Palestine Action granted high court hearing to challenge banning order

Palestine Action has been granted an urgent high court hearing on Friday to argue against an order that would proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation.

- Haroon Siddique

The order was laid before parliament yesterday and would make being a member of Palestine Action, or inviting support for it, a criminal offence carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail.

The proposed ban, announced by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, last week, would place Palestine Action alongside the likes of al-Qaida, Islamic State and the far-right group National Action. It has been criticised as a draconian move by protest groups, civil liberties organisations and various politicians.

The order also seeks to ban two other groups: Maniacs Murder Cult, which the US accuses of planning "a mass casualty attack" in New York; and the Russian Imperial Movement, which the US says has provided "paramilitary-style training to white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Europe".

At a short-notice hearing in the high court yesterday, David Blundell KC, representing the Home Office, said the plan was for the order to be debated in parliament this week and then signed on Friday to come into effect on Saturday.