Palestine Action High Court challenge can go ahead, judge rules
The ban means that membership of, or support for, the direct action group is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Earlier this month, lawyers for Ms Ammori asked a judge to allow her to bring the High Court challenge over the ban, describing it as an 'unlawful interference' with freedom of expression.
And in a decision on Wednesday, judge Mr Justice Chamberlain said that two parts of the arguments on Ms Ammori's behalf were 'reasonably arguable'.
In his ruling, he said that it was 'reasonably arguable' that the proscription 'amounts to a disproportionate interference' of Ms Ammori's rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
He said: 'That being so, the point will have to be determined at a substantive hearing and it would not be appropriate for me to say more now.'
The judge continued that a second argument, that Ms Cooper failed to consult Palestine Action 'in breach of natural justice', was also 'reasonably arguable'.
He said: 'As a matter of principle, I consider that it is reasonably arguable that a duty to consult arose.'
He continued: 'Having considered the evidence, I also consider it reasonably arguable that there was no compelling reason why consultation could not have been undertaken here.'
Following the ruling, Ms Ammori said: 'This landmark decision to grant a judicial review which could see the Home Secretary's unlawful decision to ban Palestine Action quashed, demonstrates the significance of this case for freedoms of speech, expression and assembly and rights to natural justice in our country and the rule of law itself.'
She continued: 'We will not stop defending fundamental rights to free speech and expression in our country and supporting Palestinian people against a genocide being livestreamed before our eyes.'
Raza Husain KC, for Ms Ammori, previously told the court at the hearing on July 21 that the ban had made the UK 'an international outlier' and was 'repugnant'.
Mr Husain added: 'The decision to proscribe Palestine Action had the hallmarks of an authoritarian and blatant abuse of power.'
The Home Office is defending the legal action.
Sir James Eadie KC, for the department, said in written submissions that by causing serious damage to property, Palestine Action was 'squarely' within part of the terrorism laws used in proscription.
He said: 'There is no credible basis on which it can be asserted that the purpose of this activity is not designed to influence the Government, or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.'
Previously, Ben Watson KC, for the Home Office, said Palestine Action could challenge the Home Secretary's decision at the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC), a specialist tribunal, rather than at the High Court.
Sir James said that an 'exceptional case' would be needed for it to go to the High Court, rather than the POAC.
Mr Justice Chamberlain said on Wednesday that a High Court challenge could take place in the autumn of this year, whereas an appeal to the specialist tribunal would take much longer.
He said: 'If it were necessary to appeal for deproscription, it is very unlikely that an application before POAC would be listed before the middle of 2026.'
In his judgment, he said: 'If the legality of the proscription order can properly be raised by way of defence to criminal proceedings, that would open up the spectre of different and possibly conflicting decisions on that issue in magistrates' courts across England and Wales or before different judges or juries in the Crown Court.
'That would be a recipe for chaos.
'To avoid it, there is a strong public interest in allowing the legality of the order to be determined authoritatively as soon as possible. The obvious way to do that is in judicial review proceedings.'
