Palestine Action banned after legal challenge by group is rejected

Being a member of, or showing support for, Palestine Action will be a criminal offence from today after a last-minute legal challenge to suspend the group's proscription under anti-terrorism laws failed.

- Haroon Siddique

A ban on Palestine Action, which uses direct action mainly to target Israeli-owned weapons factories in the UK and their supply chain, was voted through by parliament on Wednesday but lawyers acting for the group's co-founder Huda Ammori had sought to prevent it taking effect.

After a hearing at the high court, however, Mr Justice Chamberlain declined to grant Ammori's application for interim relief. Her lawyer said she would seek an urgent appeal "to try to prevent a dystopian nightmare of the government's making".

She said: "The home secretary is rushing through the implementation of the proscription despite the fact that our legal challenge is ongoing and she has been completely unclear about how it will be enforced, leaving the public in the dark about their rights to free speech and expression after midnight tonight when this proscription comes into effect."

Chamberlain said: "I have concluded that the harm which would ensue if interim relief is refused but the claim later succeeds is insufficient to outweigh the strong public interest in maintaining the order in force."