4 Feb 2026
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/victory-palestine-action-filton-6-acquitted

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Not guilty

In addition to beating the most serious charge, the jury acquitted Fatema Zainab
Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin of violent disorder. It refused to convict
Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner and Leona Kamio of the same charge.

Samuel Corner was also not convicted of "grievous bodily harm with intent" for
allegedly striking a police officer.

Crucially, the jury refused to convict any of the defendants of criminal damage.

Yet five of the group had admitted in court to destroying Israeli weapons and
equipment belonging to Elbit at the factory.

That the jury could not reach a majority verdict on some of the lesser charges
means in theory that there could be retrials in some cases - though that is not
expected to have a realistic chance of success.

That is why the sixth defendant, Samuel Corner, was not immediately released on
bailed on Wednesday. Government prosecutors asked the court for more time to
decide if they wanted to pursue a retrial in relation to the grievous bodily
harm charge.

The Palestine Action source also said that certain issues relating to matters
under reporting restrictions imposed by the judge in this trial meant that the
verdict was the best possible outcome for the group.

The source said that the verdict represented a "total victory" for the six
Palestine Action campaigners.

Most of the remaining "Filton 24" group have been held on draconian remand for
months - for more than a year in some cases.

But one, Sean Middlebrough, escaped during a short-term release in November last
year. In an exclusive statement, he told The Electronic Intifada that he was not
on the run, and was instead "refusing to be held as a prisoner of war of Israel
in a British prison."

Government ministers such as former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attempted to
portray the Filton activists as violent criminals who assaulted a police
officer. The British press for the most part obediently parroted such claims and
insinuations.

But during this "Filton 6" trial, body-cam footage released to the jury - some
of which can be viewed in the video above - showed the exact opposite: Elbit
security guards apparently assaulting the activists with sledgehammers.

In a statement released on Wednesday the Filton 24 Defence Committee said the
result was a "monumental victory."

The committee detailed how the trial unfolded.

According to the committee, the verdicts demonstrated that "the jury did not
accept the prosecution case that the defendants entered the Elbit weapons
factory with the intention of using the items they carried as weapons."

They said that instead the "jury agreed with the defense argument, that the
defendants' sole intention was to use the items, including sledgehammers, as
tools to disarm Israeli weapons ... The jury understood that it is not those
who destroy Israeli weapons which are guilty, rather the guilty party is the one
that deploys such weapons to commit genocide in Gaza."

The trial also revealed that footage went missing from a number of Elbit's
internal CCTV cameras covering key angles, the committee said. The security
guards' body-worn videos had also been repeatedly turned off and on, as well as
edited by Elbit.

Twenty-first century suffragettes

Defense lawyer Rajiv Menon compared the six to the suffragettes - women who
demanded the right to vote. In the early 20th century, the suffragettes were
routinely denounced as "terrorists and extremists," although "the reality of
course is very different," Menon said.

The lawyer also said that Judge Jeremy Johnson tried to exclude evidence on
Elbit Systems, and interrupted when counsel for the defense asked questions
about the Israeli weapons manufacturer.

Menon said that the judge "has restricted what the defendants have been allowed
to tell you ... what they knew about Elbit's role in the Israeli attack on
Gaza. The consequence of that is that you do not know everything that the
defendants knew about Elbit before" they took action against the factory.

The lawyer told the jury that Elbit is a "massive weapons company that has
played a critical role in the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians."

At the end of the evidence, the judge told the jury that the "situation in the
Middle East" and Elbit's operations are "not relevant" to the case and directed
the jury to "follow the legal directions I've given you and not anything else."

The judge also issued a series of reporting restrictions on the case. As a
result, I am still prevented from reporting certain details here.

Nonetheless, because the case was heard in open court, I am able to report the
following.

During the trial, a juror asked whether they were allowed to acquit because the
defendants genuinely believed that they were destroying weapons to prevent their
use in genocide.

The judge's response was "no."

Trials of the remaining Filton 24 prisoners are still due to happen at some
point in the future.

Ctd ...