Filton 4 sentenced as terrorists

Four of the Filton 25 protesters were sentenced yesterday for “an act of terrorism” despite never having been charged with any terrorism offences. This is an outrageous measure, even by the standards of the arch-Zionist British judiciary.

The sentences came after the four were initially acquitted in February and then retried in May. The jury convicted them on charges of criminal damage for their 2024 break-in at a factory owned by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit, where they destroyed weapons intended for the Gaza genocide. The judge’s intention to sentence them as terrorists was concealed from that jury. Before trial these and other Palestine Action protesters were held in prison for over 18 months—more than three times the normal six-month remand period. Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona (Ellie) Kamio, and Fatema Rajwani are now facing between 6 and 8 years behind bars and harsh restrictions when they are eventually released.

The Filton activists were treated as supposed terrorists from the moment they were arrested because they courageously took a side with the Palestinian people. The state’s vicious prosecution is a sinister warning to anyone daring to take action in opposition to British imperialism’s role in supporting the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people. It follows the government banning Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation in an attempt to quash civil disobedience protests. This ban has already led to thousands arrested for simply holding a sign.

As Starmer’s Labour government is shifting ever more sharply to the right in order to compete with the likes of Farage’s Reform UK, there is increasing repression as well as attacks on political dissent. Taking up the fight to free the Filton4 and demanding the release of all arrested anti-Elbit activists is in the direct interest of the workers movement because their fate is but the thin edge of the wedge used to undermine democratic rights for all of us.

Fight to overturn the bogus convictions! Release all of the Filton 25 now!