THE Labour Government’s proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation will be challenged in the Supreme Court – and the European Court of Human Rights if necessary, one of the group’s co-founders have said.
Huda Ammori said that she would “not stop fighting” after the Court of Appeal on Monday sided with the UK Government and overturned a High Court ruling that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was “unlawful”.
The ban, which began on July 5 last year, made support for the direct-action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Ruling in favour of the ban on Monday, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr – who is the head of the Judiciary of England and Wales – said that although it impinged on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, it was “justified and proportionate” to protect the public amid a “pattern of escalatory behaviour” from Palestine Action.
Ammori said in response that she intended to take the case to the UK Supreme Court – the next step to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling – and the European Court of Human Rights if needed.
The group co-founder continued: “We are confident we will ultimately succeed because criminalising peaceful political protest in this way is a flagrant violation of our fundamental rights and freedoms in Britain, protected in the Human Rights Act, which enshrines the European Convention of Human Rights.
“We will not stop fighting to overturn one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and the right to protest in modern British history.
“This unprecedented abuse of power has devastated the lives of thousands of people while silencing dissent over Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinian people during the genocide, when that dissent could not be more urgent.”
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell called on the Westminster Parliament to “reverse the decision to proscribe Palestine Action urgently before we see large numbers of elderly people in particular being dragged before our courts”.
“Classifying protest through direct action as terrorism brings Parliament and our judicial system into disrepute,” he added.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, called the ruling a "travesty of justice".
"One by one, our human rights, civil liberties, and the very foundations of our democracy are being destroyed — all to oil the wheels of British complicity in genocide," he said. "Our government has participated in the mass murder of Palestinians. That is the real crime, and we must bring about justice."
Amnesty International said that the banning of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was “a grave misuse of sweeping counter-terrorism powers with serious consequences for human rights, and today’s outcome does not alter that assessment”.
“It is fundamentally disproportionate to treat direct action protest as terrorism,” Tom Southerden, Amnesty’s legal programme director, went on.
“The images of people from all walks of life – from nurses and pensioners to military veterans – being bundled into police vans for peacefully holding placards will be long remembered as a deeply shameful chapter in our history.
“Allowing this proscription to stand represents another step in the ongoing crackdown on the right to protest in this country.
“The Government must withdraw the proscription and begin reversing years of attacks on our right to demonstrate – one of the most effective tools we have to hold those in power to account.”
The Scottish Greens equalities spokesperson, Maggie Chapman MSP, called the appeal court ruling a “devastating blow to free speech and the right to protest”.
“The UK Government and the courts have criminalised conscience and sent a chilling message to anyone willing to speak out against injustice,” Chapman added.
“Since this absurd ban was imposed, thousands of people have been arrested for protesting against genocide, holding banners or simply offering solidarity. Many now face life-altering consequences for exercising fundamental democratic rights.”
The Court of Appeal ruling suggests that more than 700 criminal cases against people accused of supporting Palestine Action will go ahead.
The Chief Magistrate, Judge Paul Goldspring, put the live prosecutions on hold after the High Court ruling that the proscription was unlawful. He is due to hold a review hearing on June 30 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, to consider whether the criminal cases will now go ahead.
