Court of Appeal rules proscription of Palestine Action lawful

The government's proscription of Palestine Action as a terror organisation is lawful, the Court of Appeal ruled. In a significant national security ruling, five senior judges overturned an earlier High Court decision that deemed the ban a breach of protest rights.

Palestine Action remained banned since the February ruling to allow for further legal arguments and government appeal considerations. Five Court of Appeal judges concluded on Monday that the decision to proscribe the group struck a fair balance. Co-founder Huda Ammori, who brought the original legal challenge against the Home Office, stated an intention to appeal the ruling to the UK Supreme Court.

Belonging to or supporting Palestine Action carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison under the proscription. Authorities arrested thousands of people at demonstrations since the ban took effect in July last year.

The home secretary possessed the legal entitlement to proscribe the group under government policy on banning terrorism groups, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr and four other judges stated. Baroness Carr noted that portraying Palestine Action as a non-violent protest group is not a sustainable proposition. She stated that Palestine Action overly promotes unlawful violence amounting to terrorism, contrasting the group with the Suffragettes.

The group failed to disown or condemn three incidents judged by ministers to amount to terrorism. Threats posed by Palestine Action, including clandestine organisation and the targeting of lawful businesses, served as the most important factor in the lawful decision-making. Target companies included defence firms involved in UK national defence and assisting Ukraine, with the court ruling the home secretary best placed to judge the impact of those threats.

Huda Ammori expressed surprise at the judgment, noting the High Court previously ruled the government acted unlawfully due to significant interference with freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. She stated that the group will continue fighting to overturn what she termed one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and protest rights in modern British history.