The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Home Secretary’s decision to ban Palestine Action was lawful, overturning a previous High Court judgment. A five-judge panel, including the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls, found that the High Court had “materially understated” the latitude afforded to the Home Secretary in proscription decisions under the Terrorism Act.
The ban, imposed in July 2023, made membership of or support for Palestine Action an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since then, over 3,000 people have been arrested on suspicion of supporting the proscribed group, with more than 700 charged under section 13 of the Terrorism Act, which carries a maximum sentence of six months.
Delivering the ruling, Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr emphasised the importance of future threats to third parties and property, noting that the Home Secretary is “in the best position to assess those future threats and risks” with expert advice. She acknowledged a potential “chilling effect” on lawful protest but concluded that national security concerns outweighed the impact on freedom of expression and assembly.
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, who brought the legal challenge, said she would “fight this all the way”, signalling plans to seek permission to appeal to the Supreme Court and, if necessary, the European Court of Human Rights. She described the ban as “one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and the right to protest in modern British history”.
Human rights organisations including Liberty, Amnesty International UK, and Greenpeace criticised the ruling, arguing that counter-terrorism powers are being misused to curb protest. Four Palestine Action activists were jailed on Friday for breaking into a factory linked to an Israeli defence firm near Bristol.
