Court of Appeal rules decision to ban Palestine Action as a terror organisation was lawful
The Home Office has won an appeal challenging a ruling over the banning of Palestine Action as a terror organisation.
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On Monday, the Court of Appeal has ruled the decision to ban the group was lawful.
Judges at the High Court had ruled in February that the decision was unlawful following a legal challenge from a co-founder of the group.
Five judges said the ban was a “justified and proportionate” interference on freedom of expression rights.
Hundreds of people have been arrested across multiple demonstrations after holding up placards and wearing badges and t-shirts declaring support for Palestine Action.
The judge later said that comparisons to groups such as the suffragettes were “seriously flawed”.
Baroness Carr, sitting with Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Edis, Lord Justice Lewis and Lady Justice Whipple, continued: “There is a distinction between the expression of an opinion or belief that is supportive of the objective of an organisation… and an expression of an opinion or belief that is supportive of an organisation itself.”
In the appeal, Sir James Eadie KC said in written submissions for the Home Office that “the line between criminality, sometimes violent criminality, and terrorism is not a bright one”, and that the criminal law had “demonstrably failed” to prevent the escalation of the group’s activities.
But Raza Husain KC, for Ms Ammori, said in written submissions that the High Court was right to find that the ban on the group did not correctly balance the human rights involved and that the ban on Palestine Action has created a “culture of fear” among campaigners for Palestinian rights.
The Court of Appeal’s decision comes after four Palestine Action activists who mounted a “terrorist” raid on Israel-based defence firm Elbit Systems’ UK factory were jailed last week.
Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, used sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy computers, drones and other equipment before police and security intervened.
Corner, a former student at Oxford, struck police officer Kate Evans twice on the back with a seven-pound sledgehammer, leaving her with a fractured spine.