Five Palestine Action activists in the United Kingdom will not be sentenced under terrorism laws, a judge has ruled.
Brendon O’Hagan, 28, Amanda Kelly, 31, Hmeera Atiqnisar, 31, Mohammed Malik, 28, and Alma Yaniv, 70, were convicted in June of causing damage worth 212,000 pounds ($290,000) to a branch of Barclays bank in the town of Burnley in Lancashire in August 2024.
The activists were protesting against the bank’s shareholdings in the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.
On Friday at Preston Crown Court, as Judge Robert Altham announced his ruling, scores of their supporters gathered outside erupted into cheers and pro-Palestine chants.
Malik’s mother, Dove Malik, told Al Jazeera, “It’s a victory for us, it’s a victory for Palestine, it’s a victory for protesting … We are on the right side of history.”
In a joint statement, the activists said they were “extremely relieved that the court has seen sense and decided not to sentence us as terrorists”.
“This should never have been an option,” they said. “We were on trial for charges of criminal damage, for damaging some windows and spraying red paint on a Barclays branch. At no point during the trial were we, or the jury, informed that, if convicted, we could face being sentenced as terrorists.”
The five are due to be sentenced on September 4.
At the time of their verdicts, Palestine Action had not been proscribed as a terrorist group. Neither the defendants nor the jury were aware that terrorism charges might be involved.
jimmyeatworldofficial
romaincrisis
areudirty
