UK judge sentences Pro‑Palestine activists as 'terrorists' over arms‑factory damage
Judge Jeremy Johnson at Woolwich Crown Court sentenced four Palestine Action members, Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, and Fatema Rajwani, to prison for damaging an Israeli arms factory and related offences. He applied a 'terrorism connection' provision that upgraded their punishment, imposing prison terms ranging from four to eight years and tougher conditions than standard criminal damage penalties. The court said the actions were 'designed to intimidate the UK government and a section of the public', and the ruling marks the first time criminal damage convictions have been classified as terrorism in the UK. The decision broadens the scope of terrorism sentencing to include non-violent property damage, a precedent that could reshape prosecutions of protest groups and influence whether Palestine Action is proscribed.
🇬🇧 “A London judge sentenced 4 Palestine Action activists to several years in prison for acting as ‘terrorists’ when they raided an Israeli defense factory and smashed equipment to disrupt production of weapons they feared would kill people in Gaza...” www.commondreams.org/news/palesti...
baja-hacker.bsky.social30Sabotaging weapons is the literal opposite of terrorism
Dr Sally18Except it’s not terrorism is it🤷♀️
Aviendha69 🦋🍁 🇨🇦 | ᑐ ∪ ∩ ⊂12looks like self-defense to me. but the English sure do love their genocides. lucrative business.
Tom From Minneapolis10That judge needs to look up the definition of terrorism because this ain't it
Brett8Genocide is fine. Having a problem with genocide gets you prison time. And we're all supposed to pretend this makes sense, even though it's blatant proof our politicians and courts are corrupted.
Sheriff of Nothing2He ruled that there appeared to be a terrorist connection to the offences, though the protest had occurred before Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation. He ruled that the jury could not be told of this finding…
Today a judge ruled that four Palestine Action activists should be sentenced as terrorists, despite the jury that heard their trial thinking they were on trial for lesser charges relating to criminal damage. This is unprecedented. Anandita Abraham reports for the Nerve.
Helen harrison (NOT the MP)7Disgusting...this was peaceful protest.. and yet Farage is allowed to whip up hatred with the results as seen in southampton...this country has gone mad since Brexit... #ToriesGone707 #HopeNotHate #RejoinEU #NeverVoteReform
Richard Blogger3A sledge hammer welding thug fractures the spine of a police officer and that's not serious? We have one teir justice, and two teir "journalism"
Have been very critical of the Palestine Action proscription and remain so, but not keen on the way people have been skirting around the reason for one of the recent convictions
Julianna 💎51Doing it for a good cause does not, in fact, give you a get out of jail free card for doing harm to another person
Wrath of God Bot20My conclusion is that if being jailed for 7 years and 8 months for attacking someone with a sledgehammer is an unusually harsh sentence perhaps the issue here is we do not sentence people harshly enough who attack people with sledgehammers
DBurx12Indeed, where individuals have done vandalism or criminal damage or assault, they should be punished. It's the proscription & restraint on speech and protest that are outrageous. It's the blurring of the distinction, either way, that is bad.
Left Outside6Lots of people think you're allowed to attack women with sledgehammers if you do it wokely.
James Austin3I do not believe they were saving lives either, frankly.
