Palestine Action ban latest as High Court judge's decision revealed

Palestine Action is set to be banned after a High Court judge refused to temporarily block it being designated as a terror group. Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, asked the High Court to temporarily block the Government from banning the group as a terrorist organisation before a potential legal challenge against the decision to proscribe it under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The move is set to come into force at midnight after a High Court judge refused Ms Ammori's bid for a temporary block. Lawyers representing the organisation lodged an appeal to the High Court decision, but the Court of Appeal ruled in the Home Office's favour. The Government moved to proscribe the group, after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed RAF aircraft with red paint. This website exposed the group's plan to "shut down" the London Stock Exchange in 2024, and activists have filmed themselves breaking into and damaging weapons factories in the UK.

In his written ruling, Mr Justice Chamberlain said: "The interim relief sought here would suspend the effect of an order which the Secretary of State considers is required in the public interest, and which has been affirmed by both Houses of Parliament.

"In those circumstances, other things being equal, there is a strong reason to allow the Secretary of State to make the order in what she considers to be a lawful manner."

He continued: "The proscription order will undoubtedly have severe effects on the claimant and many others.

"The exercise of the power in respect of a group such as Palestine Action may also have wider consequences for the way the public understands the concept of 'terrorism' and for public confidence in the regime of the 2000 Act. It is not, however, the court's function to comment on the wisdom of the use of the power in the case."

Despite the ruling, Ms Ammori said her lawyers will seek an "urgent appeal" to prevent what she called a "dystopian nightmare". Some 81 organisations are already proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Hamas, al Qaida and National Action.

At the hearing on Friday, Raza Husain KC, for Ms Ammori, asked the court to suspend the "ill-considered" and "authoritarian abuse of statutory power" until a hearing due around July 21.

Mr Husain told the London court: "This is the first time in our history that a direct action civil disobedience group, which does not advocate for violence, has been sought to be proscribed as terrorists."

The barrister said that his client had been "inspired" by a long history of direct action in the UK, "from the suffragettes, to anti-apartheid activists, to Iraq war activists".