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| Protesters demonstratesoutside the High Court as Palestine Action challenges proscription in London (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) |
London courts uphold order that critics say puts the group’s anti-Gaza war protesters on a par with al-Qaeda, ISIL.
sukabumiNews.net, LONDON – Pro-Palestinian
campaign group (Palestine Action) has lost a bid to pause the British
government’s decision to ban the organisation under “anti-terrorism” laws
pending their legal challenge.
Huda Ammori, who co-founded the group in 2020, had
asked London’s High Court to stop the proscription of Palestine Action as a
“terrorist” organisation, before a full hearing of her case that banning the
group is unlawful later this month.
On Friday, the High Court refused to pause the ban
and, following a late-night hearing, the Court of Appeal rejected an appeal
against that decision at just after 2130 GMT.
This means the proscription of Palestine Action is
upheld and will come into force at midnight.
The proscription came after British lawmakers this
week decided to ban Palestine Action after its activists broke into a military
base last month and sprayed red paint on two planes in protest at the UK’s
support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
Proscription would make it a crime to be a member of
Palestine Action that carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
Proscribed groups under British law include ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.
Ammori’s lawyer Raza Husain said the proscription
marked the first time the UK had sought to ban a group carrying out such direct
action, describing it as “an ill-considered, discriminatory, authoritarian
abuse of statutory power”.
Protesters gathered outside the UK’s Royal Court of
Justice during Friday’s ruling. Police swarmed the crowd, but Palestine Action
said that its protests will not stop.
After the parliamentary vote against the organisation
on Wednesday, critics decried the chilling effect of the ban, which puts the
non-violent campaigners on a par with armed groups like ISIL and al-Qaeda.
“Let us be clear: to equate a spray can of paint with
a suicide bomb isn’t just absurd, it is grotesque. It is a deliberate
distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity, and suppress
the truth,” said independent British lawmaker Zarah Sultana.
‘Draconian, silly move’
Brendon Ciaran Browne, associate professor at Trinity
College Dublin, told Al Jazeera the UK government’s decision is “absolutely
absurd”.
“Essentially, what we’re witnessing here, is an
attempt to enforce a chill effect on everyone who is absolutely abhorred by the
UK government’s complicity [in Israel’s war on Gaza] and their flagrant
breaches of international law that we have seen now for the best part of 21
months,” he said on Friday.
Referring to Palestine Action’s stunt at a British
military base, Browne noted that the UK government has existing legislation to
deal with this.
“Those who are allegedly involved can be charged with
criminal damage. There are other ways to do this. But what you’re seeing here
is the UK government again using the terrorism act to target those who are
engaged in direct action … This is a draconian, silly move by the UK
government,” he added.
Palestine Action describes itself as “a
pro-Palestinian organisation which disrupts the arms industry in the United
Kingdom with direct action”. It says it is “committed to ending global participation
in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the UK’s interior
minister, has said that violence and criminal damage have no place in
legitimate protest, and her lawyers say the case should be brought at the Proscribed
Organisations Appeal Commission instead.
Rights groups have accused Israel of repeatedly
committing abuses in its war in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023. Since
then, at least 57,268 Palestinians have been killed and 135,625 wounded,
according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Source: Al Jazeera and News Agencies
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