A London court on Tuesday convicted four of six British pro-Palestinian activists of criminal damage for a 2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems, with one defendant found guilty of striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.

Woolwich Crown Court found Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, guilty. Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were acquitted.

Prosecutors said the six were members of the banned group Palestine Action, which organized the assault on the Elbit Systems UK facility in Bristol, southwest England, in August 2024. The raid caused about £1 million ($1.36 million) in damage and occurred 10 months into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Corner was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm after striking a police officer with a sledgehammer. All defendants admitted damaging Israeli military drones and equipment, saying through their lawyers they acted to “save lives in Palestine.”

The verdicts follow an earlier trial where all six were acquitted of aggravated burglary, and the jury could not reach verdicts on criminal damage charges. Prosecutors later dropped charges of violent disorder against all defendants.

The UK government proscribed Palestine Action under terrorism law in July, but London’s High Court ruled the ban unlawful. The group remains banned pending the government’s appeal, heard last week.

Source: www.aljazeera.com