Fight over pro-Palestinian group ban heads to UK's highest court

A legal battle over a ban on Palestine Action activists resumes Wednesday as co-founder Huda Ammori takes her fight against the government's designation of the group as a terrorist organisation to Britain's highest court. The two-day hearing, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at the Supreme Court, comes as the group's prohibition has failed to quell support for the pro-Palestinian group, leading to mass arrests across the UK. In another day of protests, more than 300 supporters were arrested on Saturday by London police for displaying placards bearing the now-prohibited slogan: "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action."

According to campaign group Defend Our Juries, which has organised demonstrations backing the movement, around 4,200 people have been arrested since the British government outlawed Palestine Action in July last year. Those detained include large numbers of pensioners, among them a priest, a former financial adviser, a military veteran and Swedish student climate activist Greta Thunberg. Public expressions of support for Palestine Action have become a criminal offence as the ban places the group in the same legal category as the Islamist Al-Qaeda organisation and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The ban followed a series of acts of vandalism linked to the movement, including a trail of damage at a Royal Air Force base and actions targeting Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in August 2024. The ban was imposed under the UK's Terrorism Act and made membership of or support for the pro-Palestinian group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. But Ammori will argue that "only three of the 385 actions undertaken by PA over five years were assessed as meeting the definition of terrorism", according to court documents.

In February, London's High Court dealt a blow to the government, ruling the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was "disproportionate". The court found the ban had resulted in "substantial interference" with the rights of freedom of expression and assembly. However, the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling in June, concluding the ban was "not unlawful" and that Palestine Action was "a covert organisation operating with secret cells".

The ruling added it was "a fundamental mistake to overlook the fact that Palestine Action overtly promotes unlawful violence amounting to terrorism". - 'Direct action' - Founded in 2020, Palestine Action describes itself as "a direct action movement committed to ending global support for Israel's genocidal and apartheid regime". The organisation gained prominence after the outbreak of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Ammori has now been granted permission to challenge the ban at the UK's highest court on a narrow procedural ground, arguing the Home Office failed to follow its own criteria in its decision. If unsuccessful, Ammori has already indicated she will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Few demonstrators gathered in London on Saturday appeared optimistic about this week's legal challenge. "It is more than likely that they will lose in the Supreme Court," said gardener Sam Johnson, 43, who said he had already been arrested three times over his support for Palestine Action.

"Our best hope will be the ECHR," he added. Former financial adviser Marji Mansfield, 70, who said she has been arrested about 10 times, expressed growing frustration. "I'm losing faith in the judicial system," she said, adding "there is no sign that the government is about to reverse its position". Mansfield argued that lifting the ban would also ease pressure on the courts, now faced with handling thousands of cases linked to the ban.

The impact of the proscription has extended beyond the protest movement. Books by bestselling Irish novelist Sally Rooney, who announced in August last year that she intended to donate part of her royalty income to Palestine Action, are no longer being distributed in Britain. This month, her British publisher Faber said it could no longer transfer UK-generated revenues to Rooney and therefore would cease distributing her books in the country. ctx-jkb/ach/cms