London High Court upholds order that critics say puts the group’s anti-Gaza war protesters on a par with al-Qaeda, ISIL.Pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action‘s cofounder has lost a bid to pause the British government’s decision to ban the organisation under “anti-terrorism” laws pending their legal challenge.
Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, had asked London’s High Court to stop the proscription of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation.
On Friday, the court heard a challenge to the order and Judge Martin Chamberlain ruled against Ammori, meaning the proscription of Palestine Action is upheld and will come into force at midnight.
The proscription came after British lawmakers this week decided to ban Palestine Action after its activists broke into a military base last month and sprayed red paint on two planes in protest at the UK’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
Proscription would make it a crime to be a member of Palestine Action that carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Proscribed groups under British law include ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.
Ammori’s lawyer Raza Husain said the proscription marked the first time the UK had sought to ban a group carrying out such direct action, describing it as “an ill-considered, discriminatory, authoritarian abuse of statutory power”.
The police have swarmed protestors outside the Royal Court of Justice.
We will not allow them to intimidate us.
The protest will continue – decision expected at 5.30. pic.twitter.com/9C1R538WvJ
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) …