Old Bailey
The Old Bailey is the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, where major cases are heard. The Old Bailey, built on the site of the old Newgate prison, has a history of hundreds of years of human injustice, where poor people were subject to ‘pressings’ until they pleaded guilty. Strapped down, they would have intense weight placed on them, bit by bit, crushing them until they pleaded guilty. Those that were then found guilty were burnt at the stake, hanged, flogged and/or mutilated. Over the years it has become more sophisticated, with the rough edges polished away, out of sight, but still all too often delivers injustice as we saw at this Preliminary hearing.
Filton 10
The #Filton10 are ten ordinary decent people, mainly youngsters, who like many of us were shocked by the genocide being committed over the last year, and live-streamed to a complicit world, that watches but refuses to act to stop it. The difference between them and the rest was that their morality compelled to act, to directly do something meaningful to stop it. Millions have protested around the world – but it has not worked, a year on, and the genocide is still being perpetrated with total impunity. They felt a moral imperative to physically try to stop the flow of weapons, produced by Israel in the UK that are used to commit the atrocities in Gaza.
The mother of one of the #Filton10 explained in a passionate speech outside Hammersmith police station where her 20 year old daughter was at the time being interrogated in solitary confinement for a week without charge:
“Since last October my daughter has been on march after march after march. Early on in the genocide when only 2000 kids had been killed she bought a huge bed sheet and she planned to write all their names on it. She didn’t do it – she couldnt write a single name. She looked at the sheet and she was totally overwhelmed with depression and hopelessness and went to bed for the rest of the weekend. She said to me Mum the marches aren’t working, Mum the government is not listening, and that is when I think she decided that the idea of direct action was the only way to address the source of the weapons and shut the factories down where they are made..”
Elbit Systems
Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, profiting off the genocide of Palestinians, it markets its drones and weapons as “battle tested”. The weapons are tested on civilians in Gaza before being mass produced. At Elbit Systems Second Quarter 2024 Results, CEO Bezhalel Machlis said “The portfolio was improved drastically and this war has been an accelerator for many developments. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is using these technologies now and in the future, we will bring them to the rest of the market as well”. Elbit Systems supplies up to 85 per cent of the Israeli military’s drones and land based equipment. These weapons are produced here in the UK by Elbit Systems’ factories across the country. In the last 11 months Israel has murdered over 40,000 Palestinians, including 16,500 children, and destroyed hospitals, schools, homes and the entire infrastructure in Gaza – using weapons produced by Elbit Systems.
In a video message to employees, Elbit’s CEO boasts about his company being “at the heart of the IDFs operation” in the Gaza genocide.
Stopping The Arms
The #Elbit10 are accused of breaking in to Elbit’s new £35 million research and arms production facility in Filton, Bristol on 6th August 2024, and smashing their latest killer drones causing one million pounds worth of damage. The facility was opened last year by the Israeli Ambassador Hotevely, infamous for her racism.
Abuse Of Anti-Terror Legislation
The draconian anti-terror legislation under normal application already disregards people’s basic human rights like freedom of speech and has been denounced by human rights groups. In March this year (2024), the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human rights condemned its misuse globally: “The misuse of counter-terrorism measures… the rampant weaponisation of overly-broad terrorism offences against civil society, including political opponents, activists, human rights defenders, journalists, minorities, and students… not only violates the rights of suspected criminals but can also jeopardise the freedoms of the innocent.” We have seen much of this in the UK since day one, but now its being ramped up to target protestors and those taking part in direct action.
Previously direct action against Elbit resulted in arrests under the criminal code, where the police can hold you for up to 24 hours before they have to charge you with a crime or release you (only in exceptionally serious circumstances like murder, can they apply to hold you for up to 36 or 96 hours), and bail is granted.
The #Filton10 were however arrested under the Terrorism Act which meant they were caged in solidarity confinement with no contact with their families for a week during which time they were constantly interrogated without any charge, and their homes were raided.
One of the #Filton10, Ian Saunders, was arrested at his cousin’s house when armed police wearing balaclavas surrounded the building and arrested him with four guns pointing at his head. This was not proportional to his alleged crime, he posed no risk to anyone. Why terrorise him and his family? Despite not being arrested at the scene, Ian is accused of being connected to the action and has subsequently been separated from the other #Filton10 and moved to HMP Belmarsh – dubbed the British Guantanamo.
After all that, the #Filton10 were not charged with a single terror offence! They were charged with aggravated burglary and criminal damage and other criminal offences which would not have given the police the powers they used to abuse the #Filton10. Clearly nothing they had done could vaguely be construed as terrorism and would not stand a chance of being upheld in a court of law. Anti-Terrorism powers were simply misused to strip their rights away, to torment and terrorise them and their families.
And this cloud of ‘have a terrorist connection’, is left hanging over them, even though no terrorism charges were brought. Because of this they didn’t receive bail and are imprisoned on remand. In prison they are also treated as high security terrorists, so are denied their basic rights afforded other prisoners like being able to phone their families. Some of these basic rights were eventually restored – a phone call to their family took 14 days, and a family visit took 22 days, but their appeal for bail on 3rd September was again rejected for no reason other than this ‘terrorist connection’ inference. We also saw this impact their Preliminary hearing.
