UK: Palestine action activists sentenced to years in prison

Four activists from the group Palestine Action were sentenced to several years in prison in a landmark ruling on 12 June. The lengthy prison terms, the longest of which is almost eight years, came after the judge ruled that their actions against the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems’ factory were connected to terrorism. The court found that they had caused £1.2 million in damage to the facility near Bristol in August 2024 while disrupting the production of weapons to be used in Gaza.

The case is historically significant as it marks the first time in the UK that damage arising from a protest has been legally classified as terrorism. Under British law, this designation applies when serious violence or property damage is committed to influence the government or advance an ideological cause. The judge stated that the activists’ aim was clearly to influence the government’s policy on Israel and Palestine and that they had livestreamed the event to “glorify criminality and vigilantism”.

The sentencing drew immediate reactions, and hundreds of people gathered outside the court protesting in solidarity with the activists, leading to arrests by police. The defence and human rights groups criticised that applying the terrorism label undermined the integrity of the criminal justice system and lead to creeping authoritarianism. Additionally, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association criticised the disproportionate sentences, stating the rapid erosion of civic space and the right to protest in the UK is deeply alarming. The sentences set a new precedent for how direct-action protests are treated and what it means for those taking part in such action.