Independent Reviewer Of Terrorism Legislation Invited To Meet Filton18 Detainee Fatema Zainab

24th January 2025

For Attention:
Jonathan Hall KC
Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation

Dear Jonathan Hall,

Ref: Abuse of counter terrorism powers in Filton 18 case

We are a small community kitchen serving our diverse community of Croydon, Mitcham, and Streatham in South London. One of the Filton 18 activists, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, is a daughter of our community. We are shocked at how counter terrorism powers have been abused in their application against her and the other Filton 18.

I apologise that this is a long letter, but sometimes the human cost of abuse of power is neglected. I want to share Fatema Zainab’s story and that of the other Filton 18.

Background

It is alleged that in the early hours of August 6th 2024, she along with other activists broke into an Israeli armaments research and production facility in Filton, Bristol, and decommissioned weapons, including killer quadcopter drones, as witnessed by the British surgeon Dr Mamode targeting children in Gaza. He broke down whilst giving his eyewitness testimony to the parliamentary International Development Committee on 13 Nov 2024. Subsequently, shipping invoices and arms export licences confirm that this particular facility in Filton, in contravention of UN Human Rights Council resolution demanding an arms embargo of Israel, was supplying armaments to Israel during the genocide in Gaza.

Re-arrested under counter terror powers

The activists were initially arrested under the criminal code for suspicion of aggravated burglary and criminal damage. This allows the police to hold someone for 24 hours before presenting them to a judge. However within the 24 hours, they were rearrested under the counter terrorism legislation and taken to Hammersmith police station.

Clearly what they did cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered terrorism. As the father of one of the activists put it “terrorists use weapons to destroy lives, not destroy weapons to save lives”.

Solitary confinement

The counter terrorism powers allowed the police to lock Fatema Zainab and the other activists for 6 more days in solidarity confinement with no contact with their families. They were harshly interrogated day and night and their homes were raided.

Fatema Zainab’s Muslim headscarf was forcefully ripped of her head, and another religious item she was wearing was binned in front of her after the police had taken photos and were satisfied it wasn’t political. Eventually it was retrieved from the bin and returned to Fatema Zainab after she had a breakdown about it. The officer laughed at Fatema Zainab’s attachment to it.

Bathroom visits were delayed and sometimes denied. She was scolded if she turned around during interrogation sessions. She suffered several major panic attacks resulting in mental and emotional trauma which to this day impacts her mental health.

No terror charges

When she was finally brought in front of a judge on 13th August, the police knowing the terrorist charges were bogus and would never stick, changed the charges back to the lesser aggravated burglary and criminal damage!

More arrested under counter terror powers

And three months later they have repeated this same tactic in the arrest of 8 more activists in November 2024. They were all arrested under counter terrorism legislation.

A video taken by a neighbour, published by Jewish News, shows over 30 armed counter terrorism officers, in a show of force, smash the door of a family home at 6am in the morning before invading, terrorising the family smashing windows and furniture. The family is still traumatised two months after the attack on their home.

Eyewitness accounts reveal one activist was arrested with four guns pointing at his head by armed police wearing balaclavas. Why? He posed no risk to anyone. This level of brutality is a disproportionate use of counter terrorism measures, a clear overreach by the police.

Again none of them were charged with any terrorism charges. Clearly the police are using counter terrorism powers as a punitive measure to terrorise the community, to silence criticism and deter direct action against genocide, knowing full well this is not terrorism. A clear abuse of counter terrorism powers which is central to your remit.

No terror charges but ‘terrorist related’

And it doesn’t end here. Whilst none of the activists are charged under the counter terrorism legislation, their charge sheet mentions an ambiguous phrase “terrorist related”. The inclusion of this has not been explained or justified, but it has meant that at every stage of the legal process the activists have been treated like terrorist suspects without the police needing to provide any evidence or justification.

Denied bail

Fatema Zainab, who just turned 20 the day before her arrest, has no previous convictions. She lives with her parents and has strong roots in the community as a volunteer teacher. In October 2024 she was to start the third year of her degree in Media Studies at Goldsmiths University. Clearly she is no flight risk, yet the judge seeing the “terrorist related” connection on the charge sheet shied away from granting her bail despite all the conditions for bail being met. On appeal she was again denied bail for the same reason.

