There is a multifaceted nature to our case. As there is to any battle between the truth and injustice, especially when they are waged within legal spheres. Political life always contains multitudes. We are acting within a world that we want to not be, or want it to be different. This creates tensions between what is and what could be. The present reality being as real as the desire for something else. The gap between them growing ever larger. Our task still remains: to strive to bring them closer, to eventually becoming one. Keep the possibilities of an otherwise present in all our actions, while not ignoring the conditions of the now. This is not an easy task. However, only by taking the gloom of the present as seriously as the hope that resistance brings can we begin to untangle our way out of a reality that only serves the interests of capital and Empire.

There is a contradiction inherent to political repression. In other words, the cell that surrounds my entire existence is as real as are the opportunities to turn repression on itself. The material effects of incarceration, surveillance or policing are too grave to be brushed over. Political repression must be taken seriously because the harm that it inflicts is serious. If we bury it under romanticised notions of the strong revolutionary whose political convictions can always keep them far above the prison or the police cell, we risk the spreading of silent fear through our communities. For no one can lift to that kind of absolute fearlessness. Similarly, discipline, in the hands of the individual, isn’t always enough to push the impacts of violence and repression away from our bodies, our minds, and from the realm of our collective imagination.

The Zionist occupying force has recently passed a law legalising the death penalty. The mandatory death sentence only applies to convictions passed by the military courts and thus affects solely Palestinian prisoners. The colonial judicial system codified apartheid and Genocide even deeper into its foundations. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. As horrific as the prospect of yet another method of ethnic cleansing is, the fact that the occupying power will now be able to enact court-sanctioned executions only further proves that Palestinians were never able to rely on the law as a force for justice. It has always been yet another tool, deployed to protect the coloniser and terrorise the indigenous population. This framing is not an invitation to give in to the oppressor’s escalatory tactics- on the contrary, it uncovers the range of strategies that are necessary to break the brutality of Zionism.

Repression, enacted through the law, can only be combatted by means that go far beyond the courts. While the degree of brutality is not comparable in the slightest, British law was also codified with specific class and racial interests in mind. Throughout the months in prison I have met many women who have been labelled as criminals because of poverty and daring to attempt to survive in a system that positions them outside of the mainstream understanding of productivity and therefore, makes them surplus to a capitalist system. They are the ones supposedly causing harm, while war criminals are rewarded with ever-increasing opportunities that war and imperialism offers to them. The law was never meant to serve those acting against the status quo, or those already disenfranchised. Therefore, we must reclaim our case from the legal sphere, which, however important, can never be our only battlefield.

Our ability to appropriate the state’s counter-insurgency operation is, in fact, evident today in this room. It is not a product of our naivety or blindness to the mind of the systems that we’re up against. The strength of our movement lies in our collective awareness of those systems, contradicted by our ability to use repression as a unifying force, an opportunity to charge back and expose the real crimes committed in this country and overseas. If repression was ever meant to pacify, it is doing the opposite. By deploying a full arsenal of their powers against a “threat to national security” in the form of two people on E-scooters and a couple litres of paint – the war machine appears everything but strong. They show us how little is needed to make a dent in the carefully orchestrated military operations and the weapons trade adjacent to them. Western imperialism relies on pacified domestic populations, on a disconnect between what happened here on British soil and the violence inflicted upon lands and populations whose extermination or control the West desires.

The injustice we are facing is not surprising, but it is wrong. It can only be combatted by continuing to move forward, by collective bravery and truth. So thank you all for fighting for us, fighting with us, and expanding the fight far beyond us. Free Palestine and Shut Down the Imperial War Machine.

Assalamu Alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. All praise is to Allah, who is our sustainer and protector, and is everlasting.

Today is day 8 of my hunger strike, which means the state has 6 more days to enter into negotiations, otherwise I stop drinking water. The choice now rests with them. My admiration goes to all my fellow prisoners who have been on hunger strike. I can only wish to have the same level of strength and bravery as them. As we come to the end of the first Filton trial and await the outcome of the judicial review of Palestine Action’s proscription, many of us still face up to a year on remand.

