‘The court of appeal has rightly rejected Yvette Cooper’s attempt to block a legal review of her absurdly authoritarian ban’
The Court of Appeal has rejected the government’s attempt to stop a judicial review of the Palestine Action terror ban.
The Home Office appealed the review, arguing that Palestine Action could challenge the ban through a lengthy internal “deproscription” process instead.
Lawyers for co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, argued that the High Court should review the ban.
Today three judges, led by Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr, dismissed the Home Office’s appeal. They ruled that Ammori could bring her legal challenge.
In her ruling, Baroness Carr said: “An application to deproscribe, with a right of appeal to POAC, was not intended to be a means of challenging the initial decision”.
She added that a judicial review would be a “quicker means of challenging the order proscribing Palestine Action, than applying to deproscribe”.
The court also granted Ammori two additional grounds to challenge the legality of the ban.
A High Court judge will hear the case over three days beginning on 25 November.
Since the government proscribed Palestine Action on 5 July, more than 2,000 people have been arrested. Most were arrested for holding placards reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said: “Today’s ruling is a landmark victory in the battle to Lift The Ban on Palestine Action. Not only has the government’s attempt to block the Judicial Review been struck down, the claimant has won back two more grounds for appeal, meaning the Judicial Review is more likely to be successful.”
“If the Judicial Review is successful the proscription order would be unlawful since inception and the thousands of subsequent arrests would be deemed unlawful too.”
“Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley yesterday complained of the ‘big burden’ that the mass arrests resulting from the ban are placing on his Counter Terrorism and public order teams and the Crown Prosecution Service.
“In stark contrast we have seen the people of Gaza subject to two years of genuine terrorism, war crimes, starvation, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Both Conservative and Labour governments aided and abetted these horrors.
“But Labour went further by designating citizens acting to stop the suffering as terrorists, setting a dangerous precedent for the right to protest in this country. The Judicial Review must now start to bring natural justice back into the domestic and international legal system.”
Amnesty International UK and Liberty, who will intervene in the case, said the ruling was “welcome news”, citing “serious human rights concerns” over the proscription and its impact on free speech and assembly rights.
Ammori told The Guardian: “The court of appeal has rightly rejected Yvette Cooper’s attempt to block a legal review of her absurdly authoritarian ban – while granting us additional grounds on which to challenge it.
“The government’s effort to avoid judicial scrutiny of its blatantly anti-democratic proscription – branding a protest group as ‘terrorists’ for the first time in British history – has backfired spectacularly, and we now head into the judicial review in November with an even stronger legal footing.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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