FIVE PALESTINE ACTION ACTIVISTS FACE TERRORISM SENTENCING FOR BANK DAMAGE

Five Palestine Action activists convicted of damaging a Barclays Bank branch in Burnley in August 2024 face potential sentencing under terrorism legislation. Brendon O'Hagan, Amanda Kelly, Humeera Atiqnisar, Mohammed Malik, and Alma Yaniv were found guilty of causing £212,000 of damage by breaking windows and throwing red paint during a direct action protest. Judge Philip Parry indicated after the guilty verdicts that he intended to consider a "terrorist connection" to the offending, despite neither the jury nor the defendants having been informed of this possibility before trial.

The five targeted the bank because it held shares in Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems. The Crown Prosecution Service argued post-conviction that the defendants should be sentenced as terrorists, though prosecutors had not raised this prospect before or during the trial. Four other Palestine Action activists were sentenced last month with a "terrorist connection" determination by Mr Justice Johnson following their conviction for property damage at an Elbit factory near Bristol. That case involved the destruction of Israeli quadcopter drones. The Barclays bank protest occurred before Palestine Action was banned as a terrorist group and was not assessed by the Home Office as a terrorism incident at the time.

Malik stated that the judge and CPS were "seeking to sentence us as terrorists for red paint and a few splintered windows", describing the approach as persecution of political dissent. Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori characterised the development as a consequence of Johnson's earlier decision to apply terrorism sentencing. The sentencing hearing will determine whether the terrorist connection determination proceeds.