On Friday, a high-profile trial at London’s Woolwich Crown Court heard gripping testimony from six Palestine Action activists charged with criminal damage over an August 2024 break-in at a Bristol-area Elbit Systems facility, with defendants centering their defense on the Israeli arms manufacturer’s development of AI-powered weapons deployed against Palestinian civilians.
The six defendants — Leona Kamio, 30, Charlotte Head, 29, Jordan Devlin, 31, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Samuel Corner, 23 — all stand accused of vandalism and trespassing stemming from the early-morning incursion into Elbit’s Filton research and development factory, located just outside Bristol in western England.
Taking the witness stand Friday, Rogers, a north London resident with diagnosed autism and ADHD, told the court she and Kamio targeted factory computer systems specifically because of Elbit’s documented work on AI tools that enable more precise targeting of civilians in conflict zones. She explained that the Filton site is not a general manufacturing facility, but a core R&D hub advancing cutting-edge weapons technology for the Israeli government, including AI-driven decision support and targeting systems. Publicly available information on Elbit’s own website confirms the state-owned Israeli firm’s development of world-leading AI-powered decision support systems, built on decades of specialized experience in military simulation and weapons technology.
In his afternoon testimony, Devlin — a product designer from Ballymena, Northern Ireland — echoed Rogers’ framing, calling Elbit’s AI tools the most lethal component of the company’s weapons arsenal. He argued that disrupting the early development stage of these systems would prevent countless future civilian deaths. “If you can disable these AI systems while they are still being refined, you are directly saving lives,” Devlin told the jury. Rogers added that the group’s core goal entering the facility was to disable Elbit’s “killer drones” and save as many civilian lives as possible, telling the court: “I remember destroying weapons used to kill children.”
Rogers told the court she had reviewed public footage of Elbit’s Thor BTOL quadcopter drone, a model the company produces that has been openly deployed in the Gaza Strip, where it is used to drop grenades on civilian populations. Rajwani, Rogers’ co-defendant, confirmed Friday that she specifically targeted Elbit’s quadcopter drones during the incursion, saying: “This is a weapon I knew would kill or injure children. My specific intention was to dismantle drones and other weaponry, and I damaged computer systems along with drone components.”
The trial this week has shown jurors raw on-site footage of the incursion, capturing violent confrontations between the activists, on-site security guards and responding police officers. During the clashes, multiple defendants suffered injuries after being hit with a sledgehammer, struck by police tasers, and sprayed with Pava, a potent synthetic pepper spray authorized for UK law enforcement use. Jurors have also heard details of encounters between defendants and security: footage shown Friday captured on-site guard Angelo Volante shouting at Rajwani and Head to “get on the floor.” Rajwani, a Tanzanian-born British student who works four part-time jobs, told the court the encounter left lasting psychological trauma: “Volante is one of the scariest people I have ever encountered. I still have nightmares about his shouting.”
After her initial arrest for the break-in, Rajwani told the court she was subsequently re-arrested on terrorism offenses. As a visibly Muslim woman of color who grew up in the UK, she described overwhelming fear following the second arrest: “I grew up hearing what terrorism charges mean for people like me. I associate that label with torture and unfair trials. I was terrified I would never get out of custody.” Rajwani added that she brought a GoPro camera to the factory to both document Elbit’s weapons development and live broadcast the action to global audiences.
Rogers, who shared autism and ADHD diagnoses with Corner, told the court she joined Palestine Action after embracing the group’s model of direct action — creating change directly rather than lobbying government officials for reform. Her defense attorney Audrey Cherryl Mogan presented a 2023 Palestine Action document prepared to train activists for the risk of imprisonment, which reads: “Becoming a prisoner for taking action against Israel’s arms trade is proof of causing significant costs to the arms industry and its protector, the imperial British state. In a neutered, pacified society that tolerates a business model built on the genocide of Palestinian people, taking action is not only crucial, but a rare act of meaningful solidarity.” Rogers confirmed she shared this core belief, though she told the court she never wanted to be imprisoned, and has already been unable to resume her university studies while detained. She also criticized the UK’s prison system as a profit-driven enterprise.
In closing testimony Friday, Devlin shared his personal background growing up Catholic in the majority-Protestant town of Ballymena, noting that a British soldier saved his grandfather’s life after he was nearly beaten to death by loyalist paramilitaries. The court was also told that Devlin, a working product designer, created a statue that won singer Sam Fender the 2023 Mercury Prize. Devlin told the jury he has seen senseless violence up close throughout his life, saying: “I grew up surrounded by violence, and it has always seemed senseless to me that humans inflict this harm on each other. There is no reason to accept extreme violence as inevitable, when we can stop it at its source.” He added that Palestine Action’s core goal is to force Elbit to cease all operations in the UK: “It is an absolutely horrific company, and I cannot understand why it is still allowed to operate here.”
On Thursday, Corner testified about his confrontation with Sergeant Kate Evans, who was struck twice during the incursion. Corner told the jury he had already been incapacitated by Pava spray, and mistook Evans for an aggressive security guard attacking a fellow activist. The trial is ongoing.