SUPREME COURT GRANTS PALESTINE ACTION CO-FOUNDER RIGHT TO APPEAL TERROR BAN

The UK Supreme Court has granted Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, permission to challenge the proscription of the direct action group as a terrorist organisation. The case will be heard in the final quarter of this year. The ruling allows Ammori to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision issued last month that upheld the ban imposed by then-home secretary Yvette Cooper on 5 July 2024.

The High Court ruled in February that the proscription was unlawful and disproportionate, but the Court of Appeal overturned that decision, with Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr stating the ban was "a justified and proportionate interference with individual rights". The Court of Appeal found that membership or support for Palestine Action became a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison following the ban. The group was proscribed after members broke into RAF Brize Norton and vandalised military jets in protest against the war in Gaza.

More than 3,500 people have been arrested for alleged support of Palestine Action since the ban took effect, with their cases currently on hold pending the Supreme Court's decision. According to one report, over 2,000 cases related to supporting the group were adjourned to October. Ammori has described the Court of Appeal's ruling as "one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and the right to protest in modern British history".