The UK plans to appeal a High Court ruling that deemed its ban on Palestine Action illegal. The appeal hearing will begin on Tuesday in London, following a previous ruling that criticized the ban as disproportionate.
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London, United Kingdom – The United Kingdom is set to appeal the High Court’s landmark ruling that the government’s ban on Palestine Action was illegal.
The two-day hearing, which begins on Tuesday at the Court of Appeal in London, comes after top judges described the proscription of the direct-action group as a terrorist organisation as “disproportionate” in February.
This week’s case marks the latest development in the legal battle between the state and the activist network whose stated mission is to target companies associated with the Israeli military.
Since the UK banned Palestine Action last summer, thousands of Britons have participated in a coordinated campaign of civil disobedience, with more than 2,700 people arrested under terror laws for holding up signs reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
Although the government’s case suffered a blow at the High Court, the proscription remained in place amid the appeals process – and it is still illegal to show support for the group.
The fate of those arrested remains uncertain.
London’s Metropolitan Police announced that it was unlikely to arrest supporters in the aftermath of the High Court ruling, but reversed that policy weeks later.
Earlier this month, more than 200 protesters were arrested in central London and last week, celebrities and scholars, including the novelist Sally Rooney, climate activist Greta Thunberg and Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, signed a letter in which they declared support for Palestine Action – a move that also risks arrests.
“We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action,” the letter read.
Palestine Action was founded in 2020 by Huda Ammori, a Briton of Palestinian and Iraqi descent and former Extinction Rebellion activist Richard Barnard.
Several remand prisoners – including those who engaged in a lengthy hunger strike demanding an end to the Palestine Action ban – and activists on bail have alleged that their human rights have been violated because of their alleged association with the group, a claim denied by the Ministry of Justice.
The High Court ruled that the UK government's ban on Palestine Action was illegal and described the proscription as disproportionate.
The appeal indicates the government's continued effort to uphold the ban on Palestine Action, which remains illegal to support despite the High Court ruling.
Over 2,700 individuals have been arrested under terror laws for participating in protests supporting Palestine Action since the ban was implemented.
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Rights groups condemned the UK’s ban on the group as an unprecedented overreach and urged the government not to appeal.
In its annual report, Amnesty International said the UK “continued to use counterterror laws to restrict peaceful protests against the genocide in Gaza and ban the organisation Palestine Action [as] arms exports to Israel continued.”
Proscribing the group put it on par with armed groups such as ISIL and al-Qaeda.
Last month, Human Rights Watch wrote, “When the state blurs the line between activism and terrorism, it is not defending security, it is undermining freedom.”
It is unclear when the Court of Appeal might hand down its judgment.
At the time of publishing, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who is leading the case against Palestine Action, had not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.