High court rules ban on Palestine Action is unlawful – live | Palestine Action
UK’s ban on Palestine Action is unlawful, high court judges rule
Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, won a lawsuit challenging the decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws.
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A group of protesters outside the high court chanted “Free Palestine” after the verdict was announced, the PA news agency reported.
Ammori: This is a monumental victory for fundamental freedoms and Palestine
Ammori released a statement calling the high court’s ruling a “tremendous victory” and saying the government had banned Palestine Action as a terrorist group “where Trump has abused his power.”
He said:
“This is a monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms in Britain and for the Palestinian people’s fight for freedom, and a decision that will forever be remembered as one of the most extreme attacks on freedom of expression in recent British history.
“Palestine Action was the first non-violent civil disobedience organization to be banned as a ‘terrorist’ group by the British Government, in a Trumpian exercise of power that led to the Labor Government banning the Suffragettes. This ban was unlawful and led to the unlawful detention of nearly 3,000 people, including priests, deacons, former judges and retired doctors, under terrorism laws, for sitting silently holding banners that read: ‘Against genocide ‘I’m leaving, I support Palestine Action’.
The co-founder of the Palestine Movement has won a legal battle against the interior minister’s decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws.
The ban on Palestine Action placed it in the same category as groups such as the Islamic State, and it was the first of a direct action protest group, prompting widespread condemnation as well as a civil disobedience campaign defying the ban in which more than 2,000 people were arrested.
On Friday, three judges led by the king’s bench, Dame Victoria Sharp, ruled that the decision to ban the group was unlawful.
Read the full report from our legal affairs correspondent Haroon Siddique Here:
UK’s ban on Palestine Action is unlawful, high court judges rule
Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, won a lawsuit challenging the decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws.
Here are some images from outside the high court from news channels this morning:
The verdict, expected to begin at 10 a.m., comes after a group of six Palestine Action activists were cleared of felony theft for breaking into an Israeli defense firm’s facility in England last week.
Fatema Rajwani, 21, the youngest of the group, said the verdicts were a vindication of their case.
He was released on bail last Wednesday after 18 months in prison and was also acquitted by a jury at Woolwich crown court of disorderly conduct in connection with the raid on the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, on August 6, 2024.
Rajwani told the Guardian: “The decisions are a reflection of the fact that the public has proven us right at the first opportunity to decide what happens to us. It is clear to see that the British people do not want their citizens to be scapegoated for the political purposes of the Labor government, they do not want to be blamed for supporting a people’s inalienable right to freedom, dignity and self-determination.”
Read the full report from our legal affairs correspondent Haroon Siddique Here:
Opening summary
The Supreme Court will decide whether the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organization is lawful.
Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, took legal action against the government to challenge then home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to ban the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The ban, which came into force on July 5, 2025, made membership of or support for a direct action group a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
At the hearing in November, Ammori’s lawyer told the court in London that the ban was unlawful and should be lifted, saying the group had maintained a “honorable tradition” of direct action and civil disobedience before being banned.
The court heard more than 2,000 people were arrested after Palestine Action was banned, including “priests, teachers, pensioners, retired British Army officers” and “an 81-year-old former judge”.
Lawyers representing the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the ban aimed to “disturb the peace of KA”. [Palestine Action] pattern of behavior that escalated tensions” and “did not prevent people from protesting in favor of the Palestinian people or against Israeli actions in Gaza.”
Follow our blog to get the latest updates on the decision.
