A protest outside Woolwich Crown Court where the Palestine Action activists were tried (Photo: Alamy)
Rajiv Menon KC faced proceedings which his chambers said were unprecedented in English legal history
A leading human rights barrister has won his appeal against contempt of court proceedings, which were levelled at him for a closing speech in the trial of Palestine Action activists.
The court of appeal’s ruling on Tuesday in the case of Rajiv Menon KC comes as it has also emerged that four of the defendants found guilty in a retrial can be sentenced as terrorists.
Three court of appeal judges found that the trial judge, Mr Justice Johnson, “had no jurisdiction” to refer the case against Menon to the High Court.
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Campaign group Defend Our Juries (DoJ) said: “Rajiv Menon KC did what every defence barrister should be free to do – in discharging his duty to his client: he told a jury the truth about their own rights.”
“The fact that contempt of court proceedings were even brought against a barrister for his closing speech – for the first time in British legal history – should deeply concern everyone who cares about the rule of law,” the group added.
Menon had been accused of violating Johnson’s orders in the first trial of six activists who broke into an Israeli-owned arms factory near Bristol in 2024 at the height of the Gaza genocide.
He barred the lawyers from inviting the jury to disregard the court’s ruling of law or to acquit the defendants on the basis of conscience, known as the principle of jury equity.
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From back left to right: Jordan Devlin, Charlotte Head, Zoe Rogers, Samuel Corner. Front row from left: Leona (Ellie) Kamio and Fatema Rajwani. Credit: handout
A court will seek to sentence four Palestine Action activists found guilty of criminal damage at a site owned by Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer as terrorists, even though they were not convicted of terror charges, Novara Media is now able to report.
The ‘terror connection’ was kept secret from the jury and UK media outlets were barred from reporting on this due to court-imposed restrictions, which were lifted on 12 May. This is believed to be the first case in British history where a court will attempt to sentence activists taking direct action as terrorists.
Judge Jeremy Johnson is expected to add a ‘terrorist connection’ to the charges of Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona (Ellie) Kamio and Fatema Rajwani under section 69 of the Sentencing Act 2020, despite the jury only convicting them of criminal damage and having no knowledge that a terror link could be later imposed.
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Being sentenced as terrorists means the defendants could face significantly longer time in prison and be listed as terrorists upon release – imposing severe limitations on their lives. Most have already served 18 months on remand, with Corner incarcerated for 21 months.
In a preparatory hearing back in March 2025, the judge ruled that there appeared to be a ‘terrorist connection’ as the activists were attempting to influence the Israeli government by restricting its access to weapons.
Judge Johnson said: “On s1(1)(b) of the Terrorism Act 2000, Rajiv Menon KC and others strongly argued that influencing government was not the purpose of the action – the purpose of the action was to damage weapons and save lives. I accept that this was one motivating factor – but that does not mean that another purpose was not to damage property to be made available to the Israeli government and thereby influence the Israeli government.”
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NHS staff blockade the entrance to NHS England’s headquarters in central London demanding the cancellation of its contract with Palantir, which campaign groups say supplies advanced technology to Israel’s military, April 3, 2024
US tech giant granted ‘unlimited access’ to patients’ data
HEALTH union reps, public ownership campaigners and Amnesty International UK demanded the NHS “cease all contracts with Palantir” today after the US tech company was granted “unlimited access” to patients’ data.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting was urged to reconsider a “staggering decision” to grant external staff from firms including Palantir access to patients’ identifiable data while working on its flagship platform.
An NHS England internal briefing note published today by the Financial Times said it would create an “admin” role which “permits unlimited access to non-NHS England staff” to the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT) and identifiable patient data within it.
The NDIT is a part of a larger tool made to aggregate disparate NHS data into a single system called the Federated Data System, which earned Palantir a £330 million government contract in 2023.
As well as the controversial US tech firm, access to patients’ data could be given to any other outside firm contracted to work on the Federated Data System.
