00:00It was in the early hours of the morning when a prison van crashed through the gates of a defence
00:04site near Bristol,
00:05setting in motion a case that would later be described in court as one of serious violence and significant criminal
00:10damage.
00:11Well, its Crown Court heard how four activists, Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Cameo and Fatima Rajwani,
00:17entered the Elbert Systems UK facility wearing red boiler suits and using sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy computers, drones and
00:24other equipment.
00:25During the incident, Police Officer Kate Evans was struck twice on the back with a £7 sledgehammer by Samuel Corner
00:31resulting in a fractured spine.
00:33The pre-sentence report suggests that you are remorseful.
00:37I do not accept that there is any substantial and genuine remorse.
00:42After striking Sergeant Evans and when it must have been obvious that she was injured and in great pain,
00:49your first reaction was to tell her that she bore responsibility for Israel's conduct in Gaza.
00:57At sentencing the Mr Justice Johnson jail corner for seven years and eight months,
01:02saying he'd used extreme and gratuitous force against a vulnerable officer acting in the course of her duties.
01:08Head received five years in prison for driving the vehicle into the compound.
01:12Cameo was also sentenced to five years and Rajwani was given four years, eight months.
01:16Each will also serve an additional year on licence after release.
01:21The judge ruled the incident amounted to an act of terrorism,
01:26stating that it carried out to influence the UK government and intimidate a section of the public
01:32and that the sentencing thresholds for serious terrorism-related offending were met.
01:37You were each appalled at what was happening in the Middle East,
01:42particularly after the 7th of October, 2023.
01:48You were each convinced that Israel was committing unlawful acts of violence,
01:55even genocide, against innocent civilians living in Gaza, including children.
02:03You are each completely entitled to hold those beliefs.
02:09Following this sentencing, the Court of Appeal has ruled the ban on Palestine action
02:14is lawful and proportionate in the case, overturning an earlier High Court decision
02:19and reinforcing the government's position that membership or support for the group
02:23can amount to a criminal offence.
02:26The activists involved say they were acting to destroy equipment they believed would be used in Gaza
02:30and have characterised their actions as opposition to what they describe as genocide.
02:35Ultimately, we have had to balance the free speech and freedom of assembly rights of individuals
02:41against the rights of third parties and the national security of the communities of the UK.
02:48We have done so by applying well-established legal principles,
02:53allowing the appropriate latitude to the decision that Parliament entrusted the Home Secretary to make.
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