial on the counts on which verdicts could not be reached.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer said that following the decisions, her team wanted time to consider whether to seek a retrial on those counts.
Prosecutors had told a jury at the start of the trial that the six were part of a larger group that used a former prison van to smash into the factory early one morning, with some using fireworks and smoke grenades to keep away security guards.
Others had caused “extensive damage” in the plant by smashing equipment with crowbars and hammers and spraying paint, Heer had said.
Cheers amid acquittal
The six defendants hugged in the dock and waved to supporters in the public gallery, who cheered loudly after the judge had left the court.
A press statement from a group of activists supporting the six under trial noted that the jury, which deliberated over the case for eight days, did not convict a single defendant of any offence, including violent disorder and criminal damage, despite several defendants admitting they used sledgehammers to destroy drones inside the facility.
The prosecution said the group entered the site last August with the “intent to use violence”; however, the “jury agreed with the defence argument that the defendants’ sole intention was to use the items, including sledgehammers, as tools to disarm Israeli weapons to “prevent violence”, the statement added.
The detainees, who are just some of a total of 24 activists linked to the group who have been arrested at different times, have been in custody for more than a year without trial, breaking the UK’s six-month pre-trial detention limit.
Their prosecution, which has drawn international scrutiny, has become a test case for how the British government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer is dealing with pro-Palestine demonstrations, with many UK residents and rights groups accusing authorities of heavy-handedness.
UK government snubs Elbit for contract
The ban on Palestine Action has been challenged in court. The group describes itself as “a pro-Palestinian organisation which disrupts the arms industry in the United Kingdom with direct action”.
The group has accused the UK government of complicity in Israeli war crimes in Gaza and says it is “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.
Palestine Action’s activities have primarily targeted Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence firm with 16 sites in the UK, seeking to shut down the company’s operations.
The company describes its drones, which have been used extensively in Gaza to deadly effect, as “the backbone” of Israel’s fleet.
Prisoners for Palestine, a group that supports the families of prisoners allegedly linked to the now-banned Palestine Action, claims the campaigning efforts of activists to pressure the government – including some who were engaging in lengthy hunger strikes until last month – have resulted in some wins.
Chief among them, they claim, is the British government’s recent decision, as reported by The Times newspaper, against awarding Elbit Systems UK a 2-billion-pound ($2.68bn) army training contract.
The contract is instead reportedly going to Raytheon UK, the subsidiary of the US defence firm – which also has several deals with the Israeli military.