The ‘Filton 24’ are facing serious charges after engaging in a direct action protest at an Elbit Systems weapons manufacturing facility in Filton, near Bristol, in August 2024. Twenty-four pro-Palestinian activists are involved in the action.
In August 2024, six activists from the group Palestine Action allegedly drove a modified prison van into Elbit Systems’ new research, development, and manufacturing hub.
Once inside, they reportedly dismantled and destroyed military equipment, specifically quadcopter drones, which they say are used by the Israeli military in Gaza to target Palestinians.
The action is estimated to have caused over £1 million in damages.
They were arrested at the scene, with a further 18 arrested in subsequent waves of police raids across the country, many under counter-terrorism legislation, bringing the total to 24.
They were held without charge for nearly a week under the Terrorism Act before eventually being charged with non-terrorism property offences.
They argue their actions were a form of civil resistance aimed at disabling weapons production and halting the British government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza by allowing arms exports to Israel.
Most of them were denied bail and have spent over a year in prison awaiting trial – well beyond the usual pre-trial custody limits.
This prolonged detention without trial has drawn widespread condemnation from international human rights lawyers and the United Nations, who describe it as an ‘unprecedented crackdown on the right to protest’ and a potential misuse of anti-terrorism laws for political purposes.
The Filton 24 have pleaded not guilty and their cases have been split into three separate trials scheduled at Woolwich Crown Court to begin in November 2025, April 2026, and June 2026.
On Sunday, November 2nd, Balfour Day, in Bronzefield prison, the first two of the Prisoners for Palestine hunger-strikers, Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib refused food.
This was the start of the first rolling hunger-strike, involving a group of prisoners, in a British prison.
Prisoners for Palestine notified the Home Secretary of the impending hunger-strike on the 20th October but there has been no response from the government.
This lack of response started the hunger strike by Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib.
Twenty year old Qesser, remanded in custody on 19th November 2024, is accused, along with her younger brother Salaam, of being involved in the Palestine Action raid on the Elbit Systems’ Research and Development hub at Filton.
She is not expected to go to trial until April 2026.
Thirty year old Amu Gib was remanded in custody on 3rd July 2025.
Gib is accused, along with four others, of allegedly breaking into the RAF Brize Norton site, Britain’s largest airforce base, and decommissioning three military aircraft. The action allegedly caused £7 million worth of damage.
Qesser has reported mistreatment throughout her time there, including arbitrary restrictions on her books, letters, and visits.
She has been assaulted by guards, her Palestine headscarf, the kuffiyeh, has been taken from her, and in fact all her kuffiyeh-pattern hijabs have been confiscated.
Since the proscription of Palestine Action, she reports that her treatment, and the treatment of the other pro-Palestine prisoners at Bronzefield, has got worse, with guards regularly referring to them as ‘terrorists’, and imposing further restrictions.
Amu also reports mistreatment including having visits and phone calls restricted, regular solitary confinement and removal from a crafting job, becaise she embroidered ‘Free Palestine’ on a cushion.
The prisoners launched their hunger-strike just two weeks before the start of the first Filton 24 trial,which opens today 17th November.
Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at international prisoners’ rights group CAGE, said: ‘The imprisonment of activists under terrorism powers is not a misuse of the law, but rather it is what these laws were built for.
‘Counter-terrorism has always been a tool to silence dissent and criminalise those who challenge state violence.
‘This hunger strike exposes the continuity between Britain’s colonial past and its present-day repression: a government that once carved up Palestine now prosecutes those who demand its freedom.’
The six prisoners, Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Jon Cink, Kamran Ahmed, Teuta ‘T’ Hoxha and Qesser Zurah all state they will refuse food until Elbit is shut down and the prison authorities stop their ‘systematic abuse’.
None of them has been convicted of any crime.
Since Palestine Action’s proscription, at least 2,100 people have been arrested under terror legislation for protesting the ban – more than during the entire ‘war on terror’.
The majority of these people protested by holding up signs reading: ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’.
They include elderly clergy, military veterans and disabled people.
The ban is being challenged with a judicial review in the High Court today, 17 November.
Teuta ‘T’ Hoxha is also one of the Filton 24 hunger strikers. She was arrested under the counter-terrorism laws in a dawn raid in a year ago in November 2024 and charged with criminal damage, aggravated burglary and violent disorder
The activists are alleged to have destroyed over £2 million worth of weapons bound for use in the Gaza genocide.
T has been in prison for most of the past year without trial.
‘Whilst the Filton 24 don’t face terrorism charges, the British prosecutors say that their charges have a “terrorism connection”, which means, if convicted, the judge can increase their sentences and their conditions will become harsher,’ Ammori said.
‘This is the first case in which direct action activists have faced accusations of terrorism.’
Earlier last week, it was reported that Filton 24 activist Sean Middlebrough, 33, nicknamed Shibby, absconded after a temporary release allowing him to attend his brother’s wedding.
Middlebrough didn’t return to HMP Wandsworth and is now being sought by police.
He had been in prison without trial since November 2024 and said he was ‘locked up for 23 hours a day’ in a one-man cell which he was forced to share due to overcrowding.
He is charged with aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder.
The six prisoners on hunger strike have received messages and actions of solidarity from prisoners around the world.
In a statement exclusive to the Electronic Intifada, Middlebrough said he was not a terrorist and should never have been imrisoned in the first place.
After a four-day conditional release on 23 October, Middlebrough did not return to Wandsworth prison in London. Despite regular police checks at his home address, he managed to slip away without his family’s knowledge, sources confirmed to The Electronic Intifada.
Middlebrough, who is from Liverpool, was on remand for a third time in connection with the August 2024 action at the Elbit weapons facility in Filton.
Elbit Systems is one of Israel’s largest arms manufacturers and its British subsidiary operates 16 sites across the country.
During the Filton action, protesters allegedly drove a van into the factory and damaged Israeli weapons developed there. Middlebrough is accused of causing over $2.5 million in damages.
It resulted in, among other things, the destruction of armed quadcopters widely used by the Israeli military in its genocidal aggression in Gaza.
Middlebrough, whose trial date is set for April 2026 and who had already spent a year in pre-trial detention, was facing a total of over 18 months on remand, far exceeding the six-month pre-trial custody time limit.
‘I am not on the run. I am merely being sensible, refusing to be held as a prisoner of war of Israel in a British prison,’ he said .
In January 2024, Middlebrough and five others were detained for allegedly plotting to shut the London Stock Exchange down. He was remanded and charged with conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
That was the second time he had been remanded to prison on charges that were later dropped.
The first was on 15 May 2023, the day Palestinians commemorate the Nakba.
Two Palestine Action protesters forced the temporary closure of Pearson Engineering in Newcastle over its links to Israel.
The British company was bought by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd, an Israeli arms company, in September 2022.
The activists caused over $200,000 in damages during a 27-hour rooftop protest.
Though detained for six weeks in connection with the action, Middlebrough had his charges – of planning the action – dropped before trial.
‘We are not terrorists’ he said.
‘I oppose terror and tyranny in all forms. When we witness a British-backed genocide of the Palestinian people, it is our moral and legal duty to act against it.
‘This is why some of my comrades in the Filton 24 are on an active hunger strike for immediate bail and a fair trial.’