Preliminary Hearing
We attended the Preliminary hearing of the #Filton10 at the Old Bailey. Supporters had gathered outside the entrance of the court, it was a good turnout for a working day. A huge “Stop Arming Israel” banner dominated the whole street and lively chanting demanding the release of the #Filton10 filled the air.
There was a notice on the door of the court listing all the prohibited items which we could not take with us into the courtroom – everything from chewing gum to combs with sharp edges and of course mobile phones. Yet there was no provision of lockers for us to keep these items in. With limited space in the public gallery, it would mainly be family attending, so this was essentially a way to torment the families. A kind volunteer from Palestine Action looked after our mobile phones and other items whilst we went in. Inside we had to submit to a airport style security check. Only 16 people were allowed to attend, but as we discovered inside there were more places available but were purposely kept empty with out of date covid distancing signs on them.
Justice Jeremy Newport presided over the court. Present were the prosecution barrister and the defendants barristers (each of the Filton 10 had their own barrister) and the defendants solicitor sitting at the back. Only one of the defendants was present in the court – Ian Sanders who, having been separated from the others, had been brought from HMP Belmarsh. The other three male defendants appeared via a video link from HMP Wormwood Scrubs, all sitting together in front of the camera. Also via video link were three female defendants all from HMP Bronzefield. The female members of the #Filton10 have for some reason been kept separated from each other at HMP Bronzefield, and this was reflected in the video feed – each appeared in a different feed.
The other three female defendants were not included at their own hearing. They had been told the previous day to be ready by 7am to be taken to the court, as unlike the others they will be required to be physically present – no reason was given. Then at the last minute they were told they would not be going and were left in there cells, excluded from their own hearing, anxious about their fate being decided without their presence.
Custody Time Limit
Part of the legal framework is the principle of Custody Time Limit (CTL). It “safeguards unconvicted defendants by preventing them from being held in pre-trial custody for an excessive period of time”. The Act and Regulations governing CTL “require the prosecution to progress cases to trial diligently and expeditiously”. The Crown Prosecution Service stipulates that “these limits must be strictly observed and can be extended by the court only in exceptional circumstances.” The maximum custody time limit is for indictable offences – 182 days maximum.
For this case, that runs out on 7th January 2025. So we expected the trial date to be set before that expiry date. But at the hearing Justice Baker scheduled the trial to start over 10 months after expiry of CTL, on November 17 2025! It’s set to last 10 weeks at Woolwich Crown Court.
The judge also set a date for a Plea Hearing at the Old Bailey for January 17 2025, but even that is after the expiry date, and there are indications that chances of getting bail at that late stage are slim.
It would appear in this trial the manufactured ‘terrorist connection’ links allows exceptions which means the rule of law can be ignored.
A jury trial by definition starts when the jury is sworn in, but there are suggestions that the state might, for this trial, define the start of the trial as this preliminary hearing, and then keep the defendants caged for 14 more months before the actual trial starts! In effect they will serve their sentence before they are found guilty of anything, and that seems to be the point.
#Shipley4
The #Shipley4 took direct action in April 2024 to dismantle Teledyne Technologies Shipley weapons factory, costing the company over £500K and disrupting the production of parts for Israel’s missiles and fighter jets.
At their trial last week, the judge ruled out all defences – saying the jury were unable to consider defences such as acting to save lives and preventing the greater crime – basically ordering the jury to find them guilty.
The #Shipley4 represented themselves and gave their own closing speeches to the jury reminding them of their right to acquit according to their conscience.
Defying all the odds the jury refused to convict the activists despite the judge telling them that they had no defence in law for disrupting the production of Israeli missile parts!
The state is expected to try again, at great public cost, to convict them with a new jury in a retrial in February 2026.
Bypassing The Jury - Straight To Punishment
It would seem that with jury’s refusing to convict those trying to stop genocide, despite the judge practically ordering them to convict, the state is now punishing defendants before trial. Refusing them bail and instead making them serve out sentences as high security terrorists before they are found guilty of any crime. This would explain why the #Filton10 trial is being delayed, and why instead they are being imprisoned for 15 months before their trial. The state is afraid the jury will see them as the heroes they are, and set them free.
Political Interference
Palestine Action co-founder Richard Barnard was also arrested under the Terrorism Act. Unbelievably in his case, he has actually been charged with terrorism simply for a speech he made at a Manchester protest the day after Israel unleashed genocide on Gaza, nearly a year ago on 8th October 2023. At his Plea hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday 18 September it was revealed that the Labour government’s new attorney general, Richard Hermer, hand picked by Starmer, personally signed off on the terrorism charges the state is bringing against him.
The veneer of judicial independence, which is meant to be a cornerstone principle of the UK legal system, has (once again) been exposed as a lie. Richard Barnard’s trial and the trial of the #Filton10 are political trials, the state abusing judicial powers to achieve political ends of suppressing dissent against its support of genocide.
The Mothers
One factor the state hasn’t counted on in its bulldozing over the rights of the #Filton10 is the determination of the families to fight for their loved ones, especially the mothers. Despite the pain and suffering they are enduring every day their children are caged, they have an iron will to see justice done. Their children tried to stop genocide, they don’t belong in prison. The mothers will fight for their freedom.
There was a very constructive meeting of the families after the hearing. Whatever strategy they agree on, it’s the responsibility of the community to fully support them in their quest for justice.
