UK court denies bail for Palestine Action activist to care for ill mother

A judge at the Central Criminal Court has rejected a bail application for a pro-Palestine activist allegedly involved in breaking into Britain's largest military airbase. 

Earlier this year, members of the group Palestine Action filmed themselves entering RAF Brize Norton on electric scooters, where they spray-painted two Voyager aircraft with red paint. 

At the time, the Ministry of Defence said the activists had caused £7m ($9.47m) worth of damage and arrested five individuals, aged 22 to 35, in connection with the incident.”

However, earlier this month, Counter Terror Policing South East arrested a sixth suspect, Muhammad Umer Khalid, and charged him with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place. 

The 22-year-old has been in custody since and remains in Wormwood Scrubs Prison, where he is awaiting trial. 

Rabah Kherbane, representing Khalid at the Central Criminal Court on Friday, said in his opening remarks that prison services had briefly placed Khalid in solitary confinement and barred him from showering or using a prayer mat to perform his Muslim prayers.

He argued that the lifting of Khalid’s bail application was particularly significant given his mother’s deteriorating health. 

"We have circumstances in Mr Khalid's particular case where for the first time on 3rd August, he learnt that his mother's cancer had deteriorated from stage 1 to stage 2; so any attitude to bail conditions must now be viewed from that lens where he must tend to his mother who is unwell," Kherbane told the court. 

"The bail conditions are already restrictive; it includes a curfew, for him not to go within one mile of a military or Elbit factory site... no substantial grounds that he will fail to surrender. He is a UK national, his family resides here and his mother's deteriorating health, which requires him to be present for [her]." 

During proceedings, the court heard quotes from a letter by the doctor treating Khalid's mother, confirming her prognosis and that she was not responding to treatment. The court also heard that Khalid's father, who works as a taxi driver, had offered £4,000 as a guarantee for his son's bail. 

Khalid's sick mother was also present in the courtroom during the proceedings. 

Previous arrests

Jonathan Polnay, representing the government, called for bail to be denied on the basis that Khalid was already out on bail for two separate incidents: a protest outside a factory owned by Elbit Systems in Staffordshire and a protest against Israeli actor Gal Gadot, who previously served in the Israeli army and was filming in London for her upcoming film The Runner.

Polnay also attempted to highlight the possible intent for Khalid to abscond and leave the country based on finding an expired Italian passport and a Pakistani ID card in his possession. 

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Kherbane, however, pushed back on Polnay's arguments, stating that the police dropped charges for the two separate arrests based on evidential grounds and that his client remains a UK resident. Additionally, he noted that the forms of ID and his mother's condition would have prevented him from leaving the country. 

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb nonetheless denied Khail bail over concerns that he would break his bail conditions.

In closing remarks, Grubb said: "The court has sympathy, of course, with the family and the blow it has delivered to them.

"But the applicant knew that he was his mother's carer, and now charged... this is something he has to bear in mind as his responsibility and the fact that the alleged victim broke previous bail conditions." 

Palestine Action said it targeted RAD Brize Norton because flights leave daily from there "for RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a base used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East".

Following this incident, the UK government placed Palestine Action on its list of banned terrorist organisations. 

Since the ban, more than 700 people have been arrested across the UK, with 532 detained in a single mass protest in Parliament Square. 

Most face charges under anti-terror laws for supporting a proscribed organisation.

The mass arrests come as Palestine Action prepares to challenge the government’s decision after a court granted the group permission for a judicial review of the ban.