Protesters GUILTY of breaking into Oldham factory and smashing up building

Protesters who broke into an Oldham factory and smashed windows, equipment and a fire door using sledge hammers have been found guilty of criminal damage.

Istasham Ali, 33, Shaheeb Aziz, 40 and Michael Rabb, 77, denied causing criminal damage to windows and property at Cairo House, the building home to Ferranti Technologies, on Greenacres Road. Ali and Aziz also denied a further offence of burglary with intent to cause criminal damage.

All the charges relate to an incident at Cairo House on June 21 2021, when the men broke into the building before trashing items such as windows and heating units, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

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Ferranti Technologies, which was owned by Israeli firm Elbit Systems, globally manufactured electrical items for use by the defence industry, jurors were told.

Officers were called to the building on Greenacres Road in Oldham at around 6.45pm. At the time the company was regularly being targeted by pro-Palestine groups such as Palestine Action, jurors heard.

On arrival they could see red and green smoke coming from the roof. After gaining entry to the building they could hear ‘smashing sounds’ coming from inside, it was said. They also saw two individuals in red boiler suits, the court heard.

“One officer saw two individuals smashing windows with a sledge hammer and the fire door before climbing inside the building,” prosecutor Ryan Donoghue said.

“Inside the building officers shouted towards them, the Crown says this was Mr Ali and Mr Aziz. They ran to the fire exit and Mr Aziz was seen to pull computer equipment using the wires off a desk.”

The men were followed by the police before Aziz was detained and arrested, it was said. Rabb was also found to be on the roof, also wearing a red boiler suit.

Ali made his way to the edge of the roof and then jumped over the railing. Officers tried to prevent him from falling, and he could be heard on body worn footage to state: “They are killing children, they have killed my family”. He also accused the officers of being ‘child murderers’.

“The police held on to him and sought to persuade him back onto the roof. He then said: “say Free Palestine and I will come back over.” They did and he came back onto the roof and was arrested,” the prosecutor continued.

After the men were arrested, police observed damage to the building including a number of smashed windows, the glass in the fire door and and the walls and interior which were sprayed in red paint. They were each interviewed and answered no comment to questions asked.

Representing himself, Ali - wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh - said: “Our protest was to stand up against [them].”

He described his actions as ‘an act of civil disobedience’, adding: “My actions were motivated by ethical responsibility.” He described the jury as being the ‘moral compass’ of the community and said they were at the forefront of the judicial system.

Ali added: “The right to protest is a human right not only in the eyes of the law, but in the native human behaviour. We feel the need for action when we believe something is wrong.

“The building I am accused of damaging was involved in manufacturing weapons involved in great civil casualties and suffering. I do not regret my actions.”

He added that he carried out the acts because he ‘did not want to be remembered as being complicit in genocide’ or ‘complicit in the bombing of children’.

In his defence closing speech, Rabb, who wore a red boiler suit and also wore a Palestinian keffiyeh, said the prosecution had ‘failed to prove’ he had caused damage to the building.

He added: "What I was doing was civil disobedience." He said three years ago, the group had ‘shut down’ the factory that ‘produced the weapons’. Rabb explained to jurors about the premise of ‘conscientious objection’, stating that it is the ‘right of an individual to refuse to partake in an act due to one’s moral or religious beliefs’.

“It’s a defence as old as Socrates,” he said. "My conscience told me I had to do something to stop the genocide. I ask you to exercise your right to conscientiously object and find me not guilty."

Jurors found Aziz, of Dearnley Street, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and Ali, of Luton Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire, guilty of criminal damage and burglary with intent to cause criminal damage. They also found US citizen Rabb, of 30th Street, Boulder, Colorado - who previously lived in Sheffield - guilty of criminal damage.

They will be sentenced on December 13.