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4 Palestinian Activists Jailed

Just watched the live stream sentencing from Woolwich Crown Court which was fascinating!  In all four cases the defendants’ lawyers cited mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, anxiety and autism as mitigation factors …The Judge handed down substantial sentences:12m ago18:48Four Palestine Action activists jailed over raid on Israeli-linked defence firmFour Palestine Action activists have been jailed after raiding an Israeli-linked private defence company.Samuel Corner, 23, was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison, including on the count of grievous bodily harm and criminal damage.He will be eligible for parole after seven years and eight months.Charlotte Head, 30, and Leona Kamio, 30, were each jailed for six years less 45 days for causing criminal damage.The pair will be eligible for parole after four years and 320 days.Head was also disqualified from driving for one year because she was driving the prison van that the group used as a "battering ram" to get inside the Elbit Systems UK factory.Fatema Rajwani, 21, was jailed for five years and eight months less 45 days for causing criminal damage.She will be eligible for parole after four years and 200 days.Justice Johnson said he took into account that Rajwani was only 20 at the time of the attack.They were not ordered to pay compensation, but Justice Johnson said the damaged company and the injured police officer could bring legal proceedings to seek compensation.The group caused £1m worth of damage to the Elbit Systems UK factory in Bristol in the early hours of 6 August 2024, in protest over the company's ties to conflict in the Middle East.The quartet were found guilty of criminal damage last month after a retrial.

Sue Hammond ● 20d13 Comments

From the Spectator online."In a sensible but hard-hitting judgment this morning, the Court of Appeal upheld the ban on Palestine Action, overturning the decision of the High Court made in February this year that the proscription had been unlawful. The result of the decision is that over 700 cases which had been pending in the criminal courts may now proceed to trial. Many activists who were arrested at demonstrations in the last year may also now face court.In giving judgment, the Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr, sitting with four other senior judges, pulled no punches. She made clear that Palestine Action was a group which the Home Secretary had reasonably concluded was concerned in terrorism: it was not a civil disobedience protest group comparable to the suffragettes.***Palestine Action’s campaign was not pursued with restraint*** and ***there was a very real risk of injury to property and members of the public***. She described the group as a ***‘covert organisation’, operating with secret cells, and noted that its activities had accelerated in seriousness***.The increasingly preposterous Zack Polanski said it was ‘gut-wrenching to see four young people jailed for direct action’The court also accepted that the then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had been advised by experts who had concluded that there was a ***risk of further escalation in Palestine Action’s activities***. That assessment of future conduct was ‘highly material’. ***Palestine Action had already engaged in 158 direct action events, 28 of which had involved serious damage to property. Many of the issues considered by the Court of Appeal had not been adequately addressed by the High Court***. The shift in tone was clear.The judgment rightly recognised that the decision to proscribe was a matter of national security: an issue where the Home Secretary had ‘special constitutional responsibilities and institutional competence’. The judgment also acknowledged that ***it is the government which has the democratic authority to take decisions in relation to national security ‘because it is important that those doing so should be responsible to the public for their effective protection’***. In considering the approach taken by Cooper and whether she had been wrong, ***the Court of Appeal determined that the decision had been consistent with her proscription policy; that it was proportionate; and that it did not breach human rights laws***.One does not have to look very far to see why Cooper concluded that Palestine Action’s activities had a terrorist dimension. ***Three incidents were identified in parliament. In addition to its well-publicised attack on RAF Brize Norton and an incident at a Thales facility in Glasgow, there was also an attack on the premises of Elbit Systems near Bristol***.

