Activists have raised concerns over the previous record of a judge set to preside over a post-trial hearing which will decide whether the actions of five Palestine Action protesters had a "terror connection".
The activists will face possible terror convictions in the hearing set for 21 August, ahead of their sentencing on 4 September. The defendants and members of the jury were not made aware of the possible terror convictions during the course of the trial.
The trial, which concluded with the defendants being convicted of criminal damage, relates to the spray painting and splintering of windows of a Barclays bank branch in Lancashire in 2024 over the firm's links to Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems at the time.
Barclays has since withdrawn shares from the Israeli company, which activists say was a result of their actions.
The 21 August hearing will be headed by Judge Robert Altham, who previously oversaw the 2018 sentencing of anti-fracking protesters who became known among activists as the 'Frack Free Three'.
The protesters, who climbed on a lorry to block delivery of equipment to a fracking site in northern England, were charged with public nuisance and sentenced to up to 18 months in prison.
The decision, which was the first time environmental protesters had received custodial sentences since 1932, was later reversed by the Court of Appeal, which found the sentences to be "manifestly excessive".
"Surely this move to add a terror connection to the sentencing of another direct action case, after no mention before or during trial, is another gross overreach and one he in particular cannot be trusted with?" said 'Frack Free Three' activist Roscoe Blevins in a statement shared by Prisoners 4 Palestine.
Blevins added that the "effectiveness of direct action against weapons companies and their suppliers has emboldened judges to find new legal loopholes to suppress it".
The legal precedent for convicting direct action protesters with terror offences despite their initial conviction not being terror related was set earlier this year after the trial of four Palestine Action activists.
The group, known as the 'Filton Four', were tried and jailed over their break in at Elbit Systems' facility in Filton, near Bristol.
"Judge Johnson's sentencing of the four activists as terrorists was a serious miscarriage of justice, which opened the floodgates for potentially hundreds of others to also be subject to miscarriages of justice, simply for acting to save lives in Palestine," said Huda Ammori, Palestine Action co-founder.
"Both in that case, and the Barclays case, the jury were under the impression that they were simply deciding whether criminal damage was caused. They were completely unaware that a conviction of criminal damage, would essentially be convicting the defendants of terrorism."
Palestine Action was proscribed as a terror group in 2025 under the government of former Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The direct actions at Barclays and Elbit Systems took place before the designation.
Since the proscription, British police have arrested thousands of protesters who have demanded the government reverse the move, which places Palestine Action on the same legal footing as groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Those arrested for being a member of or supporting Palestine Action face up to 14 years imprisonment under the UK's Terrorism Act.
The UK's Supreme Court will hear an appeal later this year against the ban on Palestine Action.