I also want to take this opportunity to talk about my demands. I’m also now demanding the release of surveillance footage from RAF spy flights during the murder of British aid workers for the world food programme in Gaza, as well as full disclosure of evidence regarding the damage figure for the action at RAF Brize Norton.

I believe the timing has never been better and victory is near inshallah. That is why I have continued my hunger strike, despite my solidarity, admiration and support for my fellow prisoners who have recently paused. Despite the wins we have already achieved, I refuse to accept the state’s unwillingness to negotiate, not to mention I have experienced an increase in prison censorship since beginning my hunger strike last month.

I also cannot help but feel immense rage at the system that allowed prisoners to starve and gave them no choice but to pause their hunger strike or die.

I said I wanted to call the state’s bluff, and I will. Especially since they seem to be okay with potentially causing permanent damage to our bodies.

Like I said, they have 6 more days to enter into negotiations. I put my trust in Allah, and trust all of you to keep fighting. I am certain that neither Allah nor the people will abandon me. The system exposes itself for its fragility when they feel the need to confiscate my phone every time there is a protest outside the prison.

Now is not the time to slow down. Not while Palestine is still occupied, and not whilst our brothers and sisters remain in prison, in Palestine, the UK, and across the world. They’ve already shown us they don’t care if we live or die. What else do we need to see to start organising and mobilising the way we shut Elbit down?

As always, Free Palestine. Free all political prisoners. Long live the Muqawamah. And David Lammy, time’s ticking.

With love, Assalamu Alaykum.
Umer Khalid

On 13th February 2026, the UK’s High Court of Justice ruledthat the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. Palestine Action was added to the list of proscribed organisations in July 2025, a move initiated by the then Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, and passed by Parliament. In February, a panel of three senior judges allowed the challenge brought by Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, on two grounds. First, the pathway to reach the decision to proscribe was not in line with the Home Office’s own policy. Second, a crucial ruling held that the ban under the Terrorism Act interfered with the fundamental rights of free expression and free assembly. Yet at the time of writing, the group remains banned, pending the government’s appeal.

Paying no mind to the proscription, people from all walks of life have continued to show their opposition to the UK’s role in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and in imperial violence throughout the Middle East. It’s clear beyond any doubt that Westminster failed at halting autonomous resistance or popular support for Palestine Action. Direct action is a political strategy with little regard for established pathways to change when operating within a political environment that fails to prioritise human life over the interests of global finance and a decaying imperial order. Direct action is a weapon of the people.

As I write this, I am currently incarcerated in the UK, accused of being connected to an action at Brize Norton which saw two people enter an RAF base and spray paint on Voyager aircrafts which were being used to refuel British spy planes (and had regularly seen above Gaza during Israel’s genocidal campaign, and are now being used to support the US-Zionist attacks on Iran and Lebanon). Yvette Cooper responded to that action by announcing proscription. My co-defendants and I were arrested by counter terrorism police. We were held completely incommunicado for the first 48 hours. Now, we all await trial in prison.

We have already spent over 8 months on remand (in pre-trial detention) and face additional time if not granted bail. Under most circumstances, the limit on detention in police custody is 24 hours and imprisonment without conviction should not exceed 6 months. Moreover, being imprisoned under the Terrorism Act subjects us to further surveillance and security measures while in prison. My Muslim co-defendant, held in HMP Wormwood Scrubs, has recently been visited by counter-terrorism officers and instructed not to speak Arabic or practice Islam outside of his cell. We are all subjected to legislation that is on paper the same, in reality our treatment differs based in part on our proximity to contemporary stereotypes of terrorism. These stereotypes, created through mainstream media and the entertainment industry, are directly linked to the state’s ability to disregard its subjects’ claims to rights, seemingly celebrated in liberal democracies. Freedom to practice one’s religion is one of those rights.

Contemporary domestic counter-terrorism powers deliberately lack many of the safeguards that, however imperfect, exist under most other encounters with the state. I am being subjected to this firsthand. Globally, the so-called War on Terror green-lighted torture and prolonged imprisonment of innocent people without any judicial oversight in places like Guantanamo or US-run black sites. Terrorism, defined as the use of ‘terror’ to advance a political or ideological cause, leaves out the reality that the coloniser or Western soldiers’ acts of terror are perfectly justified, no matter how brutal. For the colonised, any attempts at survival are quickly designated as acts of terrorism, regardless of the actual means of resistance. From First Nations on the American continent through Algeria to Ireland and Palestine, labelling occupied people as terrorists is an attempt to strip them of their right to govern themselves and govern their land. Palestinian children understand the meaning of terrorism far better than Shabana Mahmoud or Yvette Cooper ever could. They live through the terror of occupation day in, day out.