Ms Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on June 23, saying that the vandalism of the two planes, which police said caused an estimated £7 million of damage, was 'disgraceful'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Migrants will be allowed into UK from France for up to three months
Migrants in France will be handed a visa to live in Britain for up to three months if they apply through Labour's new 'one in, one out' deal. Details of the new Anglo-French scheme published by the Home Office today revealed applicants will be able to come to this country while their final application is considered. Documents said each successful applicant who meets a number of criteria would be 'granted entry clearance to come to the UK for a period of up to three months' after completing an online application. They will not be allowed access to public funds and will also be barred from working or studying during the initial three month period, while the Home Office considers whether it will grant a longer visa. It is unclear where the migrants will be housed, however, opening the prospect of them being placed in taxpayer-funded hotels. Furthermore, it is not known what would happen to migrants allowed into Britain under the scheme if their applications were later refused. The Home Office also confirmed applicants could be penalised of they fail to 'present for travel to the UK, without reasonable excuse, when directed by the Home Office'. The number of people accepted from France will have a 'cap' equal to the number of small boat migrants who are sent back under the deal, the documents showed. But the Home Office was unable to confirm the level of the cap. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'There are scant details as yet but this risks turning into yet another wide open door into the UK. 'It is not clear what will happen if the Home Office accepts people whose applications are rejected later on, and whether they can be removed. 'And what if the Home Office accepts people without being able to remove the same number to France due to legal challenges? 'There are a lot of unanswered questions and this risks descending into yet another Labour borders farce.' It came after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper refused to say how many migrants will be returned under the deal because it 'could help the smuggling gangs'. Migrants who arrive by small boat from tomorrow could face being selected for the scheme and placed in detention. Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We will provide regular updates, people will be able to see how many people are being detained, how many people are being returned, and it is right that we should be transparent around that. 'But we're not setting the numbers in advance, firstly because there is no fixed number in terms of the overall number of people to come through this system, and secondly because we're not going to provide (gangs) with that operational information.' The agreement with Emmanuel Macron's government will lapse at the end of June next year – just 47 weeks away – unless it is renewed. Last month it was suggested the scheme would see 50 migrants a week sent back to France. At that rate, just 2,350 would be returned before the agreement expires. By comparison, a record 25,436 migrants have reached Britain by small boat since the start of the year, up 49 per cent on the same period last year. Meanwhile, pro-migrant groups have already indicated they are poised to bring legal challenges – just as they did against the previous Conservative government's Rwanda asylum deal. Steve Valdez-Symonds of Amnesty International UK said: 'We anticipate that this deal is likely to face legal challenges from people who quite reasonably will resist being swapped around like mere fodder rather than addressing the claim for asylum they have made. 'Once again, refugees are treated like parcels, not people, while the public is left to pay the price for yet another cruel, costly failure dressed up as policy. 'If and when there is some real detail on how this deal is intended to work, Amnesty will of course consider what further steps we ought to take.' Natasha Tsangarides, of the charity Freedom from Torture, said: 'While this pilot offers a pathway to sanctuary for a small number of refugees, it will rely on the mass detention of survivors of torture and persecution. 'We know from our therapy rooms how profoundly harmful any time in detention is for people who've been through the unimaginable horrors of torture. 'Many survivors were tortured in detention, so locking them up again reopens deep psychological scars and can set them back significantly on their road to recovery. 'A more secure world for everyone depends on international cooperation not only to ensure safety for survivors but also to stop repression.' From tomorrow, any new Channel arrivals will be taken to the Home Office's processing centre at Manston, near Ramsgate, Kent, and assessed by Border Force officials. Any selected for the returns scheme will be transferred to short-term immigration holding facilities operated by the Home Office, such as those at Heathrow and Gatwick airports. After further assessment, they could be sent to an immigration removal centre to await return to France. The first migrants will be returned by the end of August and detention space has already been set aside for the launch of the scheme. The deal was agreed by PM Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron last month after a summit at Downing Street.
The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Prison bosses make room for possible influx amid planned protests across England
