‘Operation Recomply’, a documentary film by Alex Grace, was premiered to a packed audience at the Genesis cinema in London on 31st May. After seeing the film, John McDonnell said he wanted to arrange a screening in the Houses of Parliament, and we interviewed director Alex there.
THE FILM – OUR VERDICT – “HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – GO SEE IT”
Review and Synopsis
The film begins with dramatic footage from the action against the Elbit Systems R & D facility in Filton near Bristol, in August 2024, and then takes us to interviews with family and friends of the Filton protesters, who describe how their loved ones were held for over a year on remand without trial.
In the first weeks after their arrest, they had no contact with the outside world, after being re-arrested under terrorism legislation designed to stigmatise them and hold them for a long period on remand. Fatema Zainab’s mother had to wait two weeks before she was finally allowed to speak on the phone with her daughter. They were all refused repeated applications for bail despite an Amnesty report being published that December which evidenced the genocide in Gaza they had been trying to stall.
Asim Qureshi (Cage International) described how Elbit builds quadcopters which broadcast the sound of women and children crying, in order to lure people out before bombing them. The Filton activists managed to destroy forty quadcopters when they raided the factory in Bristol (which is claimed to be a research facility, not a manufacturer).
Emma Kamio, Leona’s mother, described how riot police came to her home and arrested her, took her electronic devices, and held her for five days in solitary confinement without being able to contact her family. She was released after terrorism charges were dropped with no further action.
More and more people were arrested as part of the police Operation Recomply, sometimes with armed raids by dozens of balaclava and helmeted police, and parents and flatmates were often handcuffed after their front doors were smashed in during dawn raids This left dozens of innocent people traumatised after violating their personal space. The Irish father and sister of one of the Filton 6, Jordan Devlin, drew parallels with the political use of terrorism powers in Northern Ireland. Jordan has since been acquitted of all charges.
Family members described seeing footage of the traumatised child Sidra, the murder of Hind Rijab, the Flour Massacre and other evidence of Israel’s multiple crimes, and wondering why their loved ones – who tried in some small way to stop the flow of weapons – were the ones remanded and treated as terrorists.
Lex Korte, a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, spoke about how the government bent its own rules on remand times and a fair trial, and Lisa Luxx from Prisoners for Palestine spoke about the Islamophobia suffered in prison and the restricted activities, visiting rights, reception of mail and so on that Filton remand prisoners were facing.
The film takes a deep look at the role of lobbyists, highlighting reports by Policy Exchange and Lord Walney, backed by fossil fuel and arms money, which formed the framework for later repressive laws pushed through Parliament. John McEvoy from Declassified UK described high-level meetings between UK and Israeli governments and the contacts between the Home Office and police, including instructions to prioritise Elbit’s arms production over disruptive protest.
In a phone call with his sister, one of the Filton detainees Kamran is heard speaking from Belmarsh High Security Prison about how the Filton activists had been trying to save lives, not destroy them, and how the terrorism label was being used to stigmatise and scare, but that it showed the actions were having an impact.
Indeed, far from discouraging people, the repression actually galvanised some family members into action, and the film reports how Leona Kamio’s mother and Fatema Zainab’s father both took part in the planned Egyptian march to Gaza. Emma Kamio is also seen holding a lock-on protest outside Parliament, and being arrested there. She said that it was the Government who had radicalised her.
John McEvoy called attention to the intervention of UN rapporteurs, who wrote to the UK government to remind them of international norms relating to the definition of terrorism, and telling them that property damage alone was not terrorism. They expressed deep UN concern over the extended remand times without trial. McEvoy also mentioned contact between the Israeli Embassy and counter-terrorism police – an alarming indication of foreign interference.
Asim Qureshi also spoke about the unprecedented use of ‘a terrorism connection’ to pass extra-long sentences, despite no actual charges of terrorism against any of the activists (whose action took place a year before the controversial proscription of the Palestine Action group anyway). It was the Brize Norton action, when activists sprayed planes with red paint, that was the officially publicised trigger for the proscription of Palestine Action, but John McEvoy referred to the DeClassifiedUK evidence that UK spy planes had been flying over Gaza almost every day during the genocide, highlighting the UK’s complicity in genocide.
