Because of the government’s abuse of counter-terrorism powers, Teuta Hoxha from the Palestine Action Filton 24, has been held in prison without trial for the last nine months, and has been on hunger strike since 11 August as a protest against the denial of her basic rights. She says herself and her Palestine Action codefendants are being monitored under the Counter Extremism Unit.
Arrested for taking action against genocide
Teuta, known as T, is one of the Filton 24 political prisoners, arrested in relation to an action in August last year, against a site belonging to Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems, in Filton, Bristol. Palestine Action activists allegedly broke into the factory and caused over £1 million in damages, in order to disrupt the production of weapons used against Palestinians in the occupied territory, including the genocide in Gaza. Although detained under the Terrorism Act-which gives the authorities more room for abuse in their sentencing and treatment-T and her co-defendants – who are aged between 20 and 52 – face charges of criminal damage, aggravated burglary, and violent disorder.
T recalls the MET and counter-terrorism officers turning up at her aunt’s house at 7am, the day of her arrest, in November. She told the Canary:
The officers, said they didn’t need a warrant, now they had found me in the house, and were advising each other to remove their name badges. I later learnt they had raided one of my previous addresses before going to my aunt’s house.
During the search of her home, one of the officers went through all her cookery books in the kitchen, and then turned to her and said ‘I prefer Jewish cookbooks’, trying to get some sort of response from my Aunt. This is the kind of provocation and insinuation that they’re trying to place on our family and friends, forcing us to want to hold certain views, that are not ours.
As a result of this raid, my Aunt has sustained a lot of trauma. Her hair came out in clumps for weeks after this, and she didn’t want to be in her house any more.
Extremism unit are monitoring the Filton 24
After her arrest, T was taken to the counter-terrorism unit at Newbury Station, and was held for four days before being interviewed. She was then transferred to Bronzefield Prison, where she remained until early July, after which she was taken to HMP Peterborough. This move, which T says was due to a shortage of space at Bronzefield, means her family, who are based in London, now have a six hour round trip in a car, or a £100 train journey, if they want to visit.
T, who says she was told by the counter-terrorism unit that her codefendants and herself are being monitored by the Extremism Unit, says they are asked many questions:
They’ve asked what beliefs I hold, where I come from, if I belong to a certain group. I was even asked by a counter-terrorism officer what my views were on the decision to proscribe Palestine Action. Regarding this monitoring of us, my understanding is that it happened after the proscription of Palestine Action. We do not hold extremist view, and are just normal people. Spending time with my codies in prison, I can testify they are very generous, kind, wonderful people, who are absolutely of benefit to society.
The Filton 24 political prisoners have reportedly been reclassified as ‘terrorists’ in prison, which has resulted in their rights being taken away. T’s recreational activities were stopped, her mail withheld, and her library job at the prison was taken away because, she was told, she holds extremist views, and it was a position with access to a lot of prisoners:
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Filton 24: political prisoners, but called terrorists
T told the Canary:
In Bronzefield I worked as a one to one mentor, so when was I meant to have developed these extremist views? Did I not supposedly hold those views then? I guess the only thing that I can see that has potentially changed is the proscription of Palestine Action. If this is the case, I am being punished retrospectively, which shouldn’t be allowed, because I was in prison seven months already by the time of the government ruling.
These past 14 days in HMP Peterborough I’ve been called a terrorist, heard an officer tell another prisoner that supporting Palestine is terrorism, been accused of being part of a terrorist group, and been placed on report for saying Free Palestine. The case was dismissed! Although the Pathfinder risk assessment group, which operates under the joint extremism unit, has agreed I pose no risk in a library job, security have refused to give me this in writing. I don’t accept that I hold extremist views.
Calling for these rights to be reinstated, T has been on hunger strike since 11 August but disturbingly says:
I was told by officers that being on hunger strike is not worth it because the prison doesn’t care what happens to you. This is something I believe to be true, as it took eight days before a nurse came to see me.
Prison staff are not fulfilling their duty of care towards T, during her hunger strike
This delay meant T was left without essential medical supervision during that critical period. When finally examined by a doctor, her symptoms such as weakness, tingling in her limbs, and a rash were noted, but neither the prison nor the medical staff have made any effort to protect her from potential long-term health damage. Instead, she has repeatedly been pressured to sign a waiver that would release them from any responsibility if her condition worsens or if anything happens to her. T continues refusing to sign this form.
She told the Canary:
For me, the hunger strike is about autonomy. Your body is the one way you can fight against the system, because in every other way they’ve taken everything from you. They lock you up when they want, give you red warnings just because they’ve got that power…So, for me, hunger strike is a very important and necessary tool, and the notion that this is one area they can’t control gives me strength.
Take action and contact the prison in support of T
But while her hunger strike is giving T mental strength, her body is getting weaker. The lack of action from staff represents a serious neglect of their duty of care, with no measures being taken to safeguard her health or prevent permanent injury.
As of 29 August, on day 19 of her hunger strike, two of T’s needs have now been met, but she says she is still waiting to be reinstated into her library job. So her hunger strike continues:
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Each day that passes without action increases the risk to her life, and T’s supporters are now calling for her to be transferred to a hospital for independent medical checks to be carried out.
CAGE is running a campaign to hold the prison accountable and to demand justice for T. The organisation is calling on her supporters to:
- Call HMP Peterborough, and talk about their concerns: 01733 217500
- Send an email to the prison governor- a template for the letter can be found here.
Use of counter-terrorism legislation against the Filton 24 is unjust
All members of the Filton 24 have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They have faced prolonged pre-trial detention, with many already held on remand for nine months to a year or more without trial.
The court trials have been repeatedly delayed. The trials for the earliest arrests were scheduled to begin in November 2025, with some cases- such as T’s trial scheduled for April 2026- extending into mid-2026, reflecting serious concerns about the right to prompt and fair trials given the use of counter-terrorism legislation and extended remand periods.
The group was originally known as the ‘Filton 18’, and consisted of 18 Palestine Action activists arrested in connection with the direct action against the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, Bristol, in August 2024, but as UK counter-terrorism police raided homes and arrested more individuals believed to be involved in the campaign against Elbit, the number increased to 24.
Elbit’s Filton factory exports to the occupation
Elbit Systems, which markets its weapons by boasting they are ‘battle-tested’, is the main provider of surveillance systems and weapons to the occupation’s military-and it has used these extensively during the genocide in Gaza, as well as the West Bank and Lebanon. Despite Elbit UK’s claims of distancing from the genocidal activities of its parent company in Israel, an investigation in January, by Declassified UK, found cargo documents showing shipments from Filton to Israel in 2024.
Human rights groups and UN experts have criticized the British authorities’ treatment of the activists, arguing that counter-terror laws have been misapplied to what are essentially political protest activities. In June of this year, a coalition of 21 international legal associations and human rights groups warned that these arrests, under misused counter-terrorism laws, acutely threaten the rule of law in the UK.
The Filton 24 case is part of a broader trend here in the UK, of targeting not only those advocating for Palestinian rights, and acting and speaking up against the genocide in Gaza, but also our right to protest, which have been steadily eroding over the years.
Erosion of our right to protest in UK amounts to state repression
According to the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol), we are now seeing protests being treated as a threat, activism classed as extremist, and a sharp rise in the use of counter terror powers at protests.
In its ‘State of Protest’ report, Netpol says the aggressive police use of new anti-protest laws, coupled with a growing portrayal of protesters as alleged threats to democracy, has grown so routine and so severe that it now amounts to state repression, with Netpol’s Campaigns Coordinator Kevin Blowe saying:
What we have seen – and what we have heard from protesters and organisers – is the severity of the crackdown on the right to protest finally tipping over into state repression.
Featured image and additional images supplied
By Charlie Jaay
This post was originally published on Canary.