Three Palestine Action activists in the United Kingdom were sentenced on Friday to 20 months in custody for an attack against a US defense company factory, the Crown Prosecution Service announced.
Najam Shah, Julian Gao, and Daniel Jones had been convicted in February for their role in last April’s attack on the Teledyne Defense and Space factory in Shipley.
A fourth member of the Palestine Action group, Ruby Hamill, is set to be sentenced at a later date.
Each of the four was convicted of damaging property and possessing an item with the intent to damage property. Using sledgehammers, crowbars, and fire extinguishers, they spent 16 hours on the facility's roof, smashing windows and shingles.
CPS Yorkshire & Humberside senior crown prosecutor Julian Briggs said in a statement that the vandals had come “equipped, prepared, and determined to cause as much damage as possible.”
Palestine Action member jailed for attack on US defense factory
He noted, “Their reckless disregard for public and private property has come at a combined cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds to the taxpayer and a local employer. It also wasted the precious time of emergency services.”
Briggs added that while “it is not a criminal offense to express political views... the evidence we presented to the jury at trial clearly demonstrated that the actions of these four firmly crossed the line into criminality.”
Briggs noted that attacks on workplaces not only put strain on emergency services but also left workers feeling unsafe.
Palestine Action said at the time that they had attacked the factory under the belief that it had been producing components used in weapon platforms employed by the IDF.
Last July, Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist group for years of vandalism attacks on companies and organizations ostensibly linked to Israel.
In February, a court ruled against the ban, but later that month, the government was given the opportunity to appeal the ruling.
Leon Kraiem contributed to this report.