PALESTINE ACTION HAVE won a case against being proscribed as a terror organisation – but the ban against them remains, says the UK High Court.
Palestine Action is a direct action group that has been protesting the UK’s export of arms to Israel, as well as Israel’s war on Gaza and treatment of Palestinians, through actions like demonstrations, building occupations and vandalism of properties it believes to have links to arms sales to Israel.
The UK government made it a proscribed terrorist organisation last July, a move which has caused more than 2,700 people to be arrested for holding up signs supporting the organisation, according to Defend Our Juries.
Irish author Sally Rooney was warned by the UK government last summer that she risked committing a terrorist offence after she told the Irish Times she would use proceeds from her work to support Palestine Action.
Rooney was unable to collect the Sky Arts Award for literature for her fourth novel, Intermezzo last year due to her support for Palestine Action. She said she could no longer “safely enter the UK without potentially facing arrest”.
The High Court said today that the decision to ban Palestine Action as a terror group was unlawful, “disproportionate” and should be overturned.
The group’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, took legal action against the Home Office over then-home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision last year to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.
In a ruling today, judge Victoria Sharp said Ammori had won on two of her four grounds of challenge but said the ban would remain to allow further arguments and the Government time to submit an appeal.
That means it currently remains a criminal offence to be a member of, or support, Palestine Action, with the Home Office stating that it will seek to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
Ammori called today’s ruling a “monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people”.
The Metropolitan Police said it will now stop arresting protesters who hold up signs declaring “I support Palestine Action”, but will continue to gather evidence of overt support for Palestine Action until a Government appeal has been dealt with.
With reporting from PA
