UK court weighs ban on pro-Palestinian group amid protests
The two-day hearing comes amid mass arrests of supporters, with the group arguing that the government's decision to proscribe it as a terrorist organisation was unlawful.
The UK's highest court heard an appeal on Wednesday against a government ban on the pro-Palestinian activist group, Palestine Action. The group, co-founded by Huda Ammori, has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act. The ban has resulted in over 4,200 arrests since July 2024, including high-profile figures such as a priest, a former financial adviser, a military veteran, and climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The group's activities, which include direct action protests, have been labelled as non-violent by its lawyer, Raza Husain, who argued that only three of the group's 385 actions in the past five years met the terrorism threshold. Despite the High Court ruling in February that the ban was disproportionate, the Court of Appeal upheld the ban in June, stating that Palestine Action is a covert organisation that promotes unlawful violence.
The Home Office is expected to reject the group's claim of non-violence at the upcoming appeal. The proscription has impacted not only the protest movement but also the broader community, including best-selling author Sally Rooney, whose publisher has ceased distributing her books in the UK.
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