The decision to proscribe cannot be viewed as an isolated instance of state repression. Countering so-called terrorism, with all its material consequences, has been deployed to stifle dissent throughout history. The meaning of terrorism has always been deliberately vague and often manipulated to fit the given ruling class and its ideological interests. The designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was not an error in an otherwise well-designed system. It might have been an escalation, but nevertheless it was one that is in line with the historical utilisation of a broad range of counter-insurgency tactics against effective political movements.

So while resistance to genocide and occupation never relied on permission from the courts, the ruling of Palestine Action’s proscription as unlawful is extremely significant nonetheless. It is the first successful legal challenge to a group’s proscription since the current counter-terrorism powers came into force at the start of the century.

The court ruling from February 13th isn’t only a massive victory for the freedom of speech and right to protest in the UK. It challenges the state’s hegemony on deploying counter-terrorism powers as a tool to manufacture a climate of fear, to distract, to justify invasion or genocide and in our case, attempt to make us into a deterrent. The past 8 months have seen a sharp rise in public critiques of counter-terrorism powers, especially in the context of political repression. That has been made possible in no small way thanks to the campaign organised by Defend Our Juries, thanks to continuing resistance on the streets, on the top of weapons factories, and within prisons.

I reject the label of a ‘terrorist’. I reject it only insofar as this rejection leads to the naming of terror experienced by millions in this country and globally – lack of social care, poverty, homelessness, brutal border policies and imperial wars. State-sanctioned terrorism, policy-driven and deliberate terror,protecting the ideology of free market capitalism. Effects of which I witness daily through the stories and the fears of many women held behind the same walls as me. I reject the label of a terrorist as a way to reject the notion that all life isn’t equal. 

I believe that we will ultimately see the unlawful proscription of Palestine Action completely lifted. However, we have a duty to keep up the struggle against the strategic deployment of counter-terrorism powers at large beyond this moment. Something that seems unavoidable at a time of increased imperial violence enacted by the US and the Zionist regime, whose leaders, yet again, rely on the excuse of fighting terrorism to justify their attacks on sovereign countries, all the while instilling terror themselves.

10.04.2026

Solidarity with the soas2, Sarah and Haya, who are being targeted as relentless and effective threats to genocidal regimes. You have my outrage, respect and admiration and I hope one day I can offer more than words alone. Valerie Amos, a baroness and former Chancellor of SOAS is closely linked to Tony Blair, one of the architects of the 2000 terrorism act. She warmongered for him, manufacturing consent for the British invasion of Iraq. Tony Blair, the war criminal who now has plans to model Gaza, on the occupied six, counties of Ireland was an architect of the Terror legislation, which does the dirty work of sliding the mask of Terror from a white Irish to a brown Muslim face.

We know that terrorism has absolutely nothing to do with an action itself. Terrorism is about the state’s ability to criminalise the thoughts that lead us to take action. This is why we are charged with terrorism while sex offenders like Mandelson and Andy Boy can sell State Secrets as representatives of the so-called UK without rocking the boat. They’ve been debating the definition of terrorism in New York for 25 years now.

But whatever, terrorism comes to mean what it already does, is it gives the courtrooms, the police, and the prison system licenced to bypass the supposed checks and balances of a democracy, and, and treat people like Umer Khalid in ways that resemble Mansoor Adayfi’s account of his time at the hands of Pete hegseth in Guantanamo Bay.

While the neo-crusader Hegseth now, flaps around the world and Mansour is denied entry to the UK, despite Parliament being the ones who invited him.

I don’t know if this is a tangent or the whole Anyway, the terrorism act codifies, the state’s ability to enforce fear and silence and it must be scrapped.

The British state is not just complicit, it’s a thirsty participant in this genocide. Our government is in anxiously attached, and incestuous situationship with Israel and its trumpet.

