This case has been ignored by the Irish government, and most of the Irish press. We spoke to Jordan Devlin’s sister about the case.

Irish citizen Jordan Devlin, a 31-year-old activist from Antrim, has now spent over 15 months in a British prison without trial, held under counter-terror legislation. His trial is currently underway in London.

Devlin is one of the Filton 24, a group of 24 Palestine Action activists who are in prison for opposing Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Jordan was charged in connection with an August 2024 action against Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. The activists are accused of aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder, charges they all deny.

Although the incident took place before Palestine Action was designated a proscribed terrorist organisation, the activists were nevertheless arrested under the UK Terrorism Act, giving police extended detention powers and sharply restricted prisoner rights. 

A formal letter was sent to the UK government by Professor Ben Saul, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, voicing that the terrorism designation has been used to deny Jordan Devlin and the other Filton defendants basic legal and humanitarian protections. Professor Saul wrote that after the initial arrests, the activists were held for 36 hours without access to lawyers, family contact, or the outside world, before being re-arrested under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, which allowed police to hold them for an additional seven days.

During this period, he says, families were not told where the prisoners had been moved, amounting, in his assessment, to “enforced disappearance.” The group were also classified as “restricted status” high-security prisoners, a designation normally reserved for convicted terrorists, and were denied legal support, family visits, healthcare access, religious practice and even medication, with mail restricted on “national security” grounds. Saul warned that treating the alleged direct action as terrorism appeared “disproportionate”, risked undermining due process safeguards, and raised the possibility that counter-terror laws were being used specifically to circumvent the rights normally owed to remand prisoners.

“My brother has been locked up in prison without trial for 15 months now”

We spoke to Brogan Devlin, Jordan’s sister, about the case. “My brother has been locked up in prison without trial for 15 months now… They’re being treated as if they’re guilty when they’re not. They haven’t been tried, they haven’t been proven anything.”

“Jordan is an Irish political prisoner being held in the UK. The Irish government should be stepping in. I have contacted multiple members of the government and heard nothing back.” She added that no Irish officials had visited or intervened, and that People Before Profit were the only political group who had meaningfully responded.

“Jordan is an Irish political prisoner being held in the UK. The Irish government should be stepping in.”

Reporting in The Ditch describes Devlin’s treatment inside the prison system as extremely harsh: held in his cell for 23 to 23.5 hours each day, strip-searched twice daily, and repeatedly denied access to visitors, phone calls and ordinary mail. Brogan later confirmed to District that Jordan is also being x-rayed twice a day. After multiple transfers, he was eventually moved to Belmarsh, one of Britain’s highest-security prisons. 

In our conversation, Brogan drew direct connections between her brother’s case and Ireland’s own history. “We come from the occupied north, and we saw internment without trial used against innocent Irish people. Now it’s being used against people who support Palestine. It’s history repeating itself.”

“We come from the occupied north, and we saw internment without trial used against innocent Irish people. Now it’s being used against people who support Palestine. It’s history repeating itself.”

While Jordan himself is not currently on hunger strike due to the ongoing trial, eight other prisoners are currently refusing food in protest against their remand conditions and terrorist designation. Brogan said that “This is the largest hunger strike since the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Five have been hospitalised. We cannot let this happen again.” Hunger strikers Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Jon Cink, Kamran Ahmed, Teuta T Hoxha, and Qesser Zurah are demanding the release of all Palestine Action detainees pending trial, the lifting of the group’s proscribed status, and the closure of every Elbit Systems facility operating in Britain

Brogan urged people in Ireland to act: “Write to your TDs, your MPs, your councillors. Ask them to visit the prisoners. Get Irish embassy staff involved. Get media involved. We need pressure on the British government now.”

Campaign resources, petitions and ways to write solidarity letters are available through the Free the Filton 24 Instagram linktree.

Jordan Devlin is an Irish citizen and political prisoner. Locked up for over 15 months without trial, branded under counter-terror laws originally used against our own people, Jordan faces punishment for standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. The hunger strike by his fellow activists is now the largest since 1981. So where is the Irish government? Why are officials silent while an Irish citizen is denied basic rights in a foreign prison?

For more information on how to help the Filton24, visit there website.