Pro-Palestinian group seeks to block UK government's decision to ban it under anti-terrorism laws
The pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action sought Friday to temporarily block the British government's decision to ban it under anti-terrorism laws after activists broke into a military base last month and vandalized two planes.
The ban is set to come into force at midnight after being approved by Parliament earlier this week. It would make membership of the group and support of its actions a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Raza Husain, a lawyer representing the group's co-founder Huda Ammori, said his client had 'never encouraged harm to any person at all.'
'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 lawyer quoted his client as saying.
Justice Martin Chamberlain is expected to give his decision at the end of Friday's hearing.
The proposed ban was triggered after pro-Palestinian activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton, damaging two planes with red paint and crowbars in protest at the British government's ongoing military support for Israel in its war in Gaza.
Police said that the incident caused around seven million pounds (US$9.4 million) worth of damage, with four people charged in connection with the incident.
The four, aged between 22 and 35, were charged Thursday with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place for purposes prejudicial to the interests of the U.K. No pleas were entered at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London and the four are scheduled to appear July 18 at the Central Criminal Court.
U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organization a few days after the break-in, stating that the vandalism of the two planes was 'disgraceful.' She added that the group had a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage.'
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