Palestine Action ban ‘disproportionate’, High Court rules, in blow to Government

The Government’s decision to ban Palestine Action as a terror group was unlawful and “disproportionate”, the High Court has ruled.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she will fight to prevent the proscription being lifted and the case could have implications for thousands of people arrested for supporting the group at protests across the country.

The ban remains in place for now and the Government will appeal but the Metropolitan Police indicated officers were unlikely to arrest people simply for showing support for Palestine Action until the legal situation was clarified.

Ms Mahmood said she was “disappointed” by the ruling and officials fear it could severely restrict the Government’s discretion to act to ban organisations in the future.

The group has undertaken 385 direct actions in protest at the situation in Palestine and the actions of the Israeli government since 2020, according to police.

The High Court said a “very small number” of those actions amounted to terrorism.

Palestine Action’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, took legal action against the Home Office over then-home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision last year to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The decision was announced in the wake of the group claiming responsibility for causing an estimated £7 million of damage to military tanker planes at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The protest group Defend Our Juries said more than 2,700 people have been arrested for holding up signs supporting Palestine Action since the Government’s ban came into effect.

The ban made it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

In a 46-page ruling on Friday, Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn, said: “We are satisfied that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.

“At its core, Palestine Action is an organisation that promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality. A very small number of its actions have amounted to terrorist action.”

But “the nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities falling within the definition of terrorism had not yet reached the level, scale and persistence to warrant proscription”.

The judges said Ms Cooper made a “significant” error in using her discretion to ban Palestine Action, partly because of the potential advantages of proscription in disrupting the group’s activities.

Ms Ammori said: “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.”

She continued: “This ban was unlawful, resulting in the unlawful arrest of nearly 3,000 people, among them priests, vicars, former magistrates and retired doctors, under terrorism laws for simply sitting in silence while holding signs reading ‘I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action’.

“It would be profoundly unjust for the Government to try to delay or stop the High Court’s proposed order quashing this ban while the futures of these thousands of people hang in the balance, many of whom are elderly or disabled and facing up to 14 years’ imprisonment for this entirely peaceful protest.”

The Home Secretary said: “The proscription of Palestine Action followed a rigorous and evidence-based decision-making process, endorsed by Parliament.

“The proscription does not prevent peaceful protest in support of the Palestinian cause, another point on which the court agrees.

“As a former Lord Chancellor, I have the deepest respect for our judiciary.

“Home Secretaries must however retain the ability to take action to protect our national security and keep the public safe.”

Scotland Yard acknowledged the “unusual circumstances”, of the High Court ordering the ban to be quashed but keeping it in place while an appeal is considered, was likely to cause “confusion among the public”.

A Met statement said: “Officers will continue to identify offences where support for Palestine Action is being expressed, but they will focus on gathering evidence of those offences and the people involved to provide opportunities for enforcement at a later date, rather than making arrests at the time.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council said they were “deeply concerned” by the High Court ruling and welcomed the Government’s intention to appeal.

“Palestine Action has repeatedly targeted buildings hosting Jewish communal institutions, Jewish-owned businesses, or sites associated with Israel, in ways that cause fear and disruption far beyond the immediate protest sites”, the groups said.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp also said the Government should appeal because “there can be no hesitation when public safety and national security are at stake”.

But Green Party leader Zack Polanski welcomed the High Court ruling, saying: “It is time for the Government to stop criminalising the people protesting a genocide”.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said: “Placing Palestine Action in the same legal category as Isis was disproportionate.”

Nearly 700 people have been charged with a terrorism offence and faced preliminary court proceedings linked to supporting Palestine Action, although no-one has yet been convicted.

The High Court’s decision was already having an impact on other cases on Friday.

A plea hearing at the Old Bailey over an allegation of criminal damage at defence firm Moog Aircraft Group in Wolverhampton was postponed to allow the defendants’ lawyers to consider the ruling.