After two hearings this week, political prisoner Francesca Nadin, of Palestine Action, was again refused bail.
Francesca Nadin: held without conviction
Francesca was first arrested for taking action against Teledyne, in Bradford, in May 2023, to mark the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, and then arrested again, 10 days later, in relation to a paint attack on a Barclay’s bank, in Leeds city centre.
While the other six arrestees, forming the Barclay’s 7, were released on bail, Francesca was remanded in custody. At two subsequent hearings bail was again refused, despite the fact the Barclays 7 trial is not scheduled until March 2025.
Teledyne Defence & Space at Shipley, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, manufacture key components for Israel’s deadly missiles, including the MGM-Harpoon, AIM-120AMRAM, and MGM-Hellfire missiles used to decimate the civilian population of Gaza, and to lay waste to its infrastructure. Teledyne have been targeted again and again by Palestine Action, because they are up to their necks in blood, having played a key part in the Gaza Genocide.
In October 2023, after a year-long campaign of actions, such as the one in Leeds, Barclay’s announced it was divesting from Israel’s biggest arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems.
Palestine Action members being acquitted
Francesca Nadin has now been held, without being convicted, in New Hall Prison, for almost six months, the equivalent of a one year sentence. She was brought before Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday 17 December, where her barrister argued that, by March, Francesca will have served the equivalent to a prison sentence of 16 months, 22 days.
Even if she is not acquitted at trial, like other actionists who jury members have refused to convict, the sentence imposed is unlikely to be anything like this, particularly since, Francesca, who is 38, has no prior criminal convictions. According to her barrister, there would be a “strong possibility of a suspended sentence.”
The prosecution argued that they had not been able to find an earlier trial date, though there was no evidence to support this, and the defence did not accept that this was so.
The judge remarked that the “cutting back of sitting days” was adding to the problem of there being insufficient opportunities for the early trials, defendants should be able to expect. The case was adjourned to give the prosecution time to find evidence to support their position of continuing to deny Francesca bail.
At Friday’s hearing, which took place via videolink before a different judge, there was a lengthy legal discussion, before bail was refused. The system is overcrowded and “creaking”, so with insufficient ‘slots’ for a trial, Francisca has to stay in jail.
The campaign will not stop
Supposedly, ‘Justice delayed, is justice denied’.
That is certainly the case with Francesca Nadine, one of Palestine Action’s 22 political prisoners, almost all of whom, like Francesca, are unconvicted. Imprisoning these activists without trial, often after raids on their homes, and interrogating them under supposed ‘ant-terror’ legislation, is part of the British state’s attempt to intimidate those prepared to take direct action to end this country’s complicity in the Gaza Genocide.
Palestine Action said:
We are determined that these draconian tactics will not succeed, and remain committed to ridding Britain of companies who facilitate, and profit from, the Israeli slaughter of the Palestinian people.
As Francesca said in a letter from prison, a few months ago:
Their scare tactics will not work. In fact, they are a rallying call.
We must fight back with everything we’ve got and not just for Palestine, but for our own rights to free speech and protest. We must speak out against injustice everywhere.
You can support Palestine Action here.
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