Protesters who celebrated Hamas found guilty

( BBC )

Three women have been found guilty of terrorism offences after they displayed images of paragliders, "celebrating" the Hamas tactics.

Heba Alhayek, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, attached images to their backs seven days after Hamas militants used paragliders to enter Israel in October.

Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, stuck one to a placard's handle at a central London pro-Palestinian march.

They denied charges under the Terrorism Act.

Convicting them at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram 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."

"I want to be clear, there's no evidence that any of these defendants are supporters of Hamas, or were seeking to show support for them," the district judge added.

The three were charged with carrying or displaying an article to arouse reasonable suspicion that they were supporters of banned organisation Hamas.

Their display of the images at the protest on 14 October was widely condemned when footage of the demonstration was published on social media, their trial was told.