UK Court Upholds Terror Ban on Palestine Action Despite Legal Challenge
London (Quds News Network)- The UK High Court has upheld the British government’s decision to ban the anti-genocide group ‘Palestine Action’ under anti-terror laws. The ruling comes despite a legal challenge led by the group’s cofounder, Huda Ammori.
On Friday, Judge Martin Chamberlain rejected Ammori’s request to pause the ban. The ruling means the government’s proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization will take effect at midnight.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group. Offenders could face up to 14 years in prison. Palestine Action will now be treated on par with violent armed groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Critics slammed the ruling as an attack on free speech and political activism. Independent MP Zarah Sultana said, “To equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb isn’t just absurd, it is grotesque. It’s a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity, and suppress the truth.”
Palestine Action is known for its peaceful direct action protests. Last month, activists entered a British military base and sprayed red paint on two planes. The protest targeted UK arms sales to Israel amid its ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Ammori’s lawyer, Raza Husain, said the move marked a dangerous precedent. He called the ban “an ill-considered, discriminatory, authoritarian abuse of statutory power.”
Founded in 2020, Palestine Action says it is committed to shutting down the UK arms industry’s links to Israel. The group is non-violent and focused on disrupting Israel’s “genocidal and apartheid regime.”
The ruling comes amid growing global concern over Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023. Since then, at least 57,268 Palestinians have been killed and 135,625 wounded.