Prison bosses will make room for a possible influx of arrested demonstrators this weekend amid concerns that some jails are close to full, the head of the national governors' body has revealed. The police have threatened to arrest hundreds of supporters of the banned group Palestine Action, who plan to protest in London this weekend. There are also at least eight planned demonstrations outside hotels housing asylum seekers. The Ministry of Justice confirmed that it has initiated 'capacity gold command' as it attempts to manage the use of individual prison cells, with jails across England and Wales 97.5% full. Capacity gold command is initiated when the number of prisoners across the estate reaches critical levels. It allows an appointed gold commander to monitor every out-of-use cell, direct moves into and out of prisons and maximise the use of open prisons and home detention curfews. Government sources said the justice department has re-examined the possibility of launching Operation Early Dawn, which would allow defendants to be held in police cells until prison beds became available and could mean their court dates are delayed or adjourned at short notice. Tom Wheatley, the president of the Prison Governors' Association, said he is concerned about the impact on prisons of possible public order events after the riots in 2024 after the Southport murders. He added: 'Any spike in the numbers of people remanded in custody will have an impact on prisons. HMPPS HQ is again operating 'capacity gold command' arrangements to direct governors to move prisoners to ensure capacity is available. Governors in reception prisons will be directed to move prisoners over the weekend in order to create space. 'This will mean sometimes moving prisoners long distances to prisons that have room to create it in those that don't. This is far from ideal in that resettling prisoners from prisons a long way from where they are going to live on release is difficult logistically and less likely to be successful.' Sources said capacity gold command was activated in February 2023 and ended in September 2024, when the Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary and lord chancellor, initiated an early release scheme. Because of overcrowding, a source said it was reactivated in March this year so that senior officials and ministers are informed about individual cell space. A protest against the ban on Palestine Action will go ahead in London on Saturday, organisers have confirmed, despite the police saying they will carry out mass detentions. Defend Our Juries, a pressure group campaigning to lift the ban on Palestine Action under terrorism laws, said on Tuesday that more than 500 people had committed to holding up signs reading 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action', as part of the protest. The group said the event would go ahead as planned after the 'conditional commitment requirement' had been reached. More than 200 people have been arrested in response to the proscription of the group last month. The location of Saturday's protest has not been made known. The Metropolitan police made clear the force would arrest anyone breaking terrorism laws, as Downing Street urged people not to attend any protest. The demonstration has been organised to protest against the decision by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, to ban the organisation last month after activists caused what police said was £7m of damage to jets at RAF Brize Norton. Police are braced for further protests and disorder across the UK, as anti-migrant demonstrations continue outside hotels housing asylum-seekers. At least four protests have been organised for the upcoming week in locations such as Bournemouth, Southampton and Portsmouth, with tensions rising further after clashes over the weekend. Far-right groups also plan to protest outside at least eight migrant hotels on Friday as part of a 'no asylum day' of action. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'Capacity gold has been used for many months in the management of capacity pressure in the prison estate. 'The swift and coordinated response to last year's unrest shows the criminal justice system is prepared to act quickly if needed to maintain stability and keep the public safe.'
The National
39 minutes ago
- The National
Peer urged crack down on Palestine Action at request of US arms firm
Lord Dannatt wrote to two separate Home Office ministers asking them to address the 'threat' the group posed after its activists caused damage to a factory run by US tech and arms firm Teledyne. But only after the firm – which the peer has been a paid advisor for since 2022 – asked him to do so according to The Guardian. Four activists were convicted of conspiring to damage Teledyne's factory in Wales after they broke in and caused an estimated £1m ($1.33m) worth of damage, according to prosecutors. READ MORE: Kate Forbes doesn't rule out return to politics after shock decision to stand down Dannatt wrote to then Home Secretary Suella Braverman after speaking with the factory's general manager and another senior Teledyne member on December 22 2022, reportedly warning that 'the threat from Palestine Action has more widespread implications for security and the economy within the United Kingdom'. He added: '[I] would be very grateful to receive assurance that the threat from Palestine Action is fully recognised by our security services and appropriate action [is] either planned or being taken'. Dannatt then went on to say that he had 'undertaken to brief the Teledyne main board in the United States that the threat from Palestine Action in the UK is being suitably addressed'. In court in May 2023, Alex Stuart of Dyfed-Powys police – who was in charge of the investigation into the activists – expressed concerns that Dannatt was seeking to have input into in the case. 'Lord Dannatt was chief of the army general staff. He's now a life peer. He has an invested interest [sic] in this aspect of UK trade and investment, particularly military projects,' Stuart wrote in an email to his superiors at the time. He said that Dannatt 'wants to have some input' in the investigation, adding: 'it would not be wise to have a member of the House of Lords poking around in a live criminal case'. The prosecution denied there was any evidence Dannatt had tried to 'influence' the investigation, saying he was 'just asking for information', The judge agreed with that assertion. The Guardian also reported that Dannatt contacted the government again in September 2024 after 'attacks on Teledyne facilities continued and the company asked [him] to raise their concerns again'. In a letter to Dan Jarvis, the Labour security minister, Dannatt once again disclosed his role. Under the same letterhead, he said he would be 'very grateful to receive assurance from the current government that the threat posed by Palestine Action continues to be fully recognised by our security services and that appropriate action is being taken.' Dannatt is currently under investigation by the Westminster authorities over two separate sets of allegations that he broke parliamentary rules that forbid lobbying. The move to ban Palestine Action came after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20, an incident it subsequently claimed, which police said caused about £7 million worth of damage. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action three days later, saying the vandalism of the planes was 'disgraceful' and the group had a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage'.