We refuse to let these rabid wet wipes turn the people and lands of Palestine, Lebanon and Iran into the sacrifice zones for the mad science of white supremacy and imperialism. Scrap TACT, abolish Israel, boycott El Imperial Yankee, f*** the police, Free Palawan and Free Palestine.

13.03.2026

Thank you all for coming today. And for coming again and again, for as long as it takes to shut all outposts of Western imperialism for good. I wish I could be there with you. Last year in June, I was arrested by counter terrorism police and accused of a connection to an action, which saw 2 people enter RAF Brize Norton and spray Voyager aircrafts with red paint. I have been held on remand ever since, currently in HMP Foston Hall. 

Voyagers are mostly used for point-to-point in air fuelling and have been observed to regularly land in Cyprus on RAF Akrotiri during the Zionist genocidal campaign. RAF Akrotiri has been used as a base for British spy planes conducting surveillance flights over Gaza ever since 2023. Much of these flights have been done under the cover of complete secrecy, raising questions about the depth of British complicity in the genocide of Palestinians. The RAF have also used Voyagers to refuel planes conducting attacks on Yemen and have been seen flying over Syria. This is likely just the snippet of the true extent of British involvement in imperial violence. Violence that relies on the existence of RAF bases on Cyprus for easy access to the whole region. 

Recent escalations in such violence by the US and the Zionist regime, aiming and so far failing to completely destroy any opposition to their economic and political hegemony, brought forth a ludicrous debate about overt involvement of British forces in the attacks on Iran and Lebanon. Any distinction between the use of British military for offensive or for defensive purposes is a false one. A mere distraction from what ultimately is an involvement of British forces in a campaign of attacks on sovereign countries. 

These RAF bases in Cyprus exist for defensive purposes. It is only to defend the Zionist entities’ continued existence, and ability to their settler colonial ambitions, to defend the interests of Western oil companies, and keep many countries destabilised for access to their natural resources and economies.

RAF bases on Cyprus, our legacy of British colonialism, which has been repackaged into tales of protecting global security since the days of the empire. You must continue to act for nothing short of the complete withdrawal of British forces from Cyprus. This is not a small task, but it is a serious one. 

Palestinians teach us what kind of steadfastness and discipline is necessary to maintain a struggle against an enemy with a powerful military line. We have a duty to struggle against imperial violence alongside them. For imperialism is not some faraway issue. It is born on our doorsteps and must be fought there too. Solidarity to you all. 

20.03.2026

Hi everyone, I’m Dan Jeronymides-Norie and I’m sitting here in a cell at HMP Elmley, hating it. However, I’m here with conscience and honour in my heart as an activist, an artist, and a foot-soldier in the solidarity for the freedom of Palestine.

You may or may not have heard about our case, the direct action that took place at the UK’s largest RAF base Brize Norton, where two actionists on e-scooters rode up to two big voyager fuelling aircraft and sprayed the propellers with red paint, symbolising the blood of generations of Palestinians that have been tortured, imprisoned and martyred by the Zionist state of Israel.

Those very planes fly in and out to the RAF base Akrotiri in Cyprus with military supplies and to fuel up spy planes that the UK has been sending over Gaza, supporting the IDF to carry out further indiscriminate bombings that kill.

It is my sensitivity and responsibility as an artist that means I could not hear pain and remain silent. I believe we need art and culture to move us with both beauty and uncomfortability. And it was the richness and abundance of Palestinian art that educated me to all the years going back of their struggle that I had missed before 2023.

We should always find ways to stand in solidarity with those facing injustice and oppression, and sometimes that means you need to raise the stakes, to expose the states, and those who justify oppression. So let’s face it: there’s no better art than that blood red paint sprayed over the UK planes that are complicit in genocide. It sums everything up in one expression perfectly.

Now, you can lock up a revolutionary – we are the Brize Norton 5, Umer, Jon, Amu, Lewie and Dan. – but it is true: the revolution will always continue.

So stop the genocide, down with the apartheid system, out with the occupation. Fuck the IDF. Westminster, blood on your hands. RAF Brize Norton, blood on your planes. Fuck your complicity. ACAB, you’re complicit with repression as well. We will win. Free the BN5. Freedom for Palestine.