Palestine Action terror ban was lawful, UK Court of Appeal rules

The decision to ban Palestine Action as a terror group was lawful, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Three judges at the High Court ruled in February that the then-UK home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 last year was unlawful, following a legal challenge from the group’s co-founder, Huda Ammori.

The ban, which began on July 5 last year, made membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and has remained in force as the UK Home Office attempted to challenge the ruling.

At the Court of Appeal on Monday, five judges said the ban was a “justified and proportionate” interference on freedom of expression rights.

In a summary of the decision, the Chief Justice Carr said the High Court had “materially understated the position” when considering how much latitude the Home Secretary had when deciding whether to proscribe.

The judge later said that comparisons to groups such as the suffragettes were “seriously flawed”.

Carr, sitting with Geoffrey Vos, Justice Edis, Justice Lewis and Justice Whipple, continued: “There is a distinction between the expression of an opinion or belief that is supportive of the objective of an organisation… and an expression of an opinion or belief that is supportive of an organisation itself.”

In the appeal, James Eadie said in written submissions for the UK Home Office that “the line between criminality, sometimes violent criminality, and terrorism is not a bright one”, and that the criminal law had “demonstrably failed” to prevent the escalation of the group’s activities.

But Raza Husain, for Ammori, said in written submissions that the High Court was right to find that the ban on the group did not correctly balance the human rights involved and that the ban on Palestine Action has created a “culture of fear” among campaigners for Palestinian rights.

Hundreds of people have been arrested across multiple demonstrations after holding up placards and wearing badges and t-shirts declaring support for Palestine Action.

The Chief Magistrate has put a pause on the progress of criminal cases for those charged, with a review hearing due to take place on June 30th.

The Court of Appeal’s decision comes after four Palestine Action activists who mounted a “terrorist” raid on Israel-based defence firm Elbit Systems’ UK factory were jailed.

Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, used sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy computers, drones and other equipment before police and security intervened.

Corner, a former student at Oxford, struck police officer Kate Evans twice on the back with a seven-pound sledgehammer, leaving her with a fractured spine.

Justice Johnson gave the four prison sentences of between seven years and eight months and four years and eight months, with each defendant also spending an extra year on licence.

During the hearing on Friday, the judge ruled that the raid amounted to an “act of terrorism”, having been carried out to try to influence the UK government and intimidate a section of the public.