A British judge has ruled that five members of the Palestine Action group convicted over an attack on a Barclays Bank branch that caused damage of 212,000 pounds ($290,000) will not be sentenced under terrorism provisions.
Brendon O’Hagan, 28, Amanda Kelly, 31, Hmeera Atiqnisar, 31, Mohammed Malik, 28, and Alma Yaniv, 70, were convicted in June of causing damage to a branch of the bank on St James’s Street in the town of Burnley in Lancashire in August 2024.
The five defendants, known as the “Barclays five,” said the action was intended to pressure Barclays to withdraw financial support for Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.
As Judge Robert Altham announced his ruling at Preston Crown Court on Friday, scores of their supporters gathered outside erupted into cheers and pro-Palestine chants.
In a joint statement, the activists said they were “extremely relieved that the court has seen sense and decided not to sentence us as terrorists.”
“This should never have been an option,” they said. “We were on trial for charges of criminal damage, for damaging some windows and spraying red paint on a Barclays branch. At no point during the trial were we, or the jury, informed that, if convicted, we could face being sentenced as terrorists.”
The five defendants are due to be sentenced for criminal damage at Preston Crown Court on September 4.
Palestine Action was not a proscribed terrorist organization when the attack took place.
The UK government proscribed the group in July 2025 following a series of direct-action protests targeting Elbit Systems over its links to the Israeli regime’s military.
The High Court ruled the ban disproportionate and unlawful in February, but the Court of Appeal overturned that decision in June.
According to the rights group Defend our Juries, more than 3,500 people – many over the age of 60 – have been arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action after it was proscribed by politicians in July 2025, placing it on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups.
Rights groups have long decried the ban on Palestine Action as an illiberal overreach by the British government, calling on the ruling Labour Party to lift it.
