PALESTINE ACTION’S co-founder can proceed with a legal challenge against the government’s decision to ban the group as a terrorist organisation, Court of Appeal ruled today — dismissing a Home Office appeal.

Huda Ammori launched legal action over former home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe the direct-action group under anti-terror laws. 

The ban, which took effect on July 5, made membership or support for Palestine Action a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Mr Justice Chamberlain had earlier allowed Ms Ammori to challenge the ban, finding that two arguments were “reasonably arguable.” 

The Home Office later appealed this ruling, arguing that the case should instead go through the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission.

In her summary of the Court of Appeal’s decision, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said judicial review was a “quicker means of challenging the order” and would enable the High Court to rule on whether the proscription was lawful.

Following the decision, Ms Ammori praised the court for rejecting Ms Cooper’s attempt to block a legal review “of her absurdly authoritarian ban,” adding: “This is a landmark victory: not only against one of the most extreme attacks on civil liberties in recent British history, but for the fundamental principle that government ministers can and must be held accountable when they act unlawfully.

“The government’s effort to avoid judicial scrutiny of its blatantly anti-democratic proscription … has backfired spectacularly, and we now head into the judicial review in November with an even stronger legal footing.”

She said the proscription, which has led to over 2,000 arrests, represented a “dangerous misuse of counter-terror resources,” adding: “Rather than protecting the public, the Terrorism Act is being used as a political tool to silence them.”

Ms Ammori said the ban “casts a chilling shadow over anyone speaking out against Israel’s atrocities and the UK’s complicity in them,” urging the government to “lift this widely condemned, utterly Orwellian ban.”

Amnesty International UK’s Kerry Moscogiuri welcomed the decision, saying: “There are serious human rights concerns around the proscription decision and the consequences it has had on free speech and assembly rights.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We note the decision made by the Court of Appeal, and will now carefully consider the implications of the ruling.

“Palestine Action remain a proscribed group and those who support them will face the full force of the law.”