LONDON, 12 June. - (ANA) - Top UK lawyers, along with hundreds of health workers, are calling for Woolwich Crown Court not to sentence four Palestine Action activists as terrorists ahead of their sentencing on Friday.

 

Over 50 lawyers and legal professionals, including Michael Mansfield KC and Liz Davies KC, signed an open letter on Wednesday denouncing the judge's plans to sentence the activists, despite the jury not convicting them of a terrorism offence.

 

"It's unusual for lawyers to speak out publicly on active criminal proceedings," a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries told The New Arab. "That so many eminent lawyers and law professors have felt compelled to do so, gives some indication of the constitutional significance of this case."

 

At the same time, hundreds of health workers, including clinicians who have worked in the Gaza Strip, warned the court on Wednesday not to sentence the activists as having a "terrorism connection".

 

"Sentencing people as terrorists for damaging the weapons of genocide is not acceptable in a democracy and is inconsistent with the rule of law," the Defend Our Juries spokesperson said.

 

Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, and Fatema Rajwani, known as the "Filton 4", were found guilty on 5 May of criminal damage, while Corner was also convicted of grievous bodily harm without intent for striking police officer Kate Evans with a sledgehammer.

 

 A further two activists, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin, were acquitted.

 

It was revealed in May that the judge is expected to add a "terrorist connection" to the Filton 4's charges under section 69 of the Sentencing Act. A terrorism sentencing would mean extension in jail sentences; restrictions on early release, and individuals would be registered as terrorists for up to 15 years.

 

In their letter, the lawyers said: "Blurring the distinction between principled direct action and terrorism is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes."

 

The lawyers said that saying convictions for criminal damage are on a par with acts of terrorism "cannot be right".

 

"We, the undersigned, consider it vital to the integrity of the criminal justice system that the Filton 4 are sentenced on the same basis that they were convicted…with the conscientious motive of saving lives, upholding international humanitarian law and preventing unimaginable human suffering", the letter reads.

 

The health workers raised similar concerns, condemning the use of terrorism powers against the defendants.

 

A letter signed by doctors, nurses, psychologists, therapists, paramedics, midwives and other health workers, including some who have worked in Gaza during Israel's genocidal war said, "the defendants acted in the context of a genocide, a destroyed healthcare system, and a war in which the means of surveillance and targeting are inseparable from the means of injury".

 

"Saving lives is not terror," it added.

 

The letter added that health workers have a duty not only to treat the wounded, but to address the conditions that produce the wounds.

 

"Where state action, corporate conduct, or military supply chains contribute to mass preventable injury, our professional and ethical responsibilities require us to speak. Silence in the face of preventable atrocity is not neutrality. It is complicity." 

 

Following Judge Jeremy Johnson's announcement that he intended to sentence the activists as "terrorists", they filed an application to remove the judge, alleging bias and discrimination.

 

Johnson refused to recuse himself despite apologising over his previous attempt to have the lead defence barrister, Rajiv Menon KC, prosecuted for contempt of court.

 

Protests are expected ahead of the sentencing, with Defend Our Juries set to hold a silent vigil outside the court on Friday.

 

"People will hold signs saying 'Saving Lives is Not Terrorism. I Support Palestine Action'. The intention of the vigil is to highlight the British government's complicity in genocide, and its weaponisation of terrorism laws to repress opposition to genocide," the Defend Our Juries spokesperson said.

 

"By now we're familiar with the Met's response to people peacefully protesting against the weaponisation of terrorism laws. They will arrest us for terrorism too. Obviously we don't welcome that, but it won't hold us back."

 

"Whatever the outcome, we already know it's the Filton 4, not Mr Justice Johnson, who stand on the right side of history."   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/12 June 2026 - - -