Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani are appealing sentences handed down for breaking into an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, in 2024. All four were convicted of criminal damage but sentenced under terrorism laws, making them the first protesters in Britain to receive such sentences without being charged with a terrorism offence.
The judge said the incident had the "appearance" of a terrorism connection because the property damage was intended to influence the government and advance a political cause. Corner received seven years and eight months after also being found to have caused grievous bodily harm without intent when he struck a police officer with a sledgehammer; Head and Kamio received five years each, while Rajwani received four years and eight months.
The appeal rests on three grounds, according to Simon Natas of ITN Solicitors, representing the four. Lawyers will argue that the damage did not meet the threshold for terrorism, that the defendants sought to damage weapons usable by Israel rather than influence the government, and that the definition of serious property damage in the Terrorism Act is too vague.
Natas said: "The only way you can determine what serious means is by going back to what was said during the Terrorism Act. It had to be designed to create a climate of extreme fear and undermine the foundations of government."
Seven other Palestine Action members face terrorism convictions over an incident in March 2025 when they allegedly broke into and spray-painted US President Donald Trump's golf course with the phrase "Gaza Not 4Sale". An indictment lodged with the High Court of the Judiciary in Glasgow states their offence was aggravated by a "terrorist connection" under Section 31 of the Counter Terrorism Act 2009.