16 months imprisoned without trial

Instead she was taken to HMP Bronzefield. She was initially caged in the segregation block as a high security prisoner, instead of the induction wing like other new remand prisoners. The Segregated Block is used to punish prisoners. Her cell was soaked in urine and she was kept awake all night by other prisoners in the block banging on doors and screaming. She was not allowed a personal phone call to her parents till 18th August – 13 days after her arrest.

To this day she remains imprisoned on remand at HMP Bronzefield, where she is expect to remain for 16 months until her trial in November 2025.

Treated as a terrorist

Again due to this “terrorist related” cloud hanging over her, in prison she is not treated as other remand prisoners, but as a terrorist. Her rights are severely curtailed as a result.

Non-Association Order

A Non-Association Order (NAO) has been placed on the Filton detainees at HMP Bronzefield to stop them communicating with each other. They cannot be in the same area as another Filton detainee. This means they cannot be in the visitation hall at the same time, or the library, or participate in any of the same prison activities.

There were 6 Filton detainees at HMP Bronzefield so it meant that they were only allowed one visit for every 6 visits other remand prisoner are allowed. With the 8 new arrests in November, there are now a lot more Filton detainees at HMP Bronzefield making it unworkable. The prison has modified the NAO slightly, but now bizarrely has also included Just Stop Oil activists in the same NAO so Filton detainees cannot communicate with them. This reflects the widening misuse of counter terrorism legislation which now also targets other protestors.

This week, as we write this letter, the prison seems to be ramping up its NAO with two of Fatema Zainab’s visits being cancelled this week without any reason, and other Filton detainees confirming similar cancellations.

With so few activities available at Bronzefield it means many have no activities due to the NAO, impacting their mental health. When one of the mothers of a detainee explained to Jonathan French, the then director of HMP Bronzefield, the toll the NAO was taking on the mental health of her daughter, he replied that the application of the NAO was about “risk management”, no doubt due to the ‘terrorist related’ label the detainees have been branded with.

Denied mail

Fatema Zainab has also been denied mail on security grounds. 5 months of mail – 100s of letters and postcards – are being withheld by security, this includes paintings by her 6 year old pupils. This is illegal.

Intrusive medical tests

Fatema Zainab has had to endure degrading “random” intrusive medical tests at 50x the frequency allowed by prison regulations, which other remand prisoners haven’t had to endure. This amounts to torture. When her MP questioned this unprecedented illegal action the prison simply denied it. Medical tests if actually submitted to labs leave a paper trail which cannot easily be erased, but we are not given access.

Everything she has suffered and is suffering in prison is a direct result of the initial abuse of terrorism legislation during arrest and the continued bogus ‘terrorist related’ label the CPS have branded her with. So whilst treatment in prison might not normally be part of your remit, in this case it very much is.

Custody time limit running out

The Custody Time Limit (CTL) where a person is legally allowed to be imprisoned without trial is set at a maximum of 6 months, this runs out on 11th February 2025. 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.” But it seems in this case with the ‘terrorist related’ cloud hanging over it, these rules can be overlooked. Rather than allow Fatema Zainab to be released on bail when the CTL runs out, the judge has instead extended the CTL till 4th April. A hearing will be set before that, sometime in March, to determine if the direct action has a ‘terrorist connection’. If its so determined, then the CTL wil be extended right up to trial.

These abuses of counter terror powers have wrecked the lives of 18 young people whose only crime was to try and stop the killing.

Responsibility as we slide in to a police state

The counter terrorism laws are meant to keep us safe, not to be used against protestors. The use of these draconian powers for political ends, to suppress dissent, are signs we are slipping into a police state. This is happening under your watch Mr Hall, as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation. What are you doing about it?

What advice will you give the government?

We were disappointed to see that whilst the case was before the court, you publicly supported the government’s position on the BBC, in a feature specifically on this case, by stating that mere damage to property can be considered terrorism. Will you now balance that public statement with another public statement condemning this clear abuse of counter terrorism legislation?

It’s interesting that whilst direct action protests by Palestine Action against arms companies have been on-going for many years, this is the first government to use counter terror powers to try and stop this form of protest. Our understanding is that your remit allows you full access to uncover what political interference this government has wielded on behalf of a foreign power. Will you pursue the truth?

Would you be prepared to meet with Fatema Zainab at HMP Bronzefield so she can first hand share with you her experience of the abuse of counter terrorism powers, so that you can better appreciate how ordinary lives are destroyed by this abuse of power?

Your sincerely,

Abbas Ali
Resistance Kitchen
www.ResistanceKitchen.uk