John Hawkes ● 16d

'Huda Ammori (leader of PA)  said Palestine Action was "surprised by today's judgment" after judges in the High Court previously ruled the government "acted unlawfully in proscribing Palestine Action because of the significant interference with the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly".She added: "We will not stop fighting to overturn one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and the right to protest in modern British history."This girl might read her 'Alice in Wonderland' because for her words mean what she chooses them to mean."interference with the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly" to her means the right to hit policewomen with sledgehammers and to break into, with intent to damage, legitimate businesses and Bitain's Air Force bases. Where is the peace in that ?Don't think it would be covered by rights designated in the Magna Carta.She might have noticed that pro-Palestine support marches occur weekly.That's 'free speech'.That's the trouble with people of her ilk.Like the benefits of liberal Britain but will not stick to the rules.It's the sledgehammers that people object to. But then though she was born in the UK it does not seem that she has absorbed many British cultural and social mores.I note she spent time on the idyllic Greek island of Lesbos helping refugees.Commendable and the food is so cheap.Surely she should be doing the same in Palestine ?And I doubt many non-Islamic Britons would support her.Hence her having to resort to extreme violence.

John Hawkes ● 17d

"Palestine Action ban is lawful, Court of Appeal rules"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gy927jx88oSo it would be an act of public good if one were to see a 'peaceful' Palestinian or fellow traveller protesting by carrying and using a sledgehammer against the police to step in and ask them reasonably to stop it. It does their cause no good and would seem to be illegal on many counts.I hope the founder of the group Huda Ammori (occupation 'activist' - sic) takes note as does the Great Breast Enhancer and libertarian Zack Polanski.And even Mr Ainsworth !

John Hawkes ● 17d

Steven'8n my opinion Palestine Action is a quasi-religious cult whise adherents believe that the law and normal rules of civilised behaviour don't apply because God is on their side'.Perhaps violent loonies describes them better.

John Hawkes ● 19d

Ms GrantIs this violent criminal pleading mitigation on the grounds of mental health issues - autism, anxiety and depression ?Are there not drugs that he should be forced to take to alleviate this if his condition turns him into a violent thug ?Or do we not have detention centres such as Broadmoor for his ilk ?He is obviously too dangerous to remain at large on the streets.

John Hawkes ● 19d

Steven'Zack Polanski has criticised the custodial sentences given to the Palestine Action activists as ‘a truly dangerous attack on the right to protest’. One of the activists, Samuel Comer, fractured a police officer’s spine with a sledgehammer.'By Zack Polanski you mean David Paulden the hypnotist breast enhancer and leader of the Green Party ?It really beggars belief that anyone would hit another human being yet alone a woman in the back with a sledge hammer under any circumstances.Mind you I expect its the only example of manual labour he has ever exhibited.And then he and his fellow 'peaceful' pro-Palestine (antisemitic) supporters protest that he gets a custodial sentence and claim that such is a 'dangerous attack on the right to protest'.Has the world gone mad ?

John Hawkes ● 19d

8n my opinion Palestine Action is a quasi-religious cult whise adherents believe that the law and normal rules of civilised behaviour don't apply because God is on their side.

Steven Rose ● 19d

Justice and common sense prevails. Mental health issues (and autism is not a mental health issue - it is neurological and, knowing people who are autistic, the last thing they are likely to do is what these criminals have done) is a common get out clause for too many crimes in today's world.Many people suffer from anxiety and depression but they don't go out and break a policewoman's spine nor cause £1 million worth of damage that does nothing to help Palestinians.

Lucille Grant ● 19d

Because they’re as moronic as him?

Sue Hammond ● 19d

Samuel Corner, I should have written. The interesting question for me is why thousands of people vote for a party whose leader condones grievous bodily harm and criminal damage.

Steven Rose ● 19d

Yes, she had multiple fractures to her spine and was only saved from an even worse injury because she was wearing a stab vest.  Comer should have got a much longer sentence in my opinion.

Sue Hammond ● 19d

Zack Polanski has criticised the custodial sentences given to the Palestine Action activists as ‘a truly dangerous attack on the right to protest’. One of the activists, Samuel Comer, fractured a police officer’s spine with a sledgehammer.

Steven Rose ● 19d

sorry,  adhd  - flipping predictive text typed anxiety twice 😡

Sue Hammond ● 20d