Since the retrial of six Palestine Action (PA) activists began on April 13, the defendants have been barred under court order from using terms like “genocide” or discussing the target of their direction action protests. Meanwhile, supporters of PA have beenarrestedoutside the court for holding signs advising jurors of their right to acquit the defendants based on conscience.

Now, a draft court order reviewed by The Grayzone reveals how the presiding judge has sought to comprehensively neutralize the PA activists’ ability to defend themselves by imposing crippling restrictions on what can be said in closing speeches. Under threat of secret contempt of court charges, the jury may be improperly swayed to convict them of serious crimes, not knowing harsh “terrorism”-related sentences will be attached.

PA was formed in 2020 to challenge the presence of Israeli weapons factories on British soil through hundreds of direct actions which focused exclusively on inflicting property damage. The group’s tactics have proved remarkably effective, causing millions in damage to Israel’s Elbit Systems and the closure of numerous factories across Britain. After Elbit appealed to the British state,it beganconspiring with the weapons manufacturerto crack down on the activists.

The six PA activists currently on trial – Samuel Corner, Jordan Devlin, Charlotte Head, Leona Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, and Zoe Rogers – wereacquitted of aggravated burglaryin February. As The Grayzoneexposed on April 12, a biased presiding Judge Jeremy Johnson sought to engineer a legal stitchup before the retrial to ensure the defendants were convicted. A former barrister for the MI6 and Metropolitan Police, Johnson has forbidden the jury from knowing that he can sentence the defendants on “terrorism” charges if they are convicted on lesser criminal charges.

During last February’s trial, Judge Johnson employed countless connivances to limit what evidence jurors could hear, while limiting the defenses they could consider when ruling on defendants’ guilt. PA lawyer Rajiv Menon used his closing remarks to remind jurors of their historiclegal rightto acquit based on conscience, known as jury equity. In multiple previous trials, PA activists had secured acquittals by arguing that their actions were necessary to prevent the much more grave crime of killing of civilians from taking place.

After the February trial of the six activists failed to produce a conviction, Judge Johnson initiated unprecedented contempt of court proceedings to punish Menon, the defense lawyer, for his successful closing arguments.

In the rigged retrial, the activists could be sentenced to as many as eight years in prison on criminal damage charges alone, and without jurors being aware of the penalties involved. Imprisoned activists would not be eligible for early parole, and their eventual release would have to be approved by a dedicated board for terror cases. They would be subject to control orders and police surveillance when freed.

To secure these convictions, Johnson has imposed a new secret gag order on defendants and their lawyers. If they dare to violate it, they face prison for contempt of court.

A copy of the order obtained by The Grayzone exposes Judge Johnson’s egregious weaponization of contempt of court charges to sway jurors. Defendants and their lawyers are prevented from mentioning the principle of jury equity, which holds that a judge is forbidden from “[directing] a jury to convict.” They are also prohibited from inviting jurors to acquit the six activists based on conscience. That the activists believed “they had a defence to a charge of criminal damage” under British law likewise cannot be uttered.

Judge Johnson’s order furthermore bars the defendants and their lawyers from doing the following:

Source: The Grayzone