Six Palestine Action Activists Acquitted of Burglary

Six activists affiliated with the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action were acquitted of aggravated burglary charges on Wednesday at London's Woolwich Crown Court, following a trial over their break-in at a British subsidiary of the Israeli defense company Elbit Systems.

The defendants—Charlotte Head, 29; Samuel Corner, 23; Leona Kamio, 30; Fatema Rajwani, 21; Zoe Rogers, 22; and Jordan Devlin, 31—had been accused of entering the Elbit facility near Bristol, southwest England, in the early hours of August 6, 2024, with intent to commit theft or cause damage using unlawful violence. The jury, after more than 36 hours of deliberation over eight days, cleared all six of the aggravated burglary count. It also found Rajwani, Rogers, and Devlin not guilty of violent disorder, but reached no verdicts on that charge against Head, Corner, and Kamio, nor on criminal damage allegations facing all defendants. Corner faced an additional charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to a police officer by striking her with a sledgehammer; the jury could not decide on that either. Prosecutors indicated they may seek a retrial for the unresolved matters.