Lawyers acting on behalf of Hamas are challenging the British government for classifying it as a terrorist organisation, insisting it is a resistance movement instead and should be de-listed.
The United Kingdom government had listed the Hamas military wing as a terrorist organisation since 2001 and, later reckoning there is no meaningful difference between it and the rest of the organisation, made Hamas in general a proscribed organisation in 2021 as well.
This is an affront to their human rights, a new legal challenge asserts, in a bid to force the government to de-list Hamas. Under British law, anyone who associates with or shows sympathy for a proscribed organisation may be breaking the law.
Under the challenge, which they have dubbed ‘The Hamas Case’, led by Fahad Ansari of Riverway Law, it is asserted recognising Hamas as terrorists is a breach of the European Convention on Human rights. In this argument, it is stated that preventing British people from supporting Hamas is an affront to their freedom of speech and that, anyway, because Hamas is not a threat to the UK, such a ban is disproportionate.
The challenge contains dozens of submissions, including official Hamas documents such as ‘The Hamas Manifesto’, ‘A Document of General Principles’ by Hamas, and ‘The Hamas Struggle’ by Hamas.
Per the petition, instead Hamas is actually an “organised resistance movement that exercises the right of the Palestinian people to resist Zionism and the colonisation, occupation, apartheid and genocide carried out in its name”.
The Times of London notes the challenge says that by legally classifying Hamas as terrorists, the United Kingdom has entered into a “morally and legally indefensible policy of siding with the Zionist oppressor against the oppressed people of Palestine”. Because to do so would be against the law in the United Kingdom, the lawyers involved in the challenge are not being paid by Hamas to represent them.
The legal submission further veered away from general principles about the correctness of classifying Hamas as a banned group in Britain, and apparently sought to litigate British foreign policy as a whole. It stated:
For more than a century, the British State has been responsible for colonisation, ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Palestine. Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah (the Islamic Resistance Movement or “Hamas”) is an organised resistance movement that exercises the right of the Palestinian people to resist Zionism and the colonisation, occupation, apartheid and, genocide carried out in its name.
The continued proscription of Hamas means support for – and complicity in – the unrelenting colonisation of Palestine and crimes against humanity and acts of genocide being perpetrated by the Zionist State. That support and complicity is irreconcilable with the obligations of the British State under both international and domestic law. This deproscription application seeks to remedy that ongoing illegality.
The Times states Conservative Priti Patel, who was the government minister who banned Hamas in 2021, hit back against the court case saying it was obvious that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, that it had proven this in the October 7 Attack, and that should remain banned.
In a statement published on social media, the senior politician said: “Hamas are an evil Iranian-backed terrorist organisation, which kidnaps, tortures and murders people, including British nationals.
“They show no respect for human rights, life and dignity and have oppressed people living in Gaza for too long. Those campaigning to end the proscription of Hamas fail to understand the seriousness of the threats this terrorist organisation pose to our country.”
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice minister and heir apparent to the leadership of the now much reduced Conservative Party, also spoke out on the bid to legalise Hamas, reported the Law Gazette.
Noting the lawyers involved are an “immigration and nationality firm”, the Gazette states he said: “Just over a year ago Hamas killed the largest number of Jewish people since the Holocaust… Yet a UK law firm thinks there are arguments for their ban to be lifted. Sickening. It’s no surprise this firm specialises in immigration cases.”
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