• Re: Palestine Action group cleared of Elbit burglary

    From Pancho@Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com to uk.legal.moderated on Mon Feb 16 10:15:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.legal.moderated

    On 2/4/26 13:04, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    Six Palestine Action activists who had been accused of aggravated
    burglary of Elbit Systems in August 2024 have been cleared of those
    charges by a jury.

    They were also charged with criminal damage and violent disorder;
    some of these charges they were found not guilty and some there was
    no verdict returned.

    This includes the person who was accused of hitting a policewoman
    with a sledgehammer - no verdict was returned on the GBH charge
    relating to that. I am told there is some doubt as to the accuracy
    of the prosecution's story, and that the defence video evidence
    put the whole incident in quite a different light to the video
    evidence shown by the prosecution.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wxlv99xrjo


    This appears to be a convenient result for the government. It will allow
    them to quietly drop the prosecutions against 1000s of peaceful
    political protestors without considering the political challenge to
    terrorist proscription. Even given our governments have abolished jury
    trials, it would still have been a terrible political look to convict
    these people.

    So the point is not about Palestine Action or its criminal activity, or
    even about offering material support for Palestine Action. The issue is
    about the repression of political free speech. This verdict is about protecting the Terrorism Act as a tool to stifle political criticism of
    our government. It saves the government from fighting a battle they
    wouldn't win.

    If they lost the battle with regard to expressing political support for Palestine Action, which looked likely, people would have naturally
    questioned why it needed to be a criminal offence to express political
    support for Hamas, etc.

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Jon Ribbens@jon+usenet@unequivocal.eu to uk.legal.moderated on Mon Feb 16 12:34:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.legal.moderated

    On 2026-02-16, Pancho <Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> wrote:
    On 2/4/26 13:04, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    Six Palestine Action activists who had been accused of aggravated
    burglary of Elbit Systems in August 2024 have been cleared of those
    charges by a jury.

    They were also charged with criminal damage and violent disorder;
    some of these charges they were found not guilty and some there was
    no verdict returned.

    This includes the person who was accused of hitting a policewoman
    with a sledgehammer - no verdict was returned on the GBH charge
    relating to that. I am told there is some doubt as to the accuracy
    of the prosecution's story, and that the defence video evidence
    put the whole incident in quite a different light to the video
    evidence shown by the prosecution.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wxlv99xrjo

    This appears to be a convenient result for the government. It will allow them to quietly drop the prosecutions against 1000s of peaceful
    political protestors without considering the political challenge to terrorist proscription. Even given our governments have abolished jury trials, it would still have been a terrible political look to convict
    these people.

    If you're right then the government can't breathe too big a sigh of
    relief just yet, given the CPS is going ahead with retrials. If they
    choose more sensible charges then they will probably get convictions.
    We'll find out on Wednesday apparently.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2j458gy1eo

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Niocl=C3=A1s_P=C3=B3l_Caile=C3=A1n?= de Ghloucester@thanks-to@Taf.com to uk.legal.moderated on Mon Feb 16 14:16:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.legal.moderated

    Pancho <Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> wrote: |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
    |"On 2/4/26 13:04, Jon Ribbens wrote: |
    Six Palestine Action activists who had been accused of aggravated | burglary of Elbit Systems in August 2024 have been cleared of those | charges by a jury. |
    |[. . .] |
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wxlv99xrjo |
    |[. . .] |
    |[. . .] Even given our governments have abolished jury | |trials, it would still have been a terrible political look to convict | |these people. |
    | |
    |[. . .] |
    |[. . .] This verdict is about | |protecting the Terrorism Act as a tool to stifle political criticism of|
    |our government. It saves the government from fighting a battle they | |wouldn't win." | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|

    Governments and judges are untrustworthy. We need juries which consist
    of non-professional judges!
    (S. HTTP://Gloucester.Insomnia247.NL/ fuer Kontaktdaten!)

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Norman Wells@hex@unseen.ac.am to uk.legal.moderated on Mon Feb 16 16:30:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.legal.moderated

    On 16/02/2026 12:34, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2026-02-16, Pancho <Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> wrote:
    On 2/4/26 13:04, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    Six Palestine Action activists who had been accused of aggravated
    burglary of Elbit Systems in August 2024 have been cleared of those
    charges by a jury.

    They were also charged with criminal damage and violent disorder;
    some of these charges they were found not guilty and some there was
    no verdict returned.

    This includes the person who was accused of hitting a policewoman
    with a sledgehammer - no verdict was returned on the GBH charge
    relating to that. I am told there is some doubt as to the accuracy
    of the prosecution's story, and that the defence video evidence
    put the whole incident in quite a different light to the video
    evidence shown by the prosecution.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wxlv99xrjo

    This appears to be a convenient result for the government. It will allow
    them to quietly drop the prosecutions against 1000s of peaceful
    political protestors without considering the political challenge to
    terrorist proscription. Even given our governments have abolished jury
    trials, it would still have been a terrible political look to convict
    these people.

    If you're right then the government can't breathe too big a sigh of
    relief just yet, given the CPS is going ahead with retrials.

    Those are against the Palestine Action activists who were simply
    prosecuted for criminal damage. It was nothing to do with terrorism or
    that organisation being proscribed because it wasn't at the time.

    If they
    choose more sensible charges then they will probably get convictions.

    What more sensible charges than criminal damage which seem entirely on
    point?


    We'll find out on Wednesday apparently.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2j458gy1eo



    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Pancho@Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com to uk.legal.moderated on Mon Feb 16 17:52:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.legal.moderated

    On 2/16/26 16:30, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 16/02/2026 12:34, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2026-02-16, Pancho <Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> wrote:
    On 2/4/26 13:04, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    Six Palestine Action activists who had been accused of aggravated
    burglary of Elbit Systems in August 2024 have been cleared of those
    charges by a jury.

    They were also charged with criminal damage and violent disorder;
    some of these charges they were found not guilty and some there was
    no verdict returned.

    This includes the person who was accused of hitting a policewoman
    with a sledgehammer - no verdict was returned on the GBH charge
    relating to that. I am told there is some doubt as to the accuracy
    of the prosecution's story, and that the defence video evidence
    put the whole incident in quite a different light to the video
    evidence shown by the prosecution.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wxlv99xrjo

    This appears to be a convenient result for the government. It will allow >>> them to quietly drop the prosecutions against 1000s of peaceful
    political protestors without considering the political challenge to
    terrorist proscription. Even given our governments have abolished jury
    trials, it would still have been a terrible political look to convict
    these people.

    If you're right then the government can't breathe too big a sigh of
    relief just yet, given the CPS is going ahead with retrials.

    Those are against the Palestine Action activists who were simply
    prosecuted for criminal damage.-a It was nothing to do with terrorism or that organisation being proscribed because it wasn't at the time.

    If they
    choose more sensible charges then they will probably get convictions.

    What more sensible charges than criminal damage which seem entirely on point?


    Yes, you are correct, but to be fair to Jon I posted to the wrong thread
    :o(. I meant to post to the judicial review thread "Palestine Action"
    not the Elbit one.

    Apologies for the confusion.

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2