Palestine Action makes legal bid to block government from putting it on the banned list under anti-terror law

Daily Mail​

14 hours ago

Palestine Action today began its legal bid to block the government from putting it on the banned list under anti-terror legislation.
An urgent hearing was held in the High Court on Monday related to an application for judicial review on behalf of one of the founders of the direct action group, Huda Ammori.
A further hearing will be held on Friday to decide whether the Government can temporarily be blocked from banning the group, pending a hearing to decide whether Palestine Action can bring the legal challenge.
A decision on whether the group will be given the green light to bring the legal challenge will be given at a further hearing expected to be held in the week of July 21.
It comes after Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000.
This would make membership and support for the direct action group illegal - punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
It is expected MPs and peers will debate the legislation over Wednesday and Thursday and, if approved, the ban could come into force by Friday.
Commenting on the hearing, Ms Ammori said: 'I have been left with no choice but to request this urgent hearing and to seek either an injunction or other form of interim relief because of the Home Secretary's decision to try to steamroll this through Parliament immediately, without proper opportunity for MPs and Peers to debate and scrutinise the proposal, or for legal and human rights experts and civil society organisations to make representations, or for those of us who would be denied fundamental rights as a result and criminalised as 'terrorists' overnight, including the many thousands of people who support Palestine Action.'
The Government's decision comes after activists associated with Palestine Action vandalized two planes at RAF Brize Norton on June 20.
Five people have since been arrested on suspicion of a terror offence in relation to the incident.
Unveiling her intention to ban the group on June 23, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was the latest in a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action'.
The group has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including stealing and beheading a statue of Israel's first President Chaim Weizman, spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising US President Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.
Demonstrators are gathering outside a pre-trial court hearing that begins today to determine what legal defences apply for the group of activists known as 'The Filton 18.' Campaigners are calling for charges to be dropped against the members of Palestine Action, who have been detained under counter-terrorism laws, accused of taking part in a protest action against Israeli weapons manufacture Elbit Systems at a factory near Bristol in August of last year.
The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is 'concerned in terrorism'.
Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al-Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group.
A spokesperson for Palestine Action said: 'Bundling Palestine Action - a domestic civil disobedience protest group - in with foreign neo-Nazi organisations further highlights how unjustified and preposterous the Home Secretary's proposed proscription of Palestine Action is.
'These foreign organisations are the kind of groups proscription was created to target - not protesters who disrupt arms factories and spray paint on war planes to protest war crimes and genocide.'