Palestine Action activists guilty of Elbit Systems site raid

Key Points:

• Four Palestine Action activists—Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, and Fatema Rajwani—were found guilty of criminal damage after breaking into an Elbit Systems factory near Bristol and causing approximately £1 million in damage.
• Samuel Corner was additionally convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm for striking a police officer with a sledgehammer, resulting in a fractured spine, though he was acquitted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
• The activists targeted the factory believing it produced military equipment used by the Israeli Defence Forces, a claim denied by Elbit Systems UK, which stated it does not supply weapons to the Israeli army.
• The defendants, except Corner, addressed the jury directly, asserting that their actions were justified and aimed at saving innocent lives, while police condemned the violence as deliberate and not representative of peaceful protest.
• The verdicts followed over 14 hours of jury deliberation in a retrial after the initial jury failed to reach decisions on all charges; the break-in occurred prior to Palestine Action being banned by the UK government.