DEFENDANTS who walked free in what is thought to be one of the most unusual criminal trials in UK history have described their treatment as a “stitch-up” and “sinister”.
Palestine Action activists who were involved in a raid on an Israeli arms manufacturer are now able to discuss how their trial was a “litmus test” for British democracy – a test they say the UK Government “spectacularly failed”.
Restrictions imposed by the judge in the case against a group of six who broke into an Elbit Systems factory at Filton, near Bristol, were an “injustice” according to the mother of one defendant.
The media was barred from reporting that those found guilty could be sentenced as terrorists, and the jury could not be informed of this either.
Of those charged with criminal damage, Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Zainab Rajwani were found guilty and are due for sentencing next month.
Corner was also found guilty of committing grievous bodily harm for striking a police officer on the back twice with a sledgehammer.
Jordan Devlin and Zoe Rogers were found not guilty of criminal damage.
While Rogers is legally at liberty, she told the Sunday National that her connection to those with whom she stood trial means she does not feel free.
“I haven’t been able to enjoy it, to be honest, because of what’s happening to my co-defendants and the terrorism connection hanging over them,” said the 22-year-old from London. “I’m so connected to them, I haven’t really been able to separate myself from them mentally.”
She is currently working at a café and has a place at university lined up but she remains committed to trying to help those who face jail sentences and the prospect of years of state monitoring.
Rogers described the trial as “awful” but said she was “also relieved that it’s out in the open now and people see what’s happening because for 18 months, we knew that this was going to happen, but no one knew about it”.
Pointing to a statement from the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights which called the Filton case a “litmus test for democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the UK”, Rogers said: “It is abundantly clear, having seen how much worse those trials were, far worse than our lawyers could ever have predicted, that that test has been spectacularly failed. We don’t live in a democracy.”
Rogers described confusion in the court caused by the extensive restrictions imposed by the judge. She said: “Even the prosecution was confused about what they could and couldn’t say because it was so wide-reaching, some of our barristers stood up in court and said they felt like they were being intimidated by it, and that led to several of my co-defendants deciding to self-represent.
“He said that the barristers couldn’t refer to the damage, which obviously, was the prosecution’s whole case, so they were like, ‘are we even allowed to mention the weapons that they damaged?’ It was genuinely insane; we were all baffled.”
Devlin is in a similar place to Rogers emotionally, describing how his freedom was tempered by concern for his comrades still in prison.
“It’s a technically terrifying thing that’s going on right now, my friends are going to be sentenced as terrorists but I’m able to get over that fear quite quickly because there’s a job that needs to be done in order to protect them as best as we can for the sentencing on June 12,” he said.
Rajwani, Head, Corner and Kamio are due to be sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court in south London and their supporters are urging people to gather outside the building on June 12.
Devlin, who has worked in construction with his father in Ireland since gaining his freedom, said: “That is a monumental point in British history and I don’t know if people appreciate that enough, and I don’t know if people appreciate enough what that means.”
He had, like many of those drawn to pro-Palestine marches across the UK, been moved by what is referred to as the “first livestreamed genocide”, where horrific footage of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza filled the social media feeds of millions.
“I couldn’t bear to watch another second, opening up my phone, opening up Instagram and seeing the atrocities that are going on,” said Devlin. “What it means to be human nowadays is just unrecognisable and I just came to a point where it was an easy decision to do direct action.”
The 32-year-old described the power exercised by the judge in the courtroom, which involved accusing a KC of contempt after attempting to inform the jury of their rights to acquit according to the consciences, as “cartoonish”, adding: “This is the sort of stuff you would see in movies, where it’s such a blatant stitch-up, the judge doesn’t even try and hide it. But they’re so powerful that we can’t even do anything about it.”
Rajwani’s mother Sukaina told the Sunday National how her 21-year-old daughter, who faces being sentenced with a “terrorist connection” which could attract a higher tariff and years of monitoring, had taken direct action "after months of peaceful protest”.
The 46-year-old, from south London, said: “I wouldn’t say we’re politically active or anything like that, but she’s always been well-read and aware of the world around her.
“She loves reading, she’s always encouraging everyone to read, and because of her passion for reading, she’s always been aware of the struggles, of the oppression in the world, and she has a strong sense of justice.”
Sukaina is furious about the way the defendants’ case was handled. “I never thought this was possible here in Britain,” she said. “UK juries have always had the right to find defendants not guilty according to their conscience.
“In this case, the judge banning the defendants from telling the jury their legal rights does make it evident that this was a stitch-up, this was a political case in which the jury were not allowed to know the whole truth. It's crazy, it’s insane.”
She added: “There was an evil and sinister agenda here where, if they were found guilty of criminal damage, the judge would then sentence them as terrorists.”
