High Court refuses bid to block Palestine Action ban

Palestine Action will be banned as a proscribed terrorist group this weekend after a High Court judge refused to issue an interim order blocking the move.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN BRYONY GOOCH

Mr Justice Chamberlain refused an application for “interim relief” to temporarily stop the legislation banning the group coming into force at midnight on Saturday.

It comes as the group’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, seeks to bring a legal challenge against the Home Office over home secretary Yvette Cooper's decision to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The motion will make membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

In writing, Mr Justice Chamberlain said that the order, which the home secretary considered to be “required in the public interest”, was affirmed by both Houses of parliament.

While the proscription would “undoubtedly have severe effects on the claimant and many others”, it was not “the court’s function to comment on the wisdom of the use of the power in the case”.

Mr Justice Chamberlain continued in his judgment that it was “ambitious” for Palestine Action to claim it was not “concerned in terrorism”, as the “action which immediately preceded the announcement of the decision to lay a proscription order was against an RAF base”.

It was announced after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 20 June, which police said caused around £7m worth of damage. Backers of the group contest this figure and say one of the aircraft is already back in the air.

Hundreds of protesters gathered waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs saying “Free Palestine” and “We are all Palestine Action” outside the Royal Courts of Justice during the hearing on Friday.

In a statement issued after the judgment, Ms Ammori said the public are being left “in the dark about their rights to free speech”.