UPDATE 3-UK terrorism ban on Palestine Action group unlawful, court rules after appeal

Britain's ban on pro-Palestinian ​campaign group Palestine Action as ‌a terrorist ​organisation was ruled unlawful by London's High Court on Friday, though the ban will temporarily remain in ‌place and the government said it would appeal the decision. Palestine Action was proscribed in July, having increasingly targeted Israel-linked defence companies – particularly Elbit Systems – in Britain with "direct action", often blocking ‌entrances or spraying red paint.

Britain's ban on pro-Palestinian ​campaign group Palestine Action as ‌a terrorist ​organisation was ruled unlawful by London's High Court on Friday, though the ban will temporarily remain in ‌place and the government said it would appeal the decision.

Palestine Action was proscribed in July, having increasingly targeted Israel-linked defence companies – particularly Elbit Systems – in Britain with "direct action", often blocking ‌entrances or spraying red paint. Britain's interior ministry argued the group's escalating actions, ‌culminating in a June break-in at the RAF Brize Norton air base when activists damaged two planes, amounted to terrorism.

Lawyers representing Huda Ammori, who co-founded Palestine Action in 2020, argued at ⁠a hearing ​last year that ⁠the move was an authoritarian restriction on the right to protest. The ban had put Palestine ⁠Action on a par with Islamic State or al Qaeda and made it a ​crime to be a member. More arrested for holding signs

The High Court ⁠upheld two grounds of challenge, including that the ban was a disproportionate interference with the right to ⁠freedom ​of expression and freedom of assembly. Judge Victoria Sharp said that "Palestine Action is a group that promotes its political cause through criminality", but that proscription ⁠was still disproportionate.

She added, however, that the ban would remain in place pending any ⁠appeal – which ⁠interior minister Shabana Mahmood immediately said the government would pursue. "I intend to fight this judgment in the Court of Appeal," she ‌said in ‌a statement.

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