The activist group was banned in July last year after it increasingly carried out “direct action” against companies in the UK linked to Israel, including blocking entrances and spraying buildings with red paint.
British authorities have argued that the escalation of activity amounts to terrorism, citing a 2024 raid on a factory at Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defense firm. Prosecutors then announced that the activists had caused damage of around one million pounds ($1.4 million) and that one police officer had been hit with a sledgehammer, reports AFP.
Palestine Action was banned shortly after the June raid on RAF Brize Norton, when activists damaged two planes. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the act as “disgraceful”.
Lawyers representing Huda Ammori, a 2020 co-founder of the group, argued during a hearing last year that the ban was an authoritarian restriction on the right to protest.
Judge Victoria Sharp stated that Palestine Action “promotes its political aims through criminal acts and incitement to crime”.
However, the High Court judged that the ban represented a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of expression, although it has not yet been lifted pending a new hearing where it will be decided whether it should remain in force during the appeals process.
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said she intends to challenge the verdict at the Court of Appeal.
The ban put Palestine Action in the same category as organizations such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, and membership in the group became a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
Since then, more than 2,000 people have been arrested for carrying signs supporting the group, although the ruling could lead to criminal charges being dismissed.
London police said after the verdict that they would focus on gathering evidence in cases of public support for Palestine Action, rather than making arrests.
Civil liberties groups including Amnesty International have previously called for the ban to be lifted, while Irish author Sally Rooney has warned that the ban could even lead to her books being withdrawn from sale because of her public support for the group.
The British government argued that the ban only prevented support for Palestine Action, but not protests in favor of the Palestinian people. However, the High Court said it could lead pro-Palestinian protesters to “exercise restraint in what they say and do”.
The verdict was announced two weeks after six people accused of breaking into the Elbit facility in 2024 were acquitted of aggravated burglary.
Prosecutors have announced they will seek a retrial on counts the jury was unable to reach, including the alleged assault on a police officer.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
