Another Filton trial collapses, the CPS needs to end the spectacle and drop the charges

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• On the 4th of November, the jury in the trial of Qesser Zuhrah, Heba Muraisi, Zahra Farooque, Kamran Ahmed and Liam Mullany was discharged in a mistrial. The CPS has stated their intention to seek a retrial, with details yet to be decided.
• The five are part of the Filton 25, prosecuted over an action at Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems’ site in Filton, Bristol, in August 2024.The action directly disrupted the supply line of drones being used in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
• Across the Filton trials, juries have twice been unable to reach verdicts and have acquitted defendants on the most serious charges. This is the first trial to end in a mistrial.
• The defendants spent more than a year on remand, far beyond the six-month pre-trial custody limit, and Qesser, Heba and Kamran took part in a prison hunger strike in late 2025. Heba went 73 days without food and Kamran 66, with both hospitalised repeatedly. Qesser, who was 19 when she was imprisoned, was hospitalised after 48 days protesting against Israeli interference in their trial & demanded the right to a fair trial

London — The trial of five young people accused over a 2024 action against Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems in Filton, Bristol, collapsed today the 4th of November when the jury was discharged. After two hung juries, a series of acquittals and now a mistrial, the Crown Prosecution Service should end its prosecution, not apply for another trial.  It is hard to see what public good is served by this. The only clear beneficiaries are an Israeli arms company and a political establishment determined to make an example of anyone who acts against the genocide in Gaza.

Every one of these trials has cost months of court time and large sums of public money, and each one has taken more time from the lives of the people in the dock. Qesser, Heba and Kamran have already spent 15 months in prison on remand, and came close to giving their lives on hunger strike while they waited for a trial date. They walked out of prison on bail, sat through a seven week trial, and are now being told it will all begin again.

These young people acted on conscience, at a time when the British state was failing its own obligations to prevent genocide and continuing to arm those carrying it out. Ordinary members of the public, sitting on these juries, have shown again and again that they understand this. The state’s response has been to narrow what juries are allowed to hear, hold defendants for years, and keep trying until it gets the verdict it wants. 

Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE, said:

“How many times does the CPS need to fail before it accepts that they will not get the outcome they’re seeking? Qesser, Heba and Kamran nearly starved to death protesting foreign interference in their case, and now they are told to start all over again. The state has thrown its most authoritarian terrorism powers at these young people and still cannot secure the verdicts it wants. Every collapsed trial is more public money spent and more of their lives taken, all so the state can be seen to punish people who stood against a genocide. There is no public interest here, only a political one, and this prosecution should be dropped.”