In a significant legal development, the Court of Appeal has granted Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, permission to pursue a High Court challenge against the UK Government’s designation of the group as a terrorist organization. This decision comes after the court dismissed an appeal from the Home Office seeking to block the challenge.
Huda Ammori initiated the legal proceedings against Home Secretary Yvette Cooper following the group’s inclusion on the list of proscribed organizations in July. The classification came in response to a series of high-profile actions by the group, culminating in activists breaching the Brize Norton RAF base and damaging military aircraft.
The proscription, effective from July 5, criminalizes membership in or support for Palestine Action, with penalties reaching up to 14 years of imprisonment.
Earlier, Mr. Justice Chamberlain ruled that Ammori’s case could proceed, identifying two arguments from her legal team as ‘reasonably arguable.’ However, the Home Office contested this decision, taking the matter to the Court of Appeal.
Today, the Court of Appeal in London rejected the Home Office’s appeal, allowing Ammori’s challenge to move forward, marking a pivotal moment in the ongoing legal battle over the group’s status.
But in September, the Home Office brought a challenge against this decision to the Court of Appeal in London – this has today been dismissed.
At a hearing last month, barristers for the Home Office said Ms Ammori could bring her legal challenge to the Home Secretary and then the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC), rather than the High Court for a ‘judicial review’.
Lawyers for Ms Ammori said the POAC was not the only suitable place to challenge the lawfulness of a ban.
Palestine Action co-founders Richard Barnard and Huda Ammori, pictured in 2023 – Ms Ammori has won the latest stage in a court battle to challenge the group’s proscription as a terrorist organisation
People stage a protest to demand the British government to lift its ban on Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square on Saturday, October 4
Reacting to the ruling handed down on Friday, Ms Ammori said in a statement: ‘The government LOST their appeal and failed to stop the legal challenge of the Palestine Action ban.
‘That means the Judicial Review will go ahead on November 25-27th. Not only that, but we won TWO MORE grounds to argue the illegality of the ban. Huge victory.’
It comes after weeks of protest in support of the group that have seen more than 2,000 people arrested for expressing support for a proscribed organisation. A total of 134 people have so far been charged with the offence.
Hundreds have descended on central London every Saturday and unveiled signs that read: ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.’
The Home Office last month launched an appeal to prevent the judicial review from going ahead and instead called for the ban to be reviewed by the POAC.
But today judges ruled that this would not be appropriate as this process is not intended in cases where a group wishes to appeal against the initial decision to proscribe it.
They also agreed Ms Ammori can bring two further arguments into the High Court challenge, over whether then-home secretary Yvette Cooper had ‘regard to relevant considerations’ and whether she had complied with her own policies.
Two further grounds of appeal were dismissed.
Protesters unfurl a banner on Westminster Bridge as part of a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action on October 4
In a 37-page judgment, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, sitting with Lord Justice Edis and Lord Justice Lewis, said the process of applying for deproscription and appealing against a refusal at POAC ‘is intended to deal with another situation’.
Baroness Carr said the process ‘is not intended to be a means of challenging the initial decision to proscribe and does not provide for the removal of the consequences of an initial decision to proscribe an organisation’.
In a summary of the Court of Appeal’s decision, Baroness Carr added: ‘Judicial review would be a quicker means of challenging the order proscribing Palestine Action than applying to deproscribe.
‘Judicial review would enable the High Court to give an authoritative judgment on whether or not it was lawful to proscribe Palestine Action.
‘That judgment could then be relied on in criminal courts hearing charges against any person arrested in connection with their support of Palestine Action.’
Currently, 81 organisations are already proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Hamas, al Qaida, and National Action.
The judicial review which will examine Palestine Action’s proscription will begin on November 25.
