London Anti-Zionists Convicted of Terrorism Charges

A London judge convicted three British women of terrorism charges on Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) announced in a press release on Tuesday.

The verdict’s rendering concluded an investigation that began on Oct. 14, when three women — Heba Alhayek, 29, Pauline Ankunda, 26, and Noimutu Taiwo, 27 — brandished images of a paraglider while marching in an anti-Israel demonstration held in London just one week after Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel, which resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths, abductions of the young and elderly, and numerous sexual assaults of Israeli women.

In one of the most reported on atrocities of that day, Hamas fighters paraglided into an electronic dance festival and proceeded to slaughter hundreds of the young people, many of whom they burned alive, attending it. It is believed that the women displayed the images to celebrate Hamas’ violent killing of the innocent, and in the United Kingdom, it is illegal, per the Terrorism Act, to behave in any manner which suggest that one supports terrorists.

According to The Independent, photographs and video of the women parading the offensive symbol went viral on social media, outraging the London Jewish community and drawing scrutiny from MPS. Initially, when interrogated by MPS, two of the women, Ankunda and Alhayek, denied that they had equipped themselves with the images. In court, The Independent reported, an attorney representing them argued that they believed they were promoting “a well known nationalist symbol of peace.”

“This was a unique case examined in detail by a senior judge, and the case built by officers has led to guilty verdicts,” MPS Counter Terrorism detective chief superintendent Hayley Stewart said in a statement on Tuesday. “In the context of the pro-Palestine protests we have seen in London, we have always been clear that showing support for a terror group is a criminal offence, and anyone who does this faces arrest and prosecution.”

Despite convicting the women of violating the UK’s terrorism laws, the judge who presided over their case, Tan Ikram, emphatically stated during their sentencing that he does not believe they are supporters of Hamas. Ikram sentenced the women to a conditional discharge of 12 months, a penalty which, for now, is effectively not a punishment although it will be documented in their criminal records. However, should they be convicted of another offense in the next year, they could be sentenced for both the new charge and the old one.

“I do not find a reasonable person would interpret the image merely as a symbol of freedom,” Ikram said. “I want to be clear, there’s no evidence that any of these defendants are supporters of Hamas or were seeking to show support for them.”

Judge Ikram is at odds with Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) head of Special Crime and Terrorism Division Nick Price, who insisted in a statement issued after the sentencing that the women’s actions amounted to expression and encouragement of support for Hamas.

“All the women knowingly displayed the images of paragliders in central London, therefore arousing suspicion that they were supporting Hamas,” Price said. “The fact that these images were being displayed in the context of a protest opposing the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks demonstrates a glorification of the actions taken by the group. Displaying these images could be viewed as celebrating the use of paragliders as a tactic the breach the Gaza/Israel border, and creates a risk of encouraging others to support Hamas.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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