Four members of the Palestine Action campaign are set to be sentenced in the United Kingdom on Friday, with the possibility that the judge will classify their offences as having a “terrorist connection,” despite the jury only convicting them of criminal damage.
Palestine Action was officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government in July 2025.
In August 2024, six activists were tried at Woolwich Crown Court for damaging a factory in Filton, Bristol, owned by Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems. Four defendants—Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Zainab Rajwani—were found guilty of criminal damage, and Corner was also convicted of striking a police officer with a sledgehammer, causing grievous bodily harm. Two others, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin, were acquitted.
What is Palestine Action?
Founded in July 2020, Palestine Action describes itself as a movement “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.” The group employs disruptive tactics to target companies it says enable Israel’s military actions, including Elbit Systems, Leonardo, Thales and Teledyne. Activists have previously focused on British facilities linked to these firms.
Parliament voted to proscribe the organization on 2 July 2025, placing it in the same legal category as groups such as al‑Qaeda and ISIL. Critics argued the ban was disproportionate, noting that while the activists caused property damage, they had not engaged in violent acts that meet the legal definition of terrorism.
What were they convicted of?
The Filton raid resulted in around £1 million in damage to Elbit’s research and development site, which the activists said was intended to halt the production of weapons and drone components used in the Gaza conflict that began in October 2023.
Four defendants, dubbed “the Filton 4,” were convicted of criminal damage; Corner also faced additional charges for assaulting a police officer. The other two defendants were found not guilty.
Potential impact of a terrorism‑linked sentence
Although criminal damage is not normally a terrorism offence, judges in England and Wales can treat an offence as having a “terrorist connection” at sentencing. If this occurs, the activists would be required to serve the full term of their sentences in custody, unless they have already completed two‑thirds of the term and a parole board grants release.
Standard non‑terrorist sentences generally allow prisoners to serve about 40 percent of the term before release on licence, with the possibility of recall for breaches. A terrorism‑linked sentence would also label the activists as “terrorists” for life, obligate them to register personal devices and financial accounts with police, and expose them to re‑imprisonment for any licence violation or re‑offence.
Reactions
More than 50 lawyers and law professors have signed an open letter condemning the prospect of treating the activists as terrorists, stressing that property‑damage tactics have long been part of legitimate protest movements—from the suffragettes to Extinction Rebellion. The letter warns that blurring the line between direct action and terrorism is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes.
Local reports indicate that a protest is planned outside Woolwich Crown Court on Friday to oppose any terrorist‑linked sentencing.
