UK High Court rules terror ban on Palestine Action is unlawful

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - LONDON — The UK High Court on Friday ruled that the government’s decision to ban the pro-Palestinian activist group as a terrorist organization was unlawful, marking a major victory for civil liberties campaigners.

The court found that then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate, raising questions about the arrests of almost 3,000 people at solidarity protests.

In a statement responding to the landmark ruling on Friday, Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori said the ruling was a huge win for the group.

“This is a monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people, striking down a decision that will forever be remembered as one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in recent British history,” said Ammori, who had challenged the decision in court.

However, the British government immediately said it intended to appeal the court’s ruling.

“I am disappointed by ⁠the court’s decision ⁠and disagree with the notion that banning ⁠this terrorist organisation ⁠is disproportionate,” ⁠Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ⁠said in a statement.

Judge Victoria Sharp ruled that the ban remains in place pending the appeal by the goverment.

Ammori said in a statement that any move by the government to challenge the court’s ruling would be “profoundly unjust”, while the futures of thousands of protesters who had been arrested for their support of Palestine Action – “many of whom are elderly or disabled and facing up to 14 years’ imprisonment” – hung in the balance.

“Any such attempt by the government would prolong that injustice,” she said.

The United Kingdom said last June that it would ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. This put the organization on par with armed groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) in the UK, making it a criminal offenze to belong to the group.

The government’s announcement prompted legal battles, criticism from human rights organizations and triggered protests, amid concerns that the move was draconian overreach that criminalised legitimate political dissent.

As many as 2,787 people were arrested for peacefully holding signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” in silent vigils across the UK, a statement by the campaign group Defend Our Juries said. It said those arrests would now be unlawful as a result of the ruling.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said that “thousands of people of conscience” had seen that “branding protest as terrorism was a move straight out of the dictator’s playbook”.

“Together we took action at great personal risk – inspired by each other’s courage. We helped make this proscription unenforceable by saying ‘we do not comply’.”

The spokesperson added that most people in the UK had been “disgusted by both the government’s complicity in what most experts agree is an ongoing genocide in Gaza by Israel”.

Speaking at the court, artist Nicola Moxham, who had been arrested herself for support of the group, described the ruling as a “vindication”.

The court’s decision, she said, was and “absolute triumph for direct action in support of Palestine Action and opposing, most importantly, the genocide of Palestinians and destruction of Gaza”.

“It’s kind of unbelievable really that the Labour Party is supposedly the party of ordinary people and here they are repressing ordinary people for standing for justice and against genocide,” she told Al Jazeera news channel.

Her husband, retired professor of medicine John Moxham, said he was “absolutely delighted” by the outcome.

“The Prime Minister and (Justice Secretary) David Lammy have got a lot of blood on their hands,” he sadi.

The ruling triggered scenes of jubilation at the court in London, where supporters could be heard chanting: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

Campaign group CAGE International said in a statement that the ruling represented “a decisive rejection of attempts to shield corporations complicit in arming the genocide in Gaza”.

“While the infrastructure of terrorism laws remains in place, fundamental freedoms are conditional, dependent on political whim,” said the group’s head of public advocacy, Anas Mustapha. “Today’s decision is the correct legal outcome, though it was secured only through principled sacrifice and collective will.”

Ammori said the group had been banned because its actions targeting the UK subsidiary of Israel’s largest arms manufacturer Elbit Systems had “cost the corporation millions of pounds in profits”.

“Banning Palestine Action was always about appeasing pro-Israel lobby groups and weapons manufacturers, and nothing to do with terrorism,” she said.

Elbit Systems describes its drones, which have been used extensively by Israel in Gaza to deadly effect, killing large numbers of Palestinians, as “the backbone” of Israel’s drone fleet. — Agenceis

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