The government’s proscription of Palestine Action as a terror organisation is lawful, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
High Court judges ruled in February that then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to ban the group under the Terrorism Act was unlawful, following a legal challenge from its co-founder Huda Ammori.
Palestine Action has remained banned since then to allow for further legal arguments and give the government time to consider an appeal.
But at a hearing on Monday, five Court of Appeal judges overturned the High Court decision, concluding that the government’s decision to proscribe the group “struck a fair balance”.
Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said comparisons between Palestine Action and groups such as the suffragettes were “seriously flawed”.
The proscription made it a criminal offence to belong to or support Palestine Action, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Thousands of people have been arrested at demonstrations in the months since the ban came into force in July last year.
