Britain’s High Court has used the ECHR to rule against the government’s declaration of a left-wing direct action group that targets defence firms selling equipment to Israel as a terrorist organisation, forcing police to suspend arrests of supporters.
Palestine Action, a group connected to factory-smashing raids and other acts of vandalism has committed acts of terrorism and its methods are “inconsistent with the hallmarks of civil disobedience”, but it hasn’t committed enough acts of terrorism or been terroristic persistently enough to make its designation as a terrorist group a proportionate response, Britain’s High Court ruled on Friday.
Despite the ruling, supporting Palestine Action remains illegal for now as the court said it was suspending changes pending the appeals process, the government having already confirmed it intended to challenge the decision. Nevertheless the police said they had immediately ended arrests of people professing support for Palestine Action. Instead, officers will “gather evidence” until the appeals process is over and a final decision is taken on whether the group was right to be banned or not.
The BBC states claims that 2,700 people have been arrested for supporting the group so far, with incidents of mass disobedience against the group’s proscription in British cities seeing large numbers arrested at protests after the ban was brought into force. No actual convictions have been made yet, and it is possible hundreds of such criminal cases could be thrown into doubt.
In reaching the verdict, the bench of three senior judges found that “Palestine Action has undertaken activities amounting to terrorism”, but only a “very small number” of their actions qualified, and for those cases it would be more proportionate for the government to prosecute using criminal law. Citing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the court said the ban breached rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for protesters who passively supported Palestine Action, even if its most dedicated members did engage in terrorism.
The court rejected other grounds, however, and found the original decision to ban Palestine Action by the government wasn’t motivated by racial or national discrimination, as the claimant had asserted.
Huda Ammori, the Palestine Action co-founder who brought the case against the government hailed the ruling as a victory but demurred from the ruling, asserting her view that the ban had been politically motivated. She said: “Banning Palestine Action was always about appeasing pro-Israel lobby groups and weapons manufacturers, and nothing to do with terrorism … Today’s landmark ruling is a victory for freedom for all, and I urge the government to respect the court’s decision and bring this injustice to an end without further delay”.
The British Board of Deputies, which represents British Jews, replied with alarm to the ruling, asserting that Palestine Action had been hostile towards Jewish sites before the ban took force last year. They said in a statement:
We are deeply concerned by today’s High Court decision to find against the Government’s proscription of Palestine Action… Palestine Action has repeatedly targeted buildings hosting Jewish communal institutions, Jewish-owned businesses, or sites associated with Israel, in ways that cause fear and disruption far beyond the immediate protest sites… We will seek urgent clarity from the Government, police forces and the CPS regarding the implications Of this ruling and the steps they intend to take to ensure that communities are protected from intimidation and criminality.
Brexit pioneer and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage linked the ruling to Britain’s problem with two-tier justice, which according to critics sees separate legal standards applied to groups depending on their racial or political characteristics. He said: “Yet another example of how, in Britain today, if you’re a left-wing group that hates our country, attacks our police officers, and damages our armed forces, you can break the law and get away with it.”
The ruling is the latest blow to the government over Palestine Action in as many weeks, with a recent court case over a factory raid associated with the group seeing those who had been accused walk free. The jury failed to reach a verdict on the use of a sledgehammer against a police officer, for instance, after the accused said they’d taken the tool to the raid for non-violent purposes and had only used it against the police in self-defence. Further hearings in the ongoing case are to commence next week.
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