Back in August 2024, Sam Corner, Ellie Kamio, Lottie Head and Fatema Zainab Rajwani were among a group of six activists who broke into a factory operated by Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems, located in the Filton neighbourhood of Bristol. Once inside, the activists damaged or dismantled some of the military equipment they found, include sniper quadcopter drones whose documented use has contributed to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine.

The activists were arrested on the scene and kept in prison on remand for more than eighteen months. Once their case eventually went to trial in November 2025 they readily acknowledged that the purpose of their raid on the Filton factory was to put some of Elbit’s munitions out of use. Although their judge Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson set exceptionally severe limits on what they and their barristers were allowed to tell the jury, they tried to explain that they had intended to damage these weapons in order to save the lives of at least a few people exposed to Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza. Presumably because they were convinced by these explanations, in February 2026 the jury refused to convict any of the Filton defendants on any charge; they acquitted them of the more serious charges like aggravated burglary, and left the lesser charge of criminal damage undecided.

Government prosecutors quickly decided to retry the Filton activists on this lesser charge, and judge Johnson now imposed even stricter limits on their lawyers could tell the new jury (or share with the wider public). This new jury was then asked to rule on whether or not the six Filton activists had committed acts of criminal damage. In the light of the judge’s instructions, on 5 May the jury found four of the six guilty as charged. What the jurors didn’t know, however -- and what until recently the wider public also hasn’t known -- is that from the beginning of the trial the judge was planning to sentence those convicted not for the relatively mild offence of criminal damage but for the much more serious and life-changing crime of terrorism.

If the prosecution application is successful, the Filton 4 will see their jail sentences extended, early release provisions disapplied, and upon eventual release they could be licensed as terrorists for up to 15 years, requiring them to register any new device, bank account, email, or relationship with the police.

This is a test case, and if the Filton judge gets away with this, the precedent could help to suppress all forms of conscientious protest. (In addition to criminalising perfectly legitimate slogans like “globalise the intifada,” one minor indication of the government’s current priorities is suggested by the fact that, immediately after he secured these Filton convictions in early May, judge Johnson was promoted to the role of Deputy Senior Presiding Judge of England and Wales).

As the campaigning civil liberties group Defend Our Juries has explained, if Keir Starmer’s judiciary is allowed to slap a vaguely worded “terrorist connection” on to a non-terrorist offence then such chilling tactics “could be used against any activist accused of criminal damage relating to any cause, regardless of whether they are connected to a group or organisation. This would be the first time in British history that this has ever happened. We must oppose this with all our might.”

This open letter collects signatures from educators and will be handed into the court before the sentencing on June 12th, with a copy published online at www.protestisnotterrorism.uk