Five of the six Palestine Action activists tried in the first Filton case outside Woolwich Crown Court (Photo: Alamy)
Activists could be sentenced as terrorists despite not being convicted of terrorism
Documents suggest “terrorism connection” was added to cases to help justify proscription of Palestine Action
Authorities refuse to say when criminal damage crosses threshold into terrorism
Intelligence report indicates actions costing over £1m could be treated as terrorism
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Palestine Action ban could be overturned next month
Four activists could be sentenced as terrorists next month despite not being convicted of terrorism offences.
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During the trial, a jury was asked to decide whether the defendants were guilty of criminal charges but not allowed to know there was also a “terrorism connection”.
The 12-panel jury was also not permitted to hear why the defendants chose to target the Israeli arms firm, stripping the action of all context – namely the genocide in Gaza.
It is now up to the presiding judge to decide whether to sentence the activists with a “terrorism connection” – and, if he does, the ramifications will be enormous.
Unlike most prisoners in the UK who serve around 40 percent of their sentences, they would have to serve their full terms unless they can convince a parole board that they have “reformed” after serving at least two-thirds of it.
Once released, they could be treated as terrorists for decades.
And this could all happen without a jury ever finding them guilty of any terrorist offence, marking the first case where activists risk prosecution under terrorism provisions.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Yvette Cooper proscribed Palestine Action last June (Photo: Alamy)
Exclusive: Former home secretary was told proscribing Palestine Action within six months of key Filton hearing could prejudice the case but went ahead anyway.
Britain’s former home secretary Yvette Cooper was warned that proscribing Palestine Action could prejudice the trial of six activists but went ahead anyway, it can be revealed.
Internal documents seen by Declassified show the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advised Cooper not to proscribe Palestine Action within six months of any Filton hearings.
The Filton 24 are pro-Palestine activists accused of breaking into a factory owned by Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms firm, in Bristol in August 2024.
The CPS was concerned that proscribing Palestine Action within six months of the hearings would prejudice their right to a fair trial.
Yet Cooper went against this advice and announced the proscription of Palestine Action less than five months before the first of those trials began in November last year.
Last week, the Guardian also revealed that Cooper risked being in contempt of court by justifying the proscription of Palestine Action in a column published in the Observer.
In that article, Cooper said the charges against the defendants involved a “terrorism connection” and accused the group of “intimidation, violence, weapons, and serious injuries to individuals”.
Defence lawyers sought to argue in court that Cooper had committed an “abuse of process” by discussing details of the case that were under reporting restrictions.
Mr Justice Johnson dismissed that application despite acknowledging that Cooper was “specifically advised that going ahead with the article might prejudice these proceedings”.
Taken together, the revelations suggest Cooper prioritised securing and justifying the proscription of Palestine Action over respecting due process.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Keir Starmer says that he’s banning words and phrases now as well as placards.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
Thousands arrested for supporting group since proscription are now in legal limbo as Mahmood says she will appeal
Three senior judges have ruled that the ban on the direct action group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws was disproportionate and unlawful, handing the home secretary a humiliating defeat.
Shabana Mahmood was urged to respect the court’s decision after the judges said the ban, introduced by her predecessor Yvette Cooper, impinged on the right to protest and should be quashed.
However, the fate of more than 2,500 people, arrested for supporting Palestine Action since proscription, remained in limbo after Mahmood said she would appeal against the ban. Additionally, the three judges, led by the president of the king’s bench division, Dame Victoria Sharp, said the banning order would not be quashed until both sides had been allowed to make representations.
In the meantime, the Met police said they would stop arresting people immediately for showing support for Palestine Action after the high court ruling but would gather evidence for potential future prosecution.
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The judges allowed the challenge on two of four grounds. They were that there was “a very significant interference” with the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and that the then home secretary, Cooper’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action was not consistent with her own policy, which required her to take into account factors including the nature and scale of the organisation’s activities, and the specific threat that it posed to the UK.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Zarah Sultana speaking after a march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, from Russell Square to Whitehall in central London, June 21, 2025
This week, MPs shamefully approved the proscription of Palestine Action. Several challenged the move in the Commons. Zarah Sultana, Independent MP for Coventry South, gave an outstanding speech in condemnation. Because of the exceptional gravity of the issue, we reproduce her speech, lightly edited, here.
TWENTY-ONE years ago, a human rights barrister … defended an activist who broke into RAF Fairford trying to disable a bomber to prevent war crimes in Iraq. That became a landmark case in lawful, non-violent direct action against an illegal war. That barrister is now our Prime Minister, Keir Starmer KC. He argued that it was not terrorism, but conscience.
