UK court says proscribing Palestine Action as ‘terrorist’ group was lawful

Britain’s Court of Appeal has ruled that the government’s proscription of the activist group Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation was lawful.

The ruling on Monday came after the government lodged an appeal challenging a High Court ruling in February that banning the group under the Terrorism Act 2000 was unlawful and disproportionate.

“We concluded that the proscription decision struck a fair balance,” Chief Justice Sue Carr said in her remarks announcing the decision. “We therefore allowed the home secretary’s appeal against the decision of the Divisional Court.”

Thousands of arrests linked to support for Palestine Action have been made since the ban was imposed.

In her remarks, Carr said the group’s behaviour was not that of a non-violent, direct-action organisation.

Lawyers for Britain’s interior minister, Shabana Mahmood, had argued at a hearing in April that the conclusion that the ban had a significant impact on freedom of expression was “overstated and wrong”.

However, Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori said proscription had imposed “severe restrictions on the fundamental free speech and assembly rights of vast numbers of people” who supported the Palestinian cause.

Chief Justice Carr said any such ban was “highly controversial” but added “it is a fundamental mistake to overlook the fact that Palestine Action overtly promoted unlawful violence amounting to terrorism”.