Court of Appeal Upholds Palestine Action Ban in Lawful Ruling
The Court of Appeal on Monday upheld the palestine action ban, ruling that the proscription was lawful and overturning the High Court’s February decision. Five judges sided with the government’s case, keeping the ban in force after it had already underpinned more than 3,000 arrests and more than 700 charges under the Terrorism Act.
Sue Carr and the lawful proscription
Lady chief justice Sue Carr said in her written judgment that the severity of the effects on freedom of expression and assembly had to be balanced against national security and the rights and freedoms of others. The ruling leaves in place the legal basis for prosecutions connected to the proscription, which had been vulnerable after February, when the High Court said it was unlawful.
The appeal court’s decision also gives the government a fresh legal win after four Palestine Action activists received lengthy custodial sentences on Friday for smashing up drones and other equipment at an Israeli arms manufacturer’s UK factory. That sentencing is separate from Monday’s judgment, but it sits in the same legal landscape: courts are treating the group’s actions and the response to them as matters with direct criminal consequences.
Deborah Hinton and Marianne Sorrell
For people already caught up in the arrests and charges, Monday’s ruling preserves the path that prosecutors have been using. Deborah Hinton, 82, a former magistrate from Truro, Cornwall, called the judgment “devastating and shocking.” She had earlier said: “Obviously I’m very upset, I’m very nervous, but I couldn’t do anything else but do what I did. I didn’t have a choice. We are heading towards an authoritarian state, and as I saw it, it was my duty to take a stand.”
Hinton also said: “One did hold out hope that the government [would] see sense. We haven’t got enough money to have a proper defence system for this country and yet they’re wasting millions and millions on this ridiculous prosecution of people holding placards.” Marianne Sorrell, who was held by police for almost 27 hours after her arrest and said police forced their way into her house and searched it, called the judgment “a travesty of justice” and said: “I’m thinking very seriously of getting arrested again for the same offence.”
Parliament Square arrests
Father John McGowan was one of 532 people arrested at a demonstration in Parliament Square on 9 August last year. He said: “I’m prepared even to go to prison. I don’t think that will happen but I’m prepared to do that.” The vast majority of those arrested were holding placards saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” at Defend Our Juries demonstrations.
Huda Ammori, a Palestine Action co-founder, said she will appeal to the Supreme Court. That keeps the case moving upward after Monday’s ruling, while the arrests and charges already recorded under the Terrorism Act remain in place unless a higher court changes the legal position.
