Palestine Action activists to appeal terror sentencing
Four Palestine Action activists will appeal their sentencing by a UK court as terrorists for their role in a raid on an Israeli-owned arms factory.
In May, Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Head, Fatema Rajwani, Leona ‘Ellie’ Kamio and Samuel Corner were convicted by jurors of criminal damage charges for smashing up Israeli weapons - including quadcopter drones - in an Elbit Systems factory near Bristol in August 2024.
In an unprecedented ruling in June, the presiding judge, Justice Johnson, determined that their offences carried a "terrorist connection", handing them sentences ranging from four to eight years.
They became the first direct action protesters convicted of criminal charges to be sentenced as terrorists.
Throughout the trial, they were barred from telling jurors of the potential terror designation and from speaking about their motivations for damaging weapons intended for use by Israel in Gaza.
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Simon Natas, partner at ITN Solicitors who represents the four prisoners, confirmed at a press conference on Thursday that they will appeal their sentences as "manifestly excessive", arguing that Johnson wrongfully applied the terrorist connection to their case.
Behind bars
Sukaina Rajwani, the mother of the youngest defendant, 22-year-old Fatema Rajwani, told a press conference on Thursday that her daughter had already spent "10 percent of her life behind bars".
Rajwani, Kamio, Head and Corner are now locked up as high-risk prisoners. Head, Kamio and Rajwani have been separated from one another and moved to different prisons.
Rajwani said that, as a terrorist prisoner, her daughter will only be permitted contact with 20 individuals who have to be vetted.
"This will cut her off from most of her family, friends and support network," she said.
Rajwani told Middle East Eye that the vetting process for her daughter’s contact list is already under way.
"She had to pick 20 people," she added. "These 20 people have a weight to bear. They have to be available; they have to be committed. They have to be happy to be screened so diligently by the government."
Rajwani said that her daughter had just been moved from HMP Bronzefield, where she was held with Head and Kamio, to HMP Send.
Emma Kamio, defendant Charlotte Kamio's mother, told reporters that her daughter was 28 years old "when she took action as a Forest nursery school teacher", but that "she will be 50 years old before state harassment ends for her".
The terror connection not only lengthens their sentences but will mean they will be subject to stringent restrictions for decades after release.
She said the designation will also bar her daughter from working with children.
A very high bar
The appeal argues that Johnson wrongfully relied on a financial report commissioned by the insurers of Elbit systems as evidence that the defendants had caused "serious harm".
Johnson said in his ruling that the determination was made on the basis that the defendants caused "serious property damage", with the intention of influencing the UK government and "intimidating a section of the public".
The Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism as "the use or threat, for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause, of action which involves serious violence against any person or property".
Natas said the legislation provides little clarity on what constitutes "serious damage", adding that there is also scarce case law as guidance for making the determination.
'[My daughter] will be 50 years old before state harassment ends for her'
- Emma Kamio, Leona ‘Ellie’ Kamio's mother
When introducing the legislation in 1999, then-Home Secretary Jack Straw said that an act of terror would have to involve "the threat of use of serious violence" and be designed to create a "climate of extreme fear".
"That sets the bar for what terrorism is very, very high," Natas said.
Natas, who has worked on protest cases for over 15 years, said : "It would have been unthinkable to anyone involved in those cases that they would ever have been considered there being a terrorist connection".
The activists were cleared of all violence-related allegations, including aggravated burglary and violent disorder. Johnson’s finding of a terrorist connection relates only to the criminal damage charge they were convicted of. Corner’s grievous bodily harm conviction was not sentenced as having a terror connection.
"We also say there was no intention to influence the government," Natas told reporters. "The intention here was simply to damage weapons to stop them being sent to Israel."
The appeal also argues that the "terrorist connection scheme" is incompatible with Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which stipulates that a "heavier penalty" cannot be imposed than "the one that was applicable at the time the criminal offence was committed".
It also contends that Johnson’s finding contravenes Article 6 of the ECHR, which enshrines the right to a fair and impartial trial.
The defendants’ legal team is awaiting permission to appeal and a hearing date to be confirmed.
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