Palestine Action takes fight against UK ban to Supreme Court

Palestine Action returned to the UK’s Supreme Court on Wednesday to contest the government’s decision to outlaw the group under terrorism legislation. Authorities have arrested at least 4,000 people on charges linked to the group since the government imposed the ban in July last year. Cofounder Huda Ammori said the measure had turned legitimate protest into a terrorism offence. “The overwhelming evidence presented to the Supreme Court by UN experts, Amnesty International, Liberty and even the former Director of MI6 is that this dangerous and disproportionate proscription has criminalised legitimate protest as terrorism for the first time in British history.” Ammori also pointed to support for the group among people close to the prime minister. “The new Government is clearly struggling with the consequences of this ban”, she said, noting that “[Prime Minister] Andy Burnham’s own national security adviser’s wife has openly expressed support for Palestine Action”. “The Government’s own assessments acknowledge that Palestine Action has never advocated violence against any person, instead employing civil disobedience tactics,” she added. She called on “the Supreme Court justices to bring this authoritarian overreach – and the chilling censorship it has unleashed – to an end once and for all.”