‘Monumental victory’: Activists welcome High Court ruling against Palestine Action ban

Activists and rights groups in the UK have welcomed a "monumental victory" after the country’s High Court ruled that a ban on the Palestine Action group was unlawful, citing breaches of free speech and rights to protest. 

On Friday, several prominent campaigners hailed the legal victory by Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori in her challenge against the government’s decision to proscribe the group under anti-terrorism legislation, although the organisation remains banned for the time being pending an appeal by the UK government. 

In a statement, Ammori warned the government against any attempt "to try to delay or stop the High Court’s proposed Order quashing this ban", after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “disappointed” by the ruling and intended to appeal the decision. 

The judgment has prompted renewed calls for charges against protesters accused of supporting Palestine Action to be dropped.

Ammori raised alarm over "the futures of these thousands of people hang in the balance, many of whom are elderly or disabled and facing up to 14 years’ imprisonment for this entirely peaceful protest". 

Since the ban came into force last July - following an incident in which Palestine Action activists entered a British military base and spray-painted two military aircraft - more than 2,700 people have been arrested for holding signs supporting the group, according to protest group Defend Our Juries. 

Ammori added that "It would be a draconian overreach and a blatant affront to the rule of law for more people to be arrested today and in the coming weeks for defying a ban which has been ruled unlawful". 

The new High Court ruling has been welcomed by groups including Greenpeace UK, Amnesty International and the Stop the War Coalition, all of which described the decision as significant for protest rights and civil liberties. 

Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch, also called for a "thorough and independent investigation" into the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action, stating that the ruling “reinforces what many of us having been saying all along - that the government’s misuse of terrorism legislation was a brazen and gross abuse of power that served to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel and those profiting from its atrocities". 

Meanwhile, Defend Our Juries said in a statement provided to The New Arab that the ruling showed there was "no longer any reason for Palestine Action-linked prisoners, including those who went on hunger strike, to be held in prison without trial on unsubstantiated ‘terror’ charges. They should be released immediately."

Saeed Taji Farouky, a former Palestine Action spokesperson and filmmaker, rejected the government’s justifications for the ban prior to the ruling, describing them as "incredibly fake and unconvincing". 

Speaking to The New Arab, Farouky pointed to the acquittal last week of six Palestine Action activists charged with aggravated burglary over a break-in at Elbit Systems UK as evidence of "a crumbling case before this High Court judgment was passed down". 

"Now with this judgment passed down, we can see the extent of the government's lies and manipulation. We can see that the government lied to the people. They lied to Parliament. They lied to their own lawmakers," he said. 

Farouky has also joined growing calls for former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who authorised the proscription last year, to resign from her current position as Foreign Secretary.  

"[Yvette Cooper] lied to the British public, she lied to the High Court, she lied to Parliament. She said there was secret evidence that would prove clearly and unequivocally that Palestine Action was violent, that they should be categorized as terrorists. The evidence was so secret, the British public weren't allowed to see it". 

Farouky further accused Cooper of "constructing a framework for prescription", adding that "she should be humiliated”.  

He continued: "And if she has any sense of self respect, she won't represent the UK as Foreign Secretary anymore." Cooper has not publicly responded to the ruling or the mounting criticism. 

Despite this, Farouky expressed optimism that the judgment could influence other Palestine Action-related cases, including those of eight remand prisoners affiliated with the group who took part in what campaigners describe as the largest coordinated hunger strike in the UK since 1981. 

Looking ahead, the filmmaker said the ruling could also "embolden people to take up their rights, their rights to protest and their rights to dissent from this government". 

He added: "The government has tried not only to crush Palestine Action and the pro-Palestinian movement, but even more generally, to crush dissent and the right to protest and the more basic principles of democracy in this country."

Following the judgment, PA news agency reported that a senior judge postponed plea hearings at London’s Old Bailey for four alleged pro-Palestine protesters, granting a request from defence lawyers to allow time to consider the implications of the ruling.  

The defendants face charges of criminal damage relating to protests last August. 

In its decision, the High Court found that the then home secretary had made a "significant" error by focusing on the perceived benefits of proscribing Palestine Action without adequately considering the drawbacks- most notably the risk posed to the right to protest.  

While the ban remains in force pending the appeal process, British police said on Friday they would prioritise gathering evidence of alleged offences linked to the banned direct action group rather than making arrests in the immediate aftermath of the ruling.