London courts uphold order that critics say puts the group’s anti-Gaza war protesters on a par with al-Qaeda, ISIL.
Pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action has lost a bid to pause the British government’s decision to ban the organisation under “anti-terrorism” laws pending their legal challenge.
Huda Ammori, who co-founded the group in 2020, had asked London’s High Court to stop the proscription of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation, before a full hearing of her case that banning the group is unlawful later this month.
On Friday, the High Court refused to pause the ban and, following a late-night hearing, the Court of Appeal rejected an appeal against that decision at just after 2130 GMT.
This means the proscription of Palestine Action is upheld and will come into force at midnight.
The proscription came after British lawmakers this week decided to ban Palestine Action after its activists broke into a military base last month and sprayed red paint on two planes in protest at the UK’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
Proscription would make it a crime to be a member of Palestine Action that carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Proscribed groups under British law include ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.
Ammori’s lawyer Raza Husain said the proscription marked the first time the UK had sought to ban a group carrying out such direct action, describing it as “an ill-considered, discriminatory, authoritarian abuse of statutory power”.
“Let us be clear: to equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb isn’t just absurd, it is grotesque. It is a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity, and suppress the truth,” said independent British lawmaker Zarah Sultana.
Brendon Ciaran Browne, associate professor at Trinity College Dublin, told media the UK government’s decision is “absolutely absurd”.
“Essentially, what we’re witnessing here, is an attempt to enforce a chill effect on everyone who is absolutely abhorred by the UK government’s complicity [in Israel’s war on Gaza] and their flagrant breaches of international law that we have seen now for the best part of 21 months,” he said on Friday.
Referring to Palestine Action’s stunt at a British military base, Browne noted that the UK government has existing legislation to deal with this.
“Those who are allegedly involved can be charged with criminal damage. There are other ways to do this. But what you’re seeing here is the UK government again using the terrorism act to target those who are engaged in direct action … This is a draconian, silly move by the UK government,” he added.
‘Draconian, silly move’
Palestine Action describes itself as “a pro-Palestinian organisation which disrupts the arms industry in the United Kingdom with direct action”. It says it is “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the UK’s interior minister, has said that violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest, and her lawyers say the case should be brought at the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission instead.
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