Previously, access to sensitive information required individuals working on the NDIT to apply for permission for specific data sets, the FT reported.
All-round access was initially meant to be reserved for NHS England employees with security clearance.
Global Sumud Flotilla member Saif Abu Keshek flashes a peace sign after arriving at Athens International Airport on May 10, 2026. (Photo by Global Sumud Flotilla/X)
“I left behind me thousands of Palestinian prisoners—children, women, and men,” said Saif Abu Keshek after he and Thiago Ávila were released by Israel without charges.
As the final two Global Sumud Flotilla members violently abducted at sea by Israeli forces last month made their way home following their release without charge, one of the activists said Sunday that the world must remember the thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila—whom Israel accused of having links to Hamas, without providing evidence—were seized in international waters off the coast of Greece during the night of April 29-30. They were among the roughly 175 people aboard the flotilla, which was attempting to break the decadeslong Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to its people amid an ongoing genocide.
After suffering abuse that allegedly included broken ribs, noses, and other injuries, all of the flotilla members except Abu Keshek and Ávila were released. The pair was taken to Israel for further interrogation. Israel twice extended their detention for further interrogation, which, according to their legal representatives, included physical and psychological abuse amounting to torture. The men reportedly went on a hunger strike to protest their detention.
As Abu Keshek—a Spanish-Swedish national of Palestinian origin—arrived in Greece on Sunday following his deportation from Israel, he implored the world to remember the suffering of Palestinians imprisoned for their physical and intellectual resistance to Israeli oppression.
“I left behind me thousands of Palestinian prisoners—children, women, and men,” he said in Athens. “I am sure that the treatment I faced does not compare to the suffering they are going through, the testimonies we hear of their torture, of their violation on a daily basis. We have to continue mobilizing. We cannot forget the Palestinian prisoners.”
Saif has been released from israeli captivity and after 6 brutal days, his message is clear – we must continue to mobilize!
Still, thousands of Palestinian prisoners are being held hostage in israeli dungeons, subjected to inhumane conditions. We are one small step closer to a… pic.twitter.com/BN1OkxXaI4
— Global Sumud Flotilla (@gbsumudflotilla) May 10, 2026
Ávila, meanwhile, transited through Egypt en route to his native Brazil after his deportation. He is expected to arrive in São Paulo on Monday afternoon. Ávila’s mother, Teresa Regina de Ávila e Silva, died while he was held in Israel.
Global Sumud Flotilla issued a statement following the activists’ release, which it called “a victory over Israel’s attempts to criminalize the flotilla movement and smear international solidarity with Palestine as ‘terrorism.’”
“If Israel had any evidence to support its outrageous accusations that the flotilla was affiliated with Hamas or engaged in unlawful activity, Thiago and Saif would not be released without charges,” the statement says. “Their release further exposes these claims for what they are: politically motivated propaganda aimed at justifying violence against civilian flotilla participants and suppressing growing global resistance to Israel’s genocide and settler-colonial violence.”
“However, their release underscores a painful reality: Thiago and Saif had governments, diplomatic channels, and international visibility advocating for them,” Global Sumud Flotilla stressed. “Millions of Palestinians living under brutal Israeli occupation have no such political protection. More than 10,000 Palestinians remain imprisoned in Israeli dungeons and torture camps, subjected to starvation, abuse, isolation, medical neglect, sexual assault, and other cruel and degrading treatment, without international intervention or accountability.”
Other Palestine defenders also used the activists’ release to draw attention to the plight of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
“We insist that the global mobilization for the release of Saif and Thiago must not stop but must instead grow for the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners jailed by the Zionist regime,” said Samidoun, also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, “as well as Lebanese and Arab prisoners detained in its prisons, as well as the Palestinian prisoners and the prisoners for Palestine held in imperialist prisons around the world.”
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NHS staff blockade the entrance to NHS England’s headquarters in central London demanding the cancellation of its contract with Palantir, which campaign groups say supplies advanced technology to Israel’s military, April 3, 2024
