Two people who took direct action to dismantle and occupy a weapons company, were sentenced to prison on Tuesday 16th May, after pleading guilty to charges of criminal damage. A third, who took part in the action was acquitted at Chester Crown Court. Out of the two imprisoned, Mike Lynch White, a scientist, was sentenced to 27 months. The other, was sentenced to 16 months. Usually, approximately half of a custodial sentence is served in prison.
Mike Lynch-White was on remand for three months prior to the sentencing for taking direct action with the climate group Burning Pink, and may face a further custodial sentence for his involvement in the group Heathrow Pause.
“I have seen how the Palestinian people are at best second class citizens on their own ever-shrinking lands. Clearly, this is apartheid. We have denounced and defeated it before and we must again.
Mike Lynch-White
“The prison sentences demonstrates the state’s desperation to protect Israel’s military supply chain, over the lives of Palestinians and the liberty of activists in Britain. They both took action to disrupt the military industrial complex which profits from the blood shed of the Palestinian people and the apartheid regime they’re subjugated too. For this, they should be rewarded, not imprisoned.
Despite the continued intimidation attempts to deter actions against Israel’s arms trade, the movement grows day by day.”
The three occupied the APPH site in June 2021, as part of a wider campaign to immobilise Israel’s military supply chain in Britain. this figure was revised down to £225,000 – £345,000. APPH are a supplier of drone landing gear to Elbit Systems, specifically to their Leicester-based subsidiary UAV Tactical Systems, a company known to regularly export drones directly to Israel. APPH supply components – landing gear – to UAV Tactical System’s Watchkeeper drone project. The Watchkeeper is a British drone, deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, based upon Israel’s Hermes, also produced by Elbit. The Hermes is a staple for the Israeli military, advertised as “battle-tested” on the captive population of Gaza.
APPH also produce the landing gear for BAE Systems’ Hawk jet, used by Saudi Arabia in their assaults on Yemen, and a number of other fighter jets and military helicopters.
