By Areeb Ullah and Katherine Hearst
England's High Court has ruled that the UK government's ban on Palestine Action is "unlawful" after a months-long legal battle.
Justice Victoria Sharp told the court that the proscription of Palestine Action "did result in a very significant interference with the right of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly".
The ruling found that the decision to proscribe the group was discriminatory. However, the ban will remain in force while the government appeals against the decision.
“Palestine Action is an organisation that promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality” but proscription was still “disproportionate", Sharp said in a 46-page judgment.
The ruling found that "a very small number of Palestine Action's activities amounted to acts of terrorism" as defined by terror legislation.
Friday's ruling follows a judicial review of the July 2025 ban following a challenge brought by Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori.
In a statement on X, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was "disappointed" with the court's decision and intended to fight it in the Court of Appeal.
"The court has acknowledged that Palestine Action has carried out acts of terrorism. It concluded that its actions are not consistent with democratic values and the rule of law," Mahmood said, adding that the ban "followed a rigorous and evidence-based decision-making process".
In a statement responding to the ruling, Ammori hailed it as a “monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people, striking down a decision that will forever be remembered as one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in recent British history".
She added that the ban resulted in "unlawful" arrests of "nearly 3,000 people - among them priests, vicars, former magistrates and retired doctors" under terrorism laws for holding signs in support of the direct action group.
“It would be profoundly unjust for the government to try to delay or stop the High Court’s proposed order quashing this ban while the futures of these thousands of people hang in the balance," she said.
Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch, said the ruling was a "shot in the arm for British democracy at a time when it is facing a barrage of attacks by this government to undermine our rights to freedom of assembly, expression, and speech".
"Palestine Action is not a terrorist organisation and should never have been designated a terrorist organisation," she said.
"Today’s verdict reinforces what many of us having been saying all along - that the government’s misuse of terrorism legislation was a brazen and gross abuse of power that served to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel and those profiting from its atrocities."
'A vindication'
Zoe Rogers, a defendant in an ongoing Palestine Action trial in connection with an alleged raid on an Israeli arms factory near Bristol, said the outcome of the hearing is "incredible".
"It's a vindication for all those who have had counter-terror powers unjustly used against them by police, prisons and court systems - including violent dawn raids and arrests in family homes and holding activists in prison for 18 months who have not been convicted of any crime," Rogers told Middle East Eye.
Rogers, along with her five co-defendants, was acquitted last week of aggravated burglary charges in connection with the alleged break-in at a factory owned by Israel's largest weapons supplier, Elbit Systems, near Bristol in August 2024.
The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently announced that it would seek a retrial, as jurors failed to return verdicts on charges of criminal damage and violent disorder.
One defendant additionally faces a charge of grievous bodily harm with intent for striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.
Rogers said that the acquittals "have shown proscription for the farce that it is".
'A monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people'
- Huda Ammori, Palestine Action co-founder
The ban on Palestine Action was introduced in July 2025, making membership of and public support for the group punishable by up to 14 years in prison under Britain’s terrorism laws.
Since then, thousands of people have been arrested for terrorism offences for holding signs in support for the group in silent vigils across the UK.
The campaign group Defend our Juries said in a statement that the arrests of 2,787 people will now be deemed unlawful, as will those of another seven who were charged with terror offences for addressing Zoom calls as part of the campaign to reverse the ban.
Home Office statistics published in December revealed a 660 percent rise in terrorism arrests in the year ending September 2025 compared to the previous year.
Of those, 86 percent were linked to support for Palestine Action. It also noted a "demographic shift" driven by the Palestine Action arrests, with those linked to the group having an average age of 57 compared to 30 for others.
Former government laywer Tim Crosland told Novara Media that police forces could be exposed to "thousands of legal claims".
“The basic principle is if the underlying order is unlawful, then any arrests, any raids, any prosecutions that are based on that order – they are unlawful, too,” Crosland said.
“It doesn’t kick in just yet, because the order hasn’t actually been quashed. But ultimately, if the high court decision stands and isn’t overturned, then yes, in principle, that’s thousands of legal claims against the police, maybe against the Home Office too, for unlawful arrest.
Barrister Audrey Cherryl Mogan said that the quashing of the ban will not impact the ongoing criminal cases of Palestine Action-linked activists, including the defendants facing charges in connection with a raid on an Elbit Systems plant and a break-in at RAF Brize Norton airbase.
"The only cases that they're really keeping in the criminal courts by pursuing this appeal are the 3,000 'grannies' standing with placards awaiting trial on terrorism charges," Mogan told MEE.
“They need to explain the pursuit of 3,000 'grannies' with placards to the tax payer,” she added.
An analysis of Freedom of Information disclosures by DOJ in January revealed that policing of Lift the Ban protests in London alone cost the Metropolitan Police £8m.
Outside the court on Friday, protesters displayed signs in support of the Palestine Action, but this time were not arrested despite a heavy police presence.
In a statement, the Met said that they "recognise these are unusual circumstances," adding that they will "focus on gathering evidence" of offences where support for the group is being expressed "to provide opportunities for enforcement at a later date".
“Thousands of people of conscience saw that branding protest as terrorism was a move straight out of the dictator’s playbook. Together we took action at great personal risk - inspired by each other’s courage. We helped make this proscription unenforceable by saying 'we do not comply'," said a spokesperson for Defend our Juries after the ruling.
The government outlawed Palestine Action days after activists, protesting against Israel's genocide in Gaza, broke into an air force base in southern England and targeted aircraft, which Palestine Action alleged were used to support the war, with paint and crowbars.
The British government alleged that the incident caused an estimated £7m ($9.3m) of damage to two aircraft.
In written court submissions, the Home Office argued that actions "can constitute terrorism if they involve serious property damage even if it does not involve violence against any person or endanger life".
"Proscribed organisations are deprived of the oxygen of publicity as well as financial support," the government submissions noted.
Meanwhile, the Home Office's lawyer Natasha Barnes argued the ban "has not prevented people from protesting in favour of the Palestinian people or against Israel's action in Gaza".
Lord Walney, the former government advisor on political violence, said in an interview with the BBC that he was proposing the creation of a new category of Extreme Criminal Protest Group in an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill in the House of Lords. He said this woud make it easier for the government to ban groups that do not meet the threshold of terrorists.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-action-judicial-review-high-court-judgment
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