Three people accused of displaying images of paragliders at a pro-Palestinian march have been found guilty of showing support for a terrorist group.
Heba Alhayek, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, and Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, stood trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court following widespread condemnation when their images were spread on social media after the demonstration in October.
It came a week after Hamas militants used paragliders to enter Israel in attacks that killed more than 1,000 Israelis.
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Alhayek and Ankunda were accused of attaching images of paragliders to their backs, while the third defendant was said to have stuck one to the handle of a placard.
The Metropolitan Police launched a social media appeal to find them, and Alhayek and Ankunda handed themselves in to Croydon Police Station, the court heard.
All three were charged under the Terrorism Act with carrying or displaying an article to arouse reasonable suspicion that they are supporters of banned organisation Hamas.
Prosecutor Brett Weaver told the court: “The displaying of these images could be viewed as celebrating the use of the paragliders tactic.”
But Mark Summers KC, representing Alhayek and Ankunda, said police had “mistaken” what they saw and were fed a narrative by partisan social media groups.
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He said they were actually displaying a “cartoon parachute” used as a “symbol of peace”.
In his verdict, Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram said there was nothing to suggest the trio were Hamas supporters.
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But, he said, “seven days earlier, Hamas went into Israel with what was described by the media as paragliders. A reasonable person would have seen and read that.
“I do not find a reasonable person would interpret the image merely as a symbol of freedom.”
