UK: Six Palestine Action activists stand trial over Elbit Systems break-in

Six defendants appeared in a UK court on Monday to stand trial on charges in connection with a Palestine Action raid on an Israeli-owned arms factory. 

Defendants Charlotte Head, 29, Jordan Devlin, 31, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, Samuel Corner, 23, and Leona Kamio, 30, face charges of criminal damage in connection with a break-in to a factory owned by Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems near Bristol in August 2024.

Corner additionally faces a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent for allegedly striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.

Ahead of the hearings, which will take place at London’s Woolwich Crown Court, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced it was dropping a charge of violent disorder against three of the defendants.

Devlin, Rajwani, Rogers, Kamio and Head were granted bail in February after spending up to 18 months in prison, which is in excess of the UK’s standard pre-trial custody time limit of six months.

Corner remains in custody.

'Unlawful' ban

The hearing comes weeks after the High Court found the UK government’s proscription of the direction action group to be “disproportionate” and “unlawful”.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was subsequently granted permission to appeal the decision, which will be heard on 28 and 29 April.

The presiding judge, Mr Justice Johnson, told jurors that they should not be “distracted by any of that,” noting that the allegations faced by the defendants predate the government’s ban.

He added that they must not hold the group’s proscription “against the defendants in any way”.

He further instructed jurors that their views on Israel’s genocide in Gaza were irrelevant to the case and that it was “vitally important that you judge the case on the evidence”.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.