Judgment due in Palestine Action court bid for temporary block on terror ban

South Wales Guardian

2 days ago

Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, is asking the court to temporarily block the Government from banning the group as a terrorist organisation before a potential legal challenge against the decision to proscribe it under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The move is to come into force at midnight after being approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords earlier this week, and would make membership and support for the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The Home Office is opposing bids to delay the ban from becoming law, and the potential launch of a legal challenge against the decision.
At the end of a hearing on Friday, Mr Justice Chamberlain said he 'realistically' planned to give his decision after 5.30pm.
Lawyers for Ms Ammori said that if the temporary block was not granted, a bid to appeal against that decision could be made on Friday evening.
During the hearing, Raza Husain KC, for Ms Ammori, told the London court that this would be the first time a 'direct action civil disobedience group, which does not advocate for violence, has been sought to be proscribed as terrorists'.
He added that his client had been 'inspired' by a long history of direct action in the UK, 'from the suffragettes to anti-apartheid activists, to Iraq war activists'.
Quoting Ms Ammori, the barrister said that the group had 'never encouraged harm to any person at all' and that its goal 'is to put ourselves in the way of the military machine'.
He continued: 'We ask you, in the first instance, to suspend until July 21 what we say is an ill-considered, discriminatory and authoritarian abuse of statutory power which is alien to the basic tradition of the common law and is contrary to the Human Rights Act.'
The hearing later in July is expected to deal with whether Ms Ammori can bring a High Court challenge over the planned proscription.
Mr Husain later said that to proscribe an organisation, the Home Secretary 'has got to believe that the organisation is concerned in terrorism'.
Some 81 organisations are already proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Hamas, al Qaida and National Action.
Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC, also representing Ms Ammori, told the court that if the ban came into effect the harm would be 'far-reaching', could cause 'irreparable harm to large numbers of members of the public', including causing some to 'self-censor'.
The barrister named Normal People author Sally Rooney, who lives abroad and 'fears the ramifications for her, for her work, for her books, for her programmes' if she shows support for Palestine Action.
'Is the Prime Minister going to denounce her, an Irish artist, as a supporter of a proscribed organisation?'
'Will that have ramifications for her with the BBC, etc?' Ms Ni Ghralaigh asked.
Ben Watson KC, for the Home Office, told the High Court there was an 'insuperable hurdle' in the bid to temporarily block the ban of Palestine Action.
The barrister also said that if a temporary block was granted, it would be a 'serious disfigurement of the statutory regime'.
He said Palestine Action could challenge the Home Secretary's decision at the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission, a specialist tribunal, rather than at the High Court.
Friday's hearing comes after an estimated £7 million worth of damage was caused to two Voyager planes at RAF Brize Norton on June 20, in an action claimed by Palestine Action.
The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on June 23, saying that the vandalism of the two planes was 'disgraceful' and that the group had a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage'.
Mr Justice Chamberlain said that an assessment on whether to ban the group had been made as early as March, and 'preceded' the incident at RAF Brize Norton.
Four people were charged in connection with the incident.