12 Apr 2026
https://thegrayzone.com/2026/04/12/uk-jail-palestine-action-terrorism-uk/

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* Under normal circumstances, the defendants would face a maximum of four years
if convicted, and serve less than half their sentences. Under the draconian
terror designation - which jurors have not been notified of - the activists
could spend as many as eight years in prison. Their release would have to be
approved by a dedicated board for terror cases.

A retrial of six Palestine Action (PA) activists acquitted of aggravated
burglary in February will begin this April 13. Having failed to secure
convictions during the last round, the prosecution is colluding with a biased
judge to stack the deck against the defendants before proceedings even
begin. Known as the Filton Six, their names are Samuel Corner, Jordan Devlin,
Charlotte Head, Leona Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, and Zoe Rogers.

From 2020 until its 2025 proscription, Palestine Action was a thorn in the side
of the British wing of Israel's global 'defense' matrix. The factories and
headquarters of the Israeli state weapons company, Elbit Systems, were
frequently targeted for destruction by the group. With Elbit incurring millions
in damage as it was repeatedly forced to cease production, it appealed to the
British state, which began conspiring with the weapons manufacturer to crack
down on the activists.

The six Palestine Action defendants in the upcoming trial are not yet being
publicly accused of terrorist crimes, and will be tried collectively for
criminal damage, with one facing separate charges of causing grievous bodily
harm with intent. But if they are found guilty, Judge Jeremy Johnson has been
granted the authority to decide unilaterally whether they should be sentenced as
terrorists. Having previously represented MI6 and the British police, Johnson
has charged Palestine Action's lawyer with contempt of court for successfully
defending his clients.

Johnson was appointed to preside over the case after the previous justice was
dropped for granting a Filton defendant bail in March 2025. Intensive
restrictions imposed on the media by the British state have prevented the public
from learning about the shocking dismissal of the first judge in the case.

British media has also been blocked from reporting that the new judge, Johnson,
refused to dismiss the prosecution despite prejudicial statements made about the
case by government officials. The most notable intervention came from Home
Secretary Yvette Cooper, who made numerous statements falsely linking the group
to terrorism even after she was reportedly warned by British state lawyers not
to comment on the Filton trial.

Furthermore, court-imposed restrictions will prohibit what the six defendants
can say about the crimes of which they are accused. Expressly forbidden from
informing jurors about their motivations for crippling a core component of
Israel's international killing machine, defendants will be deprived of a major
prong of their legal strategy. In past trials, activists have successfully
argued their alleged offenses were necessary to prevent far more serious crimes
being perpetrated by Israel.

Defendants in the Filton case will also be barred from mentioning that their
actions are to be treated as terrorism offenses. Despite not being charged with
any crimes falling under that category, they were refused bail and left to rot
in prison for 15-18 months - far in excess of the six-month standard limit. In
violation of prison guidelines, their contact with the outside world was
severely restricted, leading several activists to go on hunger
strike. Conditions in jail were so onerous that one defendant attempted to
commit suicide to escape.

Cont'd ...