Trio who displayed paraglider images walk free – despite being found guilty
THREE pro- Palestine protesters convicted of a terror offence for marching with paraglider stickers walked free from court yesterday after a judge said ‘emotions ran very high’ in the wake of the October 7 attack.
Heba Alhayek, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, had the images stuck on their backs, while Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, carried one on a placard handle. The march was just a week after Hamas used paragliders during its murderous attack on Israel.
Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram said the trio had ‘crossed the line’ but said their ‘lesson has been well learnt’ and acknowledged ‘emotions ran very high’ in the early days of Israel’s response.
The trio were charged under the Terrorism Act with carrying or displaying an article to arouse reasonable suspicion that they are supporters of banned organisation Hamas, which they had denied.
All three were found guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, after prosecutors argued it was ‘no coincidence’ the defendants were displaying the images so soon after the attack.
The judge said there was no evidence any of women supported Hamas, but it ‘ matters not’ because the issue came down to what a ‘reasonable person’ would think the picture meant.
Judge Ikram was only told after delivering his guilty verdicts that Alhayek herself was granted asylum in the UK due to the threat of persecution by Hamas, according to her lawyer.
Alhayek, the author of a book about life in Gaza, was ‘literally the last person’ who would support the terror group, defence barrister Mark Summers KC told the court.
Agreeing that there was ‘no evidence’ that the trio actually supported the group, Judge Ikram handed them 12-month conditional discharges after deciding ‘not to punish’ them. ‘Each of you stands convicted of a terrorist offence,’ he told them. ‘You’ve not hidden the fact you were carrying these images. You crossed the line, but it would have been fair to say that emotions ran very high on this issue.
‘ Your lesson has been well learnt. I do not find you were seeking to show any support for Hamas.’
A conditional discharge is not a punishment, but it means that if any of the three commits another offence in the next year they could be resentenced for today’s conviction and any new offence. The maximum sentence for the crime is six months in jail, an unlimited fine, or both.
The defendants unsuccessfully argued that the stickers were a reference to Banksy artworks and generalised themes of ‘flying away’ from the ‘open-air prison’ of Gaza, calling in Guardian journalist and human rights campaigner Victoria Brittain to support their claims.
But, under the law the defendants’ opinions of Hamas are irrelevant to the offence. Rather, if they are found to have aroused ‘reasonable suspicion’ that they were sympathetic with the group by display of an ‘article’, then they must be found guilty.
The trio did not give evidence in their own defence. Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said afterwards: ‘ Displaying these images could be viewed as celebrating the use of paragliders as a tactic to breach the Gaza/Israel border, and creates a risk of encouraging others to support Hamas.
‘When people break the law – whether by hateful speech, supporting proscribed organisations or by threatening public order – we prosecute swiftly and independently. We have already prosecuted a string of offences linked to events in the Middle East.’
Detective Chief Constable Hayley Sewart, of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: ‘The images that circulated on social media of these women caused widespread outrage.
‘ In the context of the proPalestine protests we have seen in London, we have always been clear that showing support for a terror group is a criminal offence.’
Taiwo, of south Norwood, and Alyayek and Anjunda, both of Upper Norwood, were all convicted of carrying or displaying an image displaying a paraglider, in a public place in such a way …as to arouse reasonable suspicion that she is a supporter of a proscribed organisation.
As well as the 12-month conditional discharge, Alhayek and Ankunda were each ordered to pay £400 in costs. Taiwo was told she did not have to pay because she is not entitled to benefits due to her immigration status.
‘Widespread outrage’