'This is political': Mother of British pro-Palestine activist slams pre-trial detention

Clare Hinchcliffe thought her daughter had gone with friends to a protest for the weekend. 

But it wasn't until four police officers knocked on her door with a search warrant that she learned her daughter was in police custody. 

Zoe Rogers, 21, was arrested in early August for taking part in direct action at an Israeli arms factory in Bristol.

Six members of Palestine Action were arrested after crashing a modified prison van into an Elbit Systems factory in the Filton area of Bristol. 

Video footage shared by the group showed activists spraying red paint and using sledgehammers to damage machinery inside the facility.

The UK operations of Elbit, Israel's largest arms manufacturer, have been repeatedly targeted by members of Palestine Action since 2020.

Elbit supplies Israel's military with 85 percent of its drones and land-based equipment. 

Its weapons have routinely been used in conflicts against the Palestinians, including in the ongoing war in Gaza, where Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Speaking to Middle East Eye earlier this week, Hinchcliffe said Rogers was re-arrested under terrorism charges overnight and held in solitary confinement for six days, interrogated daily, and denied the right to make a phone call for two weeks. 

UN rapporteurs said in a subsequent report that the detention "may amount to enforced disappearance".

The six activists were initially detained for 24 hours at police stations in Bristol under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, with their detentions extended by 12 hours under the same act.

When the detention orders expired, the activists were arrested for a different offence under the Terrorism Act 2006 - preparation of an act of terrorism or assistance to commit terrorism - allowing their detention to be prolonged for another week.

'We need to wake up to what’s happening here. This isn't just about Palestine, it's about everyone’s rights to dissent'

- Clare Hinchcliffe

Unable to contact her for two weeks, Hinchcliffe said that she next saw her daughter in court. There, she was denied bail along with several other activists involved in the action at Israel's Elbit Systems factory, known as "the Filton 18". 

Though the terror-related charges had been dropped, the judge denied the group bail by claiming they may still have links to terrorism. 

Detained since then, the group are not due for trial until November 2025 - by which time 15 months will have passed since their initial arrest. The UK's pre-trial custody time limit is six months. 

The Filton 18's prolonged detention has sparked protests across the UK, including a recent demonstration in which a man scaled Big Ben, unfurling a Palestinian flag and calling for the group's release.

For Hinchcliffe, the campaign to free her daughter has since become a much bigger fight for justice and civil liberties across the country. 

'They were disappeared'

The allegation of a potential terrorism connection, Hinchcliffe explains, has "changed everything" about the process, transferring the group's case from ordinary police to counter-terrorism police with a much broader remit of authority. 

"You had counter-terrorism police rounding up people around the country… Up to 30 officers bashing doors, breaking windows, putting family members, children in handcuffs while they violently arrested their loved ones. It's insane."

Once in detention, they were treated as "high-security prisoners" and denied the right to interact with each other under non-association orders, causing what the UN rapporteurs termed "a significant deterioration in their mental health".

Hinchcliffe highlighted that the severity of their treatment under counter-terror powers was incommensurate with the actual charges the group was facing.

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"Damaging property, that shouldn't be defined as terrorism in international good practice," she says, citing the UN's statement that the group’s actions "appear to be in the nature of ordinary criminal offences and do not appear to be genuinely ‘terrorist’ according to international standards".

That the UK definition of terrorism exceeds international standards is not new. The country was first challenged on its definition in 2003, when it first launched its counterterrorism strategy, called Contest.

But Hinchcliffe argues that the current use of counter-terror powers has targeted the pro-Palestine movement specifically, referencing previous meetings between former home secretary Priti Patel, the Israeli ambassador to the UK, and the CEO of Elbit Systems UK in which Patel promised to crack down on activists targeting Israeli arms factories.

The extensive scope of the UK terrorism definition, says Hinchcliffe, makes that possible.

"So they can take something like damage of property, which is what Palestine Action does, and call that terrorism or say that has a terrorism connection. That's deeply worrying."

In response to the UN experts' question regarding reform of counter-terrorism laws, a government spokesperson said: "The UK has a comprehensive counter-terrorism legislative framework which strikes the right balance between protecting national security and individual freedoms."

"However… neither the right to freedom of expression nor the right to protest is absolute," they added.

'We are sleepwalking into a police state'

Hinchcliffe also pointed to the Walney report, published in May 2024, which recommended harsher treatment of Palestine Action and other pro-Palestine groups. Lord Walney served as the chair of Labour Friends of Israel from 2011 to 2013. 

"[He said] you can't proscribe them because they're not terrorists, but you can treat them like terrorists. That was carried out to the letter by this new government."

' if this is what it takes to stand up to a genocide, then I’m in. I’m with her'

- Claire Hinchcliffe

The ultimate aim, she says, is to send a message. 

"The point is: don't mess with the politics of how our country is arming Israel," said Hinchcliffe.

But she does not believe the new approach will stop with pro-Palestine activists. 

"This is a real turning point in our history. We need to wake up to what’s happening here. This isn’t just about Palestine, it's about everyone's rights to dissent, or we’re going to wake up in a country where you disagree with the government and you go to prison."

Hinchcliffe’s activism has completely transformed her life - but it has come at a cost. While the disruption to Rogers' future has left a lasting impact on their family, Hinchcliffe believes she is fighting for much more than her daughter's freedom.

"But if this is what it takes, you know, the pain I’m going through, the grief, the separation from her, the anxiety about her… if this is what it takes to stand up to a genocide, then I’m in. I’m with her."

'I'm so inspired by her'

Rogers has been forced to defer her university place and, with the outcome of November's trial remaining uncertain, she is unsure whether she will be able to attend at all. But Hinchcliffe says her daughter “feels free internally” regardless of the outcome. 

"I'm so inspired by her, you know, she's changed my life. Her cause has become my cause."

Since Israel declared war on Gaza, Palestine Action has repeatedly targeted various Elbit sites in the UK, including factories in Leicester, Oldham and Shenstone, as well as the company's London headquarters.

The group uses direct action tactics to disrupt operations and draw attention to Elbit's role in supplying arms to Israel.

Typical protests include occupying factory rooftops, smashing windows, spraying red paint to symbolise bloodshed and shutting down equipment to interrupt the production of military technologies.

Rogers and the Filton 18 are due for a pre-trial court hearing on 27 March. Hinchcliffe is anxious and uncertain - but mostly, busy calling on pro-Palestine demonstrators to show up in support.