Protest group Palestine Action has challenged its ban by UK government
Since the summer, many people in the UK have been arrested for publicly supporting a banned activist group. The government says that Palestine Action is a terrorist organization. The activists are fighting back—now also before the High Court in London.
London (PA/AP) — Lawyers for a pro-Palestinian protest group that has been outlawed by the British government have gone to court in a bid to overturn its classification as a terrorist organization. Palestine Action is asking the High Court to rule that the government erred in classing it as a terror group alongside the likes of al-Qaida and Hamas.
Raza Husain, a lawyer for Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, said the ban was an “ill-considered, discriminatory, due process-lacking, authoritarian abuse of statutory power.”
The government banned Palestine Action on July 5 after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in June to protest British military support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The activists sprayed red paint into the engines of two tanker planes and caused further damage with crowbars.
More than 2,000 supporters arrested across the UK
Palestine Action has carried out direct action protests at military and industrial sites in the United Kingdom since it formed in 2020, including breaking into facilities owned by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems UK. Officials say the group’s actions have caused millions of pounds in damage that affect national security.
Proscription made membership of, or support for, the group a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. More than 2,000 people have been arrested across the UK since the ban for holding signs at protests saying “I support Palestine Action.” More than 130 have been charged under the Terrorism Act.
Civil disobedience is "an honorable tradition": lawyer
Dozens of supporters of the group protested outside the High Court at the start of the three-day hearing. A total of 143 of the were arrested, the Metropolitan Police said. Supporters of Palestine Action and civil liberties groups say the arrests for peaceful protest ride roughshod over free speech and the right to protest.
“Direct action and civil disobedience are not simply to be tolerated, but valued,” Husain said during the first day of the court hearing. “It is an honorable tradition, both in our common law and in any liberal democracy with a developed understanding of the rule of law. The suffragettes would have been liable to proscription if the Terrorism Act 2000 regime had been in force at the turn of the 20th century,” Husain added.
Ban strikes "fair balance" between individuals' rights and community interests: government
The British governemnt is defending its claim. Sir James Eadie KC, for the Home Office, said that a debate about how a terrorist organisation is defined was for Parliament to decide. The barrister told the court: "Palestine Action is within the definition of a terrorist organisation applying the test that Parliament has determined that and provided for, we say compatibly, in the primary legislation." He continued: "In our democratic society, these issues are matters for Parliament to judge and Parliament's judgment is expressed in the current legislation."
In written submissions, Sir James said that proscription's aim is "stifling organisations concerned in terrorism and for members of the public to face criminal liability for joining or supporting such organisations". He continued: "That serves to ensure proscribed organisations are deprived of the oxygen of publicity as well as both vocal and financial support." Sir James also said the ban "strikes a fair balance between interference with the rights of the individuals affected and the interests of the community".
The barrister also emphasised that the ban has not prevented people from protesting against Israel's actions in Gaza or in support of Palestinians. He later said: "Whilst it has at all times been open to supporters of Palestine Action to protest against its proscription without breaking the law, certain individuals have instead repeatedly sought to flout Palestine Action's proscription."
The hearing is due to conclude on December 2, with a decision expected in writing at a later date.