Urgent High Court Hearing Scheduled to Review Palestine Action’s Proscription
The High Court has agreed to hold an urgent hearing regarding the decision to proscribe Palestine Action. The session is set for Friday, July 4, at 10:30 am, during which permission for a judicial review of the Home Secretary’s move to classify the organization under the Terrorism Act 2000 will be examined.
Judicial Review and Grounds for Challenge
A judicial review claim has been initiated on behalf of Ms. Huda Ammori, a 31-year-old of Palestinian and Iraqi descent and one of the founding members of Palestine Action. Her legal team, Birnberg Peirce, argues that the decision to add Palestine Action to the list of banned organizations is flawed. Supporting statements from prominent human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Liberty, and the European Legal Support Centre, raise concerns over an “unlawful misuse of anti‐terror measures” that could criminalize dissent and impact freedom of expression and the right to protest.
The claim seeks to block any proscription of Palestine Action on several counts, including legal error, irrationality, breaches of the Human Rights Act 1998, discrimination, and a failure to uphold natural justice. The submissions describe Palestine Action as a protest movement that employs direct action and civil disobedience to counter serious breaches of international law by Israel, including allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, apartheid, and genocide. The group also targets operations linked to alleged violations by enterprises such as Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms supplier, accused of committing serious international law breaches.
Proposed Ban by the Home Secretary
The Home Secretary had intended to present a draft order to Parliament with votes scheduled for Wednesday, aiming for the ban to take effect as early as Friday. This move came on the heels of an incident at an RAF base in Oxfordshire, where activists defaced military equipment with red paint following a protest action. Government officials condemned the incident, describing it as an unacceptable act of criminal damage that jeopardizes national security.
In response, Palestine Action’s legal team has sought interim measures to prevent the enforcement of any proscription until the court has ruled on their case. Their argument stresses that an immediate ban would cause irreparable harm not only to the organization and its founders but also to thousands of supporters, effectively stripping them of an avenue to contest decisions made without proper legal scrutiny. They also criticize the lack of opportunity for those affected—such as civil society groups—to present their views before rights are curtailed.
Statement by Huda Ammori
Ms. Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, remarked that the court’s swift action underscores the profound stakes of the issue, notably the potential threat to fundamental freedoms like speech, expression, and assembly in the United Kingdom. She argued that criminalizing direct action and political protest by labeling it as terrorism would mirror tactics used by authoritarian regimes to silence dissent, establishing a dangerous precedent.
Ms. Ammori pointed out that the Home Secretary’s consultations have been extremely limited, involving only representatives from the Israeli Embassy, certain arms manufacturers, and select pro-Israel lobby groups. In her view, this narrow range of input overlooks the wider community of civil society groups and activists affected by the decision. She emphasized that activities such as defacing military equipment or targeting arms factories—acts of protest aimed at disrupting practices she deems supportive of aggressive policies—should not be equated with terrorism. Instead, she maintained that the focus should be on addressing more severe violations occurring under the veil of state-sanctioned actions overseas.
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