Legal action by Huda Ammori, the cofounder of Palestine Action, has begun in London’s High Court against the decision by the United Kingdom government to designate the activist group as a terrorist organisation.
The interior ministry, or Home Office, proscribed the pro-Palestinian group in July, days after activists protesting against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza broke into an air force base in southern England. Prosecutors have said they caused an estimated 7 million pounds ($9.3m) damage to two aircraft at the base.
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The legal action brought on Wednesday at London’s Royal Courts of Justice is expected to last until Thursday, with a third day to be set at a later stage.
“Today marks the beginning of our legal challenge to one of the most extreme attacks on civil liberties in recent British history – a measure condemned across the political spectrum as an affront to our democracy and an unjustifiable drain on counterterror resources that should be focused on actual threats to the public,” Ammori said at the beginning of the hearing.
Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego said there were protesters outside the court who were displaying posters which express their support for Palestine Action.
“What they are doing is in effect taking part in a direct action which is showing exactly what the repercusions of this ban are,” she said.
“You have a line of people here who are displaying posters and publicly expressing their support for the direct action protest group Palestine Action. Meanwhile, you have police who are slowly mobilising and starting to approach demonstrators who are holding up those signs and arresting them for that very action.”
Up to 14 years in prison
Since the proscription – which makes being a member of Palestine Action or inviting support for it a serious criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison – came into effect, at least 2,300 people have been arrested, according to protest organisers Defend Our Juries.
Those arrested include students, teachers, pensioners and even an 83-year-old retired vicar, with many carried away from the protests by police.
According to London’s Met Police, so far 254 people have been charged with a lesser offence, which carries a sentence of up to six months.
The proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000 means the group has been added to a list that also includes armed organisations like al-Qaeda, ISIL (ISIS) and Hezbollah.
The Home Office said in a statement before Wednesday’s hearing that Palestine Action had “conducted an escalating campaign involving not just sustained criminal damage, including to Britain’s national security infrastructure, but also intimidation and alleged violence and serious injuries to individuals”.
Lawyers representing Ammori argued the proscription is a misuse of the country’s anti-terrorism laws.
‘Disproportionate and unnecessary’
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has said the ban “appears disproportionate and unnecessary”, while Europe’s human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, criticised “excessive limits” on the right to protest.
Concerns have also been raised after Justice Martin Chamberlain, the judge due to hear the legal challenge, was removed from the case at the last minute without explanation.
Chamberlain, a judge “widely respected for his fairness and independence”, has been removed from significant cases concerning Palestine, according to UK-based activist group Defend Our Juries.
This includes his last-minute removal from a legal challenge against the UK’s sale of F-35 aircraft parts to Israel, which he himself had granted permission to proceed.
According to Defend Our Juries, concerns are amplified because two of the three replacement judges have links that “at least raise the appearance of a conflict of interest”.
Dame Victoria Sharp’s family is connected to former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, “to prominent pro-Israel lobbyist and major Labour Party donor Trevor Chinn, and the group Quilliam, which has been widely condemned as Islamophobic and for supporting [British far-right activist] Tommy Robinson”, said Defend Our Juries.
Justice Jonathan Swift, meanwhile, has “represented the Home Office, which is the defendant in this judicial review” on numerous occasions, according to Defend Our Juries.
Emily Apple, spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade, said that Sharp and Swift’s backgrounds raise “serious questions around the lack of impartiality and transparency in our judicial system, and whether this is now a pattern in significant legal cases concerning Palestine”.
Set up in 2020, Palestine Action’s stated goal on its now-blocked website is to end “global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.
It has mainly targeted weapons factories, especially those belonging to the Israeli defence group Elbit.
Since the ban came into force on July 5, protesters have held a string of rallies at which they have held up signs saying: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”