Judge grants Palestine Action urgent hearing to try to stop ban taking effect
Palestine Action has been granted an urgent high court hearing on Friday to try to prevent a banning order against it from coming into effect.An order was laid before parliament on Monday that would proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation, making being a member of or inviting support for Palestine Action a criminal offence carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail.The move, announced by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, last week, would place Palestine Action alongside the likes of al-Qaida, Islamic State and National Action.The move has been criticised as draconian by protest groups, civil liberties organisations and various politicians.The order seeks to ban three groups – the others being Maniacs Murder Cult, which has been accused by the US of “planning and soliciting a mass casualty attack” in New York, and the Russian Imperial Movement, which Washington says has “provided paramilitary-style training to white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Europe”.
At a short-notice hearing at the high court on Monday, it emerged that Huda Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, is to be given an opportunity to apply for “interim relief” with respect to the proscription order.David Blundell KC, representing the Home Office, said the plan had been for the order to be debated in parliament this week and then signed on Friday to come into effect on Saturday.But the judge, Mr Justice Chamberlain, said that if an application by Palestine Action for interim relief on Friday was successful it would “have the effect of suspending its [the order’s] operation”.Ammori’s lawyers contend there has been “a failure of the duty to inform the claimant of the basis on which it is proposed to restrict her rights through proscription” and to “afford her the opportunity to make representations before any decision to restrict her rights”.The submission also states that while “extensive consultation has taken place with the Israeli government and arms companies … no opportunity has been provided for other groups affected or concerned by the proposal to proscribe Palestine Action, including Liberty, Amnesty International and other civil society organisations”.
Liberty, Amnesty International and the European Legal Support Center have submitted supporting witness statements for Ammori’s case alleging the unlawful misuse of anti-terror measures to criminalise dissent, Palestine Action said.Ammori said: “The court’s decision to grant an urgent hearing this week is indicative of the vital importance of what is at stake in this case, including the far-reaching implications any proscription of Palestine Action would have on fundamental freedoms of speech, expression and assembly in Britain.“This is the first attempt in British history to criminalise direct action, political protest, as terrorism, mimicking many authoritarian regimes around the world who have used counter-terrorism to crush dissent.This would set an extremely dangerous precedent, with repressive impacts right across the Palestine movement.“Spraying red paint on war planes is not terrorism.
Causing disruption to the UK-based arms factories used by Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, is not terrorism,”Palestine Action says it uses direct action to seek to prevent serious violations of international law by Israel against the Palestinian people,Cooper took the decision to ban it under anti-terrorism laws three days after the group claimed an action against military aircraft at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire,Five people have been arrested in connection with the incident,Cooper said there had been “a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action”.
An open letter published on Monday by artists, including the musicians Paul Weller, Robert del Naja of Massive Attack, and Brian Eno, and the actors Tilda Swinton and Steve Coogan, called for the ban to be dropped, saying: “Palestine Action is intervening to stop a genocide.It is acting to save life.”The musician Nadine Shah read out the letter from Artists for Palestine UK during her Glastonbury set on Sunday.Another hearing has been scheduled for 21 July when Ammori would seek permission for a judicial review to argue that the proscription order should be quashed.
Britain’s security depends on more than soft power | Letters
I am very surprised by Simon Jenkins lamenting the lack of soft power shown to Russia (Note to Starmer and the other sabre-rattlers. Why spend billions on weapons – soft power would keep us safe, 26 June). He writes: “Every conceivable tool should have been deployed to introduce Russia into the European community of nations.”Russia was incorporated into the G7, received a state visit from the Queen, and was added to Eurovision. Tony Blair gave Vladimir Putin silver cufflinks for his birthday, and supported Russia’s war in Chechnya
Judge grants Palestine Action urgent hearing to try to stop ban taking effect
Palestine Action has been granted an urgent high court hearing on Friday to try to prevent a banning order against it from coming into effect.An order was laid before parliament on Monday that would proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation, making being a member of or inviting support for Palestine Action a criminal offence carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail.The move, announced by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, last week, would place Palestine Action alongside the likes of al-Qaida, Islamic State and National Action. The move has been criticised as draconian by protest groups, civil liberties organisations and various politicians.The order seeks to ban three groups – the others being Maniacs Murder Cult, which has been accused by the US of “planning and soliciting a mass casualty attack” in New York, and the Russian Imperial Movement, which Washington says has “provided paramilitary-style training to white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Europe”
Bridget Phillipson says she wants more young people in UK to have children
Bridget Phillipson has expressed concern at the UK’s falling birthrate, with the education secretary saying she wanted more young people to have children.In an article for the Daily Telegraph, written to promote a government policy of providing new nursery places inside about 200 schools across England, Phillipson said she hoped to make it easier for people to have children.The fertility rate in England and Wales is now at 1.44 children per woman, the lowest since records began in 1938 and below the figure of about 2.1 needed to maintain a population
Members of public to be selected for ‘honest conversation’ about MPs’ pay
The thorny topic of MPs’ pay and funding will be debated by randomly selected members of the public at a new citizens’ forum, as parliament’s watchdog said it was launching an “open and honest conversation” about what democracy is worth.Invitations are being sent out by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which this year set the basic annual salary for an MP from 1 April 2025 at £93,904. It is also responsible for approving MPs’ expenses, which it prefers to call business costs.The watchdog, set up in the aftermath of the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2010, will send out 10,000 letters via a lottery system in the coming weeks, and about 25 people will ultimately be chosen to sit in the forum and express their views.The sessions, which will involve a modest payment for participants of about £250, will involve two full days and two evenings of online discussion about pay and funding for MPs
UK government agency not accepting eVisas as ID from job applicants
The Home Office-sponsored agency that licenses hundreds of thousands of security guards has become the latest to confirm that it will not accept newly introduced eVisas from job applicants, the Guardian has learned.eVisas are designed to replace physical biometric residence permits that show proof of the right to reside, rent, work and claim benefits. However, the rollout has been beset with difficulties.There have been reports of banks and some academic institutions refusing to accept eVisas, and the Solicitors Regulatory Authority has previously refused to accept them as proof of ID.Some NGOs have reported problems with clients accessing child benefit using eVisas as proof of eligibility but the Department for Work and Pensions has disputed this
Man criticises Home Office for keeping visa fee of wife who died before reaching UK
A grieving husband has criticised the Home Office for holding on to thousands of pounds in visa fees he paid for his wife to come to the UK, despite the fact that she died before she was due to arrive in the country.Ubah Abdi Mohamed, 25, from Kenya, was granted a spouse visa to join her husband, Mohamed Jama, 47, a British citizen of Somali heritage who lives in north London.UK visa fees usually include an immigration health surcharge (IHS) to fund any NHS care the person applying for the visa might need while they are in the UK. As his wife’s sponsor, Jama paid the visa application fee of £1,938, plus a £3,105 IHS.In March 2024, Ubah Abdi Mohamed was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer
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