Lawyers for the pro-Palestinian Arab protest group Palestine Action, outlawed by the British government, appeared in court Wednesday seeking to overturn its classification as a terrorist organization, the Associated Press reported.
The group has asked the High Court to rule that the government erred in placing it alongside Al-Qaeda and Hamas. Raza Husain, representing co-founder Huda Ammori, called the ban an “ill-considered, discriminatory, due process-lacking, authoritarian abuse of statutory power.”
The UK government designated Palestine Action a terrorist organization in July. Since then, there have been regular protests in London calling on the government to lift the ban.
Palestine Action, known for its acts of vandalism and disruptive protests, was officially proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 after an incident at a Royal Air Force base, where activists from the group breached the base and defaced two aircraft with red paint, resulting in an estimated £7 million in damages.
Founded in 2020, Palestine Action describes itself as a “direct action” network opposing what it calls British “complicity” with Israel, particularly in relation to arms sales.
Proscription made membership or support for the group a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Authorities report more than 2,000 arrests since the ban, including individuals holding signs at protests declaring “I support Palestine Action.” Over 130 have been charged under the Terrorism Act.
The group also previously defaced a painting of Lord Balfour at Trinity College Cambridge, spraying the portrait with red paint and slashing it.
In another incident, Palestine Action members stole two busts of Israel’s first President, Chaim Weizmann, from a glass cabinet at Manchester University.