Zoe Rogers entered the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol and was accused of smashing drones with a sledgehammer. She has been cleared of criminal damage
Zoe Rogers arriving at Woolwich Crown Court, London(Image: PA)
A Palestine Action activist who faced trial accused of criminal damage over a raid at an Israel-linked defence firm’s UK site has said she will “never regret” being involved in the direct action.
Zoe Rogers, 22, was cleared of criminal damage over the break-in at the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol.
She was one of six activists who entered the site in the early hours of August 6 2024, wearing red jumpsuits. She was accused of smashing drones with a sledgehammer.
Prosecutors said she and her co-accused had attempted to “cause as much damage as possible and obtain information about the company”, while the group said they aimed to damage drones and equipment to protect Palestinians.
Asked why she took part in the break-in, Ms Rogers told the Press Association: “I signed petitions, spoke to my MP, went on marches, I even did a picket outside an arms factory.
“And it was clear to me that none of it was working; the democratic process had failed to protect Palestinians from genocide and the only option left was to take direct action.”
Ms Rogers was tried alongside Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, Fatema Rajwani and Jordan Devlin.
Head, Corner, Kamio and Rajwani were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court last week of criminal damage, while Corner was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm when he fractured a police officer’s spine during the raid.
Mr Devlin and Ms Rogers were both cleared of criminal damage.
Ms Rogers, who lives in east London, said the action, when the site was smashed into with an old prison van and the six carried sledgehammers, was “terrifying”.
“It was terrifying because of the level of violence we faced from both security guards and police,” she said.
Prosecutors told their trial that as security guards tried to stop the raid, they were sworn at and told to leave, had sledgehammers swung at them and were whipped, while one was sprayed with a foam fire extinguisher.
Security guard Angelo Volante told a previous trial that the activists were “armed and threatening us with harm” and in footage could be heard saying, “if you swing that once more it’s going to get really serious”.
Mr Volante, who took a sledgehammer from one of the defendants, denied swinging it at them, telling jurors: “Being really serious did not mean using the sledgehammer.”
But the defendants insisted violence was not part of the plan, while Corner maintained that he hit Police Sergeant Kate Evans to protect Kamio.
Ms Rogers spent nearly 18 months in custody while awaiting trial.
Asked if she regrets her action, Ms Rogers said: “I’ll never regret what I did, because there is a good chance that my actions, or all of our actions, that night saved people’s lives.
“Obviously, I was not expecting to be arrested for terrorism and held for three times the length of the legal limit, but no, I won’t, I’ll never regret my actions.”
Ms Rogers, who was 20 at the time of the incident, said she admitted that she damaged property but said: “There are supposed to be protections in law for people who damage property to save lives”.
Of her and Mr Devlin being cleared, she said: “Anything I say on it will be speculation, but I think it is clear that the jury didn’t want to convict us of criminal damage despite the fact that we both said we damaged property.
“But I’m not surprised that the jury convicted four of them of criminal damage because they (the jury) weren’t really given any other options.”
The 22-year-old was cleared of aggravated burglary and violent disorder in a first trial from November to February, after which she was freed on bail, and cleared of criminal damage following a second retrial, which concluded in May.
In pre-trial rulings that can now be reported, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutors said that although the defendants didn’t face charges under anti-terror laws, they believed their actions had a “terrorism connection”.
At the first court hearing, trial judge Mr Justice Johnson agreed with the CPS assessment, but decided that the terrorism connection would not form part of the criminal trial.
Speaking of her time in custody, Ms Rogers said she was “treated as a terrorist” and said she faced book bans and was not able to go to the gym.
“It (her time in prison) does feel unjust, but what’s happening to my co-defendants is far more unjust,” Ms Rogers said.
“And it’s something that everyone should be concerned about because it will set a precedent in UK law where you can be found guilty of something as simple as criminal damage and be sentenced as a terrorist.”
Mr Justice Johnson may still be asked to consider a terror link to the raid when he passes sentence on June 12.
Supporters of the defendants have complained of a “stitch-up” that jurors considering the case during the trial were not told of the terror connection.
A case with a terrorist connection will attract a higher sentence on conviction, and offenders must notify police of personal information when they are released, according to the CPS.
Ms Rogers said she believes her case is being used by the Government to “justify the proscription of Palestine Action”, which was banned as a terrorist organisation in July last year.
The controversial move was declared unlawful by the High Court in February this year.
The Court of Appeal is currently considering an appeal by the Government, but it is not yet known if it will have delivered its ruling when the judge sentences Ms Rogers’s co-accused next month.
“It’s been clear since our arrest that the Government has been using our case to justify the proscription Palestine Action, and since they were humiliated in both the press and the public courts, they are trying to justify it through the back door in our case,” Ms Rogers said.
“I’m concerned not just for my co-defendants, but about the deterioration of the rule of law in this country.
“This is not what happens in a democracy, and I think everyone should be terrified, quite frankly.”
Ms Rogers, who had been due to start university in autumn 2024, said she is not sure what the future holds.
“I still have that place at university, but I don’t know, my life has been irrevocably changed by this,” she said.
“I’m going to continue to support my co-defendants who are facing being sentenced as terrorists.”
She urged supporters to attend the June 12 sentencing for Head, Corner, Kamio and Rajwani, who were remanded into custody after being convicted.