The Home Office has succeeded in its effort to keep Palestine Action banned, after senior judges concluded the group “openly encourages unlawful violence amounting to terrorism.”
The Government overturned a High Court ruling from February, which had found that then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper acted unlawfully when she moved to proscribe the organisation under terrorism laws.
The ban first came into effect on July 5 last year. Since then, belonging to or backing the direct action group has been a criminal offence carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. The measure has remained in place while the Home Office pursued its appeal.
In today’s decision, five Court of Appeal judges — Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Edis, Lady Justice Whipple and Lord Justice Lewis — ruled in the Home Office’s favour. However, the case could still be taken to the Supreme Court.
Delivering the judgment, Baroness Carr said the decision to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was lawful. She said the court was satisfied the proscription was both “justified and proportionate” and that it “struck a fair balance” between freedom of expression and the need to protect national security.
She also rejected comparisons between Palestine Action and historic protest movements such as the Suffragettes, describing those arguments as “seriously flawed.”
Supporters outside the court wept as the ruling filtered through, while Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘We will always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security and keep the public safe.’
Thousands of people have been arrested following the proscription, including more than 100 who turned up to see four activists sentenced for breaking into an Israeli-linked weapons factory at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday last week. Others were arrested today shortly after the ruling was announced.
Palestine Action supporters wept as the decision filtered through to crowds outside the Royal Courts of Justice
Police detained some people shortly after the ruling was announced
Another protester was removed by police outside the court
There were tears as five Court of Appeal judges ruled the Government had acted lawfully in banning the organisation last year
Several protesters gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London for today’s ruling
Many of them arrived with handmade signs pledging their support for Palestine Action
The ruling today followed a year-long legal tussle between the Government and Palestine Action
One protester dressed up as the Grim Reaper outside the Royal Courts of Justice
Protesters outside Woolwich Crown Court on Friday where four Palestine Action activists were jailed for raiding a weapons factory in Bristol
Hundreds of people have been arrested in the last year for supporting Palestine Action after the Government banned the organisation
There are more than 700 cases currently pending where suspects are alleged to have been a member of the banned group.
Raza Husain KC, lawyer for Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, told the High Court last year that the ban was an ‘ill-considered, discriminatory, due process-lacking, authoritarian abuse of statutory power’.
But Home Office barrister Sir James Eadie KC said the ban struck ‘a fair balance between interference with the rights of the individuals affected and the interests of the community’.
Baroness Carr told the hearing at London’s Royal Courts of Justice today: ‘We have agreed that Palestine Action was an organisation engaged in causing serious damage to property, using weapons, including sledgehammers.
‘It presented a very real risk of injury, not only to property but also to members of the public.’
And she added: ‘It was not a sustainable proposition to portray Palestine Action as a non-violent organisation, and not accurate for Ms Ammori to paint Palestine Action as an ordinary protest group engaged in activities falling within the well-established tradition of peaceful protest.’
Ms Cooper, who is now the Foreign Secretary, previously defended the ban, which has left some police forces uncertain as to whether or not officers should arrest activists.
Join the discussion
How should we balance the right to protest with the need to protect public safety?
People outside the Royal Courts of Justice listened to the judge’s ruling on their mobile phones
Several people appeared upset when the ruling came through
A large crowd assembled outside the court by the time the ruling came through
The Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr read out the ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice
The ban made membership of, or support for, Palestine Action a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison
The Home Office decision to make Palestine Action a proscribed organisation was declared unlawful by judges in February
Supporters described the Elbit Systems raiders as ‘political prisoners’ when they arrived for the sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday
Ms Cooper said previously: ‘I followed the clear advice and recommendations going through a serious process the Home Office goes through … which was very clear about the recommendation about prescription of this group.
‘The court has also concluded that this is not a normal protest group, it found that this group had committed actions of terrorism, that this group is not simply in line with democratic values and has promoted violence as well.’
The High Court’s ruling in February was a massive blow to the Government and meant that more than 2,000 people who were arrested for holding signs or displaying messages supporting the group may now have proceedings dropped.
The ban came in a year ago after some high-profile violent protests, including the 2024 raid on Elbit Systems in Bristol, which saw violent thug Samuel Corner jailed for seven years and eight months after he attacked police sergeant Kate Evans with a seven–pound sledgehammer.
As a result, being a member of, or showing support for, the group became an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The group has carried out a series of protests in recent years, including breaking into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and spray-painting two RAF Voyager planes and causing millions of pounds worth of damage.
This came a year after they stormed Elbit Systems in Bristol, causing around £1.2 million worth of damage.
In 2022, five activists scaled the Thales UK building in Glasgow and staged a demonstration on top of the weapons factory.
Members also spent nearly a week on the roof of an Elbit Systems’ building in Leicester in 2021.
In the 44-page written judgment, judges accepted banning Palestine Action could dissuade law-abiding citizens from joining pro-Palestine protests for fearing of falling foul of anti-terrorism laws.
Baroness Carr said: ‘This group of people is likely to be significant in number.
‘It is one thing for people voluntarily to hold a placard supporting Palestine Action which they know to be a proscribed organisation. That is a criminal act.
‘It is quite another thing for a law-abiding person to be deterred from assembling lawfully or making their strongly-held anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian views public for fear of their actions being construed as support for Palestine Action.
‘We accept that there are many people who may be subject to this ‘chilling effect’ as a direct result of the proscription decision.
‘That said, however, as a matter of law, the proscription decision will not prevent public expressions of support for the Palestinian cause or opposition to Israel and to the Israeli Defence Force, or demonstrations targeted at Elbit.’
In a statement following the ruling, the Home Secretary said: ‘The Court has found that Palestine Action has carried out acts of terrorism, celebrated those who have taken part in those acts and promoted the use of violence.
‘It is not an ordinary protest or civil disobedience group, and its actions are not consistent with democratic values and the rule of law.
‘This decision does not affect lawful protest in support of the Palestinian cause, which remains a fundamental democratic right.
‘There is a difference between supporting Palestine and supporting a proscribed terrorist group.’
Crossbench peer Lord Walney, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Defending Democracy, said: ‘It is great news that the Court of Appeal has restored common sense and ruled it was legal and proportionate to proscribe Palestine Action, whose activists have committed violent assault, including fracturing a police officer’s spine with a sledgehammer.
‘It is not okay to terrorise working people and cause criminal damage to make your point, no matter what the cause.
‘I hope the police and courts will now firmly enforce our counter terror laws to deter these ghouls who are acting like the little helpers of hostile states by targeting Britain’s defence industry.’
Palestine Action co-founder Ms Ammori said that she intended to take the case to the UK Supreme Court.
She said: ‘We are surprised by today’s judgment, after a panel of senior judges on the High Court, including the President of the King’s Bench Division, decisively ruled that the Government acted unlawfully in proscribing Palestine Action because of the significant interference with the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
‘We will fight this all the way.’
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: ‘We acknowledge the Court of Appeal’s judgment that the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action was lawful.
‘This means that expressing support for the organisation remains a criminal offence and officers will arrest those who break the law.
‘Officers are policing a protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice today where a number of people are displaying placards in support of Palestine Action.
‘Arrests are under way.’
