Palestine Action terror ban ruled unlawful by High Court

Palestine Action’s ban under terrorism legislation has been ruled unlawful by the High Court in a humiliating blow for the government but the ban will remain in place until a further order by the courts.

Huda Ammori, co-founder of the group, took the Home Office to court over the decision to proscribe Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, with her lawyers saying that the move was unprecedented.

Since the proscription last July, thousands of people have been arrested for holding up placards in support of Palestine Action. Hundreds of trials are expected throughout this year and into the next for those accused of taking part in protests, but they face being upended by the High Court’s ruling.

Justice Victoria Sharp told the High Court on Friday that the proscription of Palestine Action “did result in a very significant interference with the right to freedom of speech and the right to freedom of assembly”.

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She added that “the proscription of Palestine Action was disproportionate”, saying only a very small number of Palestine Action’s activities amounted to terrorism. She said that the group’s acts “had not yet reached the level, scale and persistence to warrant proscription.”

Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn have decided that the terror ban will remain in force until further legal hearings can take place.

Lawyers for Ms Ammori and the Home Office have till the 20 February to provide further submissions to the court ahead of more hearings that will decide whether the ban should be lifted.

In their judgement, Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn accepted that the terror ban had meant people were being forced to “self-censor” themselves and change their behaviour out of fear of falling foul of the law. They accepted that journalists, academics, and campaigning and civil liberties organisations could be impacted by the wide-ranging affects of the proscription.

While they described Palestine Action as a group that “promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality”, the judges said that criminal law is sufficient to prosecute these acts.

The Independent revealed yesterday that the Home Office has spent £700,000 in legal fees so far fighting Ms Ammori’s case.

Then-home secretary Yvette Cooper took the decision to ban the group under terror laws after activists broke into an RAF base and damaged two military aircraft. Human rights groups have condemned the move as a “grave abuse of state power” and UN high commissioner Volker Turk called the ban “disproportionate and unnecessary”.

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During the court case, Ms Ammori’s lawyers insisted that Palestine Action does not advocate for violence, saying any examples of serious violence against property or person “are not the norm, they are rare”.

Ms Ammori responded to the news on Friday saying that the ruling was a “monumental victory for both our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people”.

She added: “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.”

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Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “disappointed” by the High Court’s ruling, adding: “I intend to fight this judgement in the Court of Appeal”.

As news came through of the judges’ decision on Friday morning, about a hundred people gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice building in central London started cheering and chanting “Free Palestine”.

Akiko Hart, director of human rights organisation Liberty, said they welcomed the court’s finding but said “the practical effect will depend on the government’s appeal”.

She added: “This case has exposed a deeper problem where the line between direct action and terrorism has become dangerously blurred, and this will continue to have a chilling effect on protest and free speech”.

Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch, said that the verdict was a “shot in the arm for British democracy”.

Areeba Hamid, a director at Greenpeace UK, said the government’s use of terror laws had been “the stuff of dystopian novels”. She added: “The Crown Prosecution Service should immediately drop the terror charges against the peaceful protesters who opposed this ban”.

This is a breaking story. More to follow..