UK Judge Rejects Terrorism Sentencing for Palestine Action Activists

A British judge has ruled that five activists convicted of vandalizing a Barclays bank branch in Lancashire will not be sentenced under terrorism legislation. The decision follows a high-stakes legal debate over whether the group's protest actions against investments in Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems warranted extreme sentencing guidelines.

Corp and Tech·August 21, 2026·reads: 448

Judge Robert Altham determined that the defendants—Brendon O’Hagan, 28; Amanda Kelly, 31; Hmeera Atiqnisar, 31; Mohammed Malik, 28; and Alma Yaniv, 70—did not commit crimes rising to the level of terrorism. Instead, they will face sentencing in September for criminal damage, a charge that carries significantly lighter penalties. The group was found guilty in June of causing more than £200,000 in damage to the Barclays facility in Burnley during an August 2024 protest.

Defense attorneys had argued that applying terrorism sentencing would be inappropriate, noting that the group was not proscribed as a terrorist organization when the vandalism occurred. In a joint statement, the activists expressed relief, asserting that a terrorism-related sentence should never have been considered for what they described as acts of property damage involving windows and red paint. The ruling was met with celebration by supporters outside the court, with Dove Malik, mother of one of the defendants, calling the outcome a victory for the right to protest.