The proscription itself was met by massive civil resistance, making a further mockery of the terrorism label, with more than three thousand peaceful protesters being arrested by the end of 2025.
As more and more Filton suspects were arrested, bringing the number to 24 by October 2025, some of them began long hunger strikes, which attracted many support protests outside prisons. When they finally began eating after many weeks, despite no engagement from the government, news emerged that the government had dropped contracts with Elbit worth two billion pounds. The hunger strikes also achieved some concessions, reducing some of the restrictions on their life in prison.
The long first trial between November 2025 and January 2026 ended without a single conviction. Speaking afterwards, Leona’s mother said that Elbit security guards should have been the ones in court, as new footage emerged countering the carefully curated and leaked prosecution edit. Despite celebration following this verdict, and the release on bail of seventeen other Filton detainees, the Crown Prosecution Service soon announced (on social media!) a retrial, with a single charge of criminal damage against the six. Sam Corner also faced retrial after the jury couldn’t agree a verdict on his charge of grievous bodily harm with intent.
After the second trial this year, the jury found four of the Filton six guilty of criminal damage, acquitting two of them, and they found Sam Corner guilty of the lesser offence of causing grievous bodily harm (without intent).
Despite no terrorism conviction, at the 12th June sentencing, the judge applied the ‘terrorist connection’. This was without the jury’s knowledge, and it means harsh periods in prison (5 – 8 years), and long periods of extensive licensing (15 years) afterwards.
THE PARLIAMENTARY SCREENING
Speaking in the committee room after the screening, John McDonnell MP said he had wanted the film to be screened there, even though no other MPs attended (partly because this was just before recess). He spoke of his intention to invite Filton activists, families and friends to further events within Parliament “as a point of principle” because “this is where the evil started”.
After introducing barrister Rajiv Menon KC, to loud applause, McDonnell joked, “Don’t clap too loud, or we’ll all be proscribed”. Menon was the lead defence barrister in the case, and he said it had been a real privilege to represent such brave and principled young people, and that a sentencing appeal has now been officially lodged which will focus particularly on the terrorist finding. He described how a terrorism connection had only ever been used before in cases that included firearms, explosives and serious violence, and even then sparingly. He gave the example of Thomas McKenna, who stockpiled and sold weaponry and explosives, and possessed ‘terrorist information’, planning for an anti-Muslim ‘race war’. He was found guilty of multiple serious offences in February this year and received a long criminal sentence, but no ‘terrorism connection’ was applied. There are many dozens of similar examples.
A colleague also reminded the audience that Mr Menon is himself facing prosecution for alleged contempt of court, relating to his magnificent closing speech in the first Filton trial, where he mentioned a plaque in the Old Bailey which tells jurors that they always have the right to acquit on their conscience. At present, his trial, instigated by Judge Jeremy Johnson, is set to be heard at the High Court on the 28th and 29th July, although an appeal has also been lodged.
No barrister has ever been prosecuted for a closing speech before. After the trial of the Filton 6, Judge Jeremy Johnson received a promotion.
Claire Hinchcliffe (mother of acquitted Filton 6 defendant Zoe Rogers) said the support that the families have received, and the state’s clampdown, had clearly shown the world that they were on the right side of history.
The second Filton trial is ongoing at the Old Bailey and there are solidarity gatherings outside the court on Fridays – more info at Prisoners For Palestine.
Netpol and Defend Our Juries have launched a petition around Rajiv Menon’s contempt of court charge.
After the premiere, Alex re-edited the film to include the sentencing, and she is applying for BBFC age certification before re-releasing it in the Autumn. Check in at the Operation Recomply website for further news of where you will be able to see it then.
Thanks to Alex for many of the images and footage used in this article and in our interview film.
