Palestine Action can still challenge terror ban after Home Office appeal quashed by court

Palestine Action (PA) will be able to challenge the decision to ban the group under anti-terror laws.

The Government has lost its appeal to overturn a court’s decision to allow PA’s co-founder a judicial review.

The group was “proscribed” in July, meaning showing support or affiliation became illegal.

The court said the ban disproportionately interfered with the fundamental human rights of freedom of speech and assembly, adding the Government should have consulted with the group first.

The group was banned after a string of offences such as storming an RAF base in July.

Thousands of arrests have been carried out since and, a single pro-Palestine demonstration in London last month yielded nearly 900.

The judicial review of the ban was scheduled for 25 November and today’s Court of Appeal rule means it can still go ahead.

PA lauded a “landmark victory” while co-founder Huda Ammori won permission to appeal on two further grounds.

She branded the ban “absurdly authoritarian” and “one of the most extreme attacks on civil liberties in recent British history”.

Ms Ammori also said 2,000 people had been arrested since the outlawing of PA, something she feels was a misuse of resources.

In summary, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said: “An application to deproscribe, with right of appeal to POAC (the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission) was not intended to be a means of challenging the initial decision.”

She added: “Judicial review would be a quicker means of challenging the order proscribing Palestine Action than applying to deproscribe.

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“Judicial review would enable the High Court to give an authoritative judgment on whether or not it was lawful to proscribe Palestine Action.

“That judgment could then be relied on in criminal courts hearing charges against any person arrested in connection with their support of Palestine Action.”