Britain wins appeal that Palestine Action ban was unlawful

Palestine Action, which had increasingly targeted Israel‑linked defence companies in Britain with a particular focus on Israel’s largest defence firm Elbit SystemsESLT.TA, was proscribed under terrorism laws last year.

London’s High Court ruled in February, after a legal challenge by the group’s co-founder, that the ban unlawfully interfered with freedom of expression, although it remained proscribed pending the government’s appeal.

Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr, the most senior judge in England and Wales said the group’s behaviour was not that of a non-violent, direct action organisation, and the appeal court had concluded proscription was justified and proportionate.

Lawyers for Britain’s interior minister, Shabana Mahmood, had argued at a hearing in April that the conclusion the ban had a significant impact on freedom of expression was “overstated and wrong”.

But Huda Ammori, who co-founded Palestine Action in 2020, said proscription had imposed “severe restrictions on the fundamental free speech and assembly rights of vast numbers of people” who supported the Palestinian cause.

Carr said any such ban was “highly controversial” but added “it is a fundamental mistake to overlook the fact that Palestine Action overtly promoted unlawful violence amounting to terrorism”.

(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Sarah Young)