Fast-forward to June 20 2025: two Palestine Action activists entered RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint — red paint, not fire — on aircraft linked to surveillance flights over Gaza. Instead of prosecuting them for criminal damage, the Home Secretary is using the Terrorism Act 2000 to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
This is an unprecedented and dangerous overreach of the state. Never before in Britain has it been a crime to simply support a group.
Palestine Action’s real crime is shutting down Elbit Systems sites that arm the Israeli military; its true offence is being audacious enough to expose the blood-soaked ties between this government and the genocidal Israeli apartheid state and its war machine.
Let us be clear: to equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb is not just absurd; it is grotesque. It is a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth.
Amnesty International, Liberty, over 266 senior lawyers and UN special rapporteurs have all opposed these draconian measures. Under this order, anyone expressing moral support for a proscribed group could face 14 years in prison. That includes wearing a badge, wearing a T-shirt, sharing a post or calling for de-proscription.
And journalists have no exemption either: there is no legal protection for reporting favourably, even factually, about Palestine Action.
Let us not forget what is happening in Gaza, where the real crimes are being ignored: hospitals bombed, children starved, and tens of thousands of people killed. Palestinian children now suffer more amputations per capita than children anywhere else on Earth.
Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, and the Israeli Prime Minister faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, yet the government’s response is to criminalise solidarity and to continue exporting lethal F-35 jets that are decimating Gaza.
We also have to understand the history of this country and what built our democracy: the tradition of civil disobedience that includes the suffragettes, without whom I would not have the vote, let alone the privilege of being here as an MP.
Even those who oppose Palestine Action’s tactics must recognise the vast gulf between criminal damage and terrorism. If this order passes, what and who is next — climate protesters, striking workers, feminists in the street?
Already we have seen a wider crackdown on our civil liberties — musicians censored, journalists arrested, and demonstrators, including MPs sitting here, harassed — and now this government want to use anti-terror laws to make peaceful protest itself a crime. If our democratic institutions functioned as they should, none of this would be necessary.
If this proscription passes, we have to understand that no campaign will be safe tomorrow. We have to recognise that this will go down as a dark day in our country’s history … People will ask, “Which side were you on?” and I stand with the millions of people who oppose genocide, because I am one of them. I oppose the blood-soaked hands of this government trying to silence us. So I say this loudly and proudly: we are all Palestine…
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
The government’s planned proscription of Palestine Action is appalling state overreach. As journalists and media workers, Novara Media unequivocally opposes this historic infringement on freedom of expression in the UK. We believe it is a gross abuse of legislation to equate a non-violent, direct action protest group with the likes of Isis, Al-Qaida, and National Action. Never before in Britain has it been illegal to support a protest group.
We report day after day on Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. We have watched countless hours of footage, heard testimony, and combed through data. It has been evident for many months that Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian population, from opening fire on unarmed crowds at aid distribution points to the bombardment of refugees at so-called safe-zones, amount to the crime of genocide.
Meanwhile, the establishment media remains biased in favour of Israel. Even the BBC, a public service broadcaster, grants 33 times more coverage per fatality to Israeli deaths than those of Palestinians. If there were ever a time when non-violent direct action was justified in the prevention of greater harm, it is now.
Furthermore, we are disgusted by the arrest and investigation of pro-Palestine journalists such as Asa Winstanley, the imposition of excessive restrictions on pro-Palestine rallies, and attacks on the artistic expression of Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh. Novara Media views the proscription of Palestine Action as part of this wider effort to silence opposition to Israel’s campaign of genocide against the people of Gaza.
Everyone should be alarmed by Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper’s decision to designate Palestine Action a proscribed terrorist organisation. The use of terror legislation will dramatically limit what anyone in the UK can say about the group. Section 12 of the Terrorism Act gives the state sweeping power to restrict speech that it deems supportive of proscribed organisations. Wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt, praising the group in public, or expressing a positive opinion about it online could all be grounds for arrest and prosecution.
There is no journalistic exemption to the Terrorism Act. Reporting freely carries the risk of large fines and up to 14 years imprisonment. Journalists arrested under terrorism legislation may have their homes and offices raided, or work devices seized and searched, putting them and their sources at risk.
Novara Media strongly upholds the right to report events and produce fact-based analysis without the interference of the government. We oppose all state attempts to crush legitimate expressions of political opinion. We abhor Keir Starmer’s willingness to clamp down on free speech, dissent, and longstanding traditions of civil disobedience that are vital to democracy and liberty.
Without equivocation or caveat, we stand opposed to the government’s proscription of Palestine Action.
dizzy: Me too.
Vote Labour for Genocide.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Zarah Sultana speaking after a march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, from Russell Square to Whitehall in central London, June 21, 2025
