By Anam Alam

 

LONDON, 21 August. - (ANA) - After more than 38 hours of deliberations, a jury at London's Old Bailey was discharged on Wednesday after failing to reach verdicts in the case of eight members of the “Filton 25”, pro-Palestine activists prosecuted over a direct-action protest targeting an Israeli weapons manufacturer in Bristol, southwest England.

 

Ian Sanders, Aleksandra Herbich, Teuta Hoxha, Sean Middleborough, Julija Brigadirova, Hannah Davidson, Madeleine Norman and William Plastow were charged with criminal damage in connection with an August 2024 protest at Elbit Systems in Filton, near Bristol.

 

The protest caused damage to 40 Israeli-made weapons, including quadcopter drones.

 

Hoxha was among six activists who carried out a hunger strike while being held in prison.

 

The eight activists, who have been on trial at the Old Bailey since June, denied the charges. They were accused of helping to organise the action despite not being present at the Elbit site during the protest itself.

 

 

Prosecutors alleged that they were involved in drawing up an equipment list, carrying out reconnaissance, purchasing tools and weapons, coordinating the break-in and filming the action.

 

The activists were previously acquitted of aggravated burglary after a jury acquitted six of their co-defendants of the same charge in February 2026.

 

During the latest trial, the judge also dismissed a charge of violent disorder against Plastow.

 

At least two juries have now been discharged without reaching verdicts in the Filton 25 trials, while a third jury failed to reach verdicts on several charges before being discharged.

 

The Crown Prosecution Service will now have to decide whether to seek a retrial. The judge has scheduled the next hearing in the case for 14 September.

 

The latest development comes after four other activists, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, Charlotte Head and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, were sentenced under terrorism provisions following criminal damage convictions, despite not being convicted of terrorism offences by the jury.

 

Their sentencing was condemned by supporters as an escalation in the suppression of pro-Palestine protest in Britain.

 

Palestine Action, which has targeted companies it accuses of facilitating Israel's military operations against Palestinians, was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government on 5 July 2025.

 

The decision drew widespread criticism from lawyers, human rights organisations and politicians, who warned that the use of terrorism legislation against the group threatened fundamental rights to protest and political expression.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/21 August 2026 - - -