The co-founder of Palestine Action has said the battle to overturn the terrorism ban on the direct action group will be won – in the courts or “on the streets” – after five appeal court judges ruled the proscription was lawful, reversing a high court judgment that had found the ban disproportionate.
Huda Ammori, who brought the legal challenge as a founder of the first direct action protest group to be banned under the Terrorism Act, said she was disappointed but remained confident of victory. “I’m certain that legally we are correct that this ban is disproportionate to free speech and the right to protest. I think that’s really clear,” she said. “We just need to get to the right court that’s going to recognise that and we’ll take it all the way up to the European court of human rights, if needs be.”
“Court of Appeal upholds Palestine Action ban; co-founder vows to fight on.”
Monday’s decision by the court of appeal judges upheld the home secretary’s ban as “justified and proportionate”, overturning the February high court judgment that had wrongly limited ministerial discretion on national security. The group’s co-founder indicated she would now appeal to the Supreme Court.
Outside the court of appeal, police made 117 arrests, adding to a civil disobedience campaign that has seen more than 3,000 people arrested, mainly for holding placards supporting Palestine Action. A further two were arrested outside the Old Bailey, where a criminal trial involving activists from the group is taking place.
Ammori said such defiance remained key. “This case is completely political, and the way we are going to win this is on the streets,” she said. “Everyone who sacrificed and stood up against this, all of that is bringing us closer and closer to the day when we are victorious.”
As an illustration of what she termed the politicisation of the case, Ammori highlighted the court of appeal judges’ assertion that “Palestine Action has little or nothing in common with the suffragettes”. The suffragettes carried out a nationwide bombing campaign while Emily Davison, commemorated by two statues, attacked a clergyman with a horse whip after mistaking him for the then chancellor, David Lloyd George. Ammori called the comparison “completely inaccurate and quite crazy that they even felt like they needed to make that comparison”.
Monday’s judgment was the second blow for the group after Friday’s sentencing of four activists involved in a 2024 raid on an Israeli manufacturer’s arms factory near Bristol. They were convicted by a jury of criminal damage for smashing up drones and other equipment. Ammori’s vow to take the fight to the Supreme Court – and potentially Strasbourg – leaves the government’s ban facing further legal scrutiny even as the street protests continue.