PALESTINE Action activists have accused the judge in their trial of bias before he sentences them for causing £1 million of damage at the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol.

Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani were found guilty last month of criminal damage at the Israeli defence firm’s British base on August 6 2024.

Mr Justice Johnson is expected to consider whether their crime had a “terrorist connection” and if they should face longer prison terms as a result during their sentencing next Friday.

The defendants in the Woolwich trial plan to apply to have him removed at a hearing at the Old Bailey on Monday.

They believe they are about to be sentenced “as terrorists,” and argue it is unfair that the juries were not told that this may be a consequence of finding them guilty of criminal damage.

Defend Our Juries is also lodging a complaint accusing the same judge of misconduct with the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. More than 2,600 people – including lawyers, law professors, retired police officers and magistrates – have signed it, said the campaign group.

Palestine Action was banned as a terrorist group by the Home Office last July.

Mr Justice Johnson banned jurors from knowing that he had ruled the offences had a “terrorist connection” in November.

The government’s proscription decision was then ruled to be unlawful by the High Court in February.

The bid to remove the judge from the case comes after he referred one of the defence barristers, Rajiv Menon KC, for a possible contempt of court prosecution.

The move caused an outcry in the legal community, and the Court of Appeal subsequently ruled that the way the referral had been done was wrong.

A Defend Our Juries spokesperson accused the judge of “bias” and “abuse of process,” suggesting he had overseen a “grave miscarriage of justice.”

They said: “Given the widespread concerns that have been raised, Justice Johnson should remove himself from these proceedings.

“The use of secret terror sentencing — for the first time in British history — against protesters who sought to save lives by disrupting the supply of weapons to Israel, demonstrates the dangerous consequences of Palestine Action’s proscription.

“It makes a mockery of counter-terrorism legislation: those acting to prevent death and destruction are being treated